The Dnipropetrovsk oblast police have closed the case opened on 23 October 2024 regarding obstruction of reporting (Article 171 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) faced by media worker Oleksandr Slavnyi.
Oleksandr Slavnyi reported this in a Facebook post and elaborated to Kateryna Lysiuk, the Institute of Mass Information representative in Dnipropetrovsk oblast.
He says the case was closed back in January 2025, but the resolution to close it was not sent to him.
The case was opened following the media worker’s statement after he was barred from attending the Dnipro City Council session on 22 October 2024. Oleksandr Slavnyi contacted the police regarding obstruction of his reporting, and an extract from the register was posted by the journalist on Facebook.
In a comment to the IMI representative, Oleksandr Slavnyi said that he had learned about the closure of the case by accident when he decided to check on the progress of the investigation.
“In early August, I contacted the police with a request to review the case material. A few days later, the police called me and agreed on a review date. On 13 August, while reviewing the case, I discovered that the proceedings had been closed back on 15 January 2025,” he told IMI.
Oleksandr is outraged that the police did not notify him of the closure despite their obligation to do so according to Part 6 of Article 284 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine.
He added that the resolution to close the proceedings said that they had failed to identify him as a journalist: he was not wearing a vest with the inscription “Press” or a badge.
“And my carrying a tripod and a recording device in my hands was probably just for the vibes, in their opinion! No one even tried to question the City Council secretary or the mayor! The fact that I was not notified about the closure of my case is a blatant violation of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine and a restriction of my rights to appeal! After all, the procedure says that I have 10 days after the closure of the proceedings to appeal the decision in court,” the journalist noted.
In response to a query by the IMI representative, the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast National Police HQ reported that the proceedings were closed in accordance with paragraph 2 of part 1 of Article 284 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine: “no corpus delicti found.” The police added that a copy of the resolution on the closure of the proceedings had been sent to Oleksandr Slavnyi by mail.
The media worker contacted to the police and the Prosecutor’s Office to appeal the decision to close the proceedings due to a procedural violation.
Oleksandr Slavnyi previously worked on Vidkrytyi TV and Region TV, which later rebranded to D1.
