Police offers Zaporizhzhia journalist to reconcile with the people who threatened her

The police offered Elmira Shahabudtdynova, the journalist with the Zaporizhzhia news outlet 061.ua who was threatened by the locals while filming the aftermath of a Russian missile strike on the private sector of Zaporizhzhia, to reconcile with the people who attacked her, the journalist reports to the Institute of Mass Information representative in Zaporizhzhia oblast, Natalia Vyhovska.

According to Elmira, on October 12, a district police officer from the Zaporizhzhia Police Department No. 3 called her regarding her obstruction complaint. As reported earlier, on September 29, the residents of a Zaporizhzhia private sector, which was targeted by Russian anti-aircraft missiles, interfered with the work of Elmira Shahabudtdynova as she was photographing the aftermath of the Russian strike. The people blocked her way, insulted her, threatened her, and demanded she delete the pictures she had already taken. They claimed that journalists only make things worse and that it is them who cause the shelling.

061.ua journalist Elmira Shahabudtdynova, Zaporizhzhia. Photo by Kateryna Klochko

"I filed the complaint two weeks ago. Only now, by phone, did the police give me an opportunity to tell what exactly happened. I was not asked any follow-up questions in the reporting obstruction case. Instead, from our conversation, I understood that the precinct officer's task was is to smooth out the corners as much as possible. I was told that I needed to 'live in harmony,' 'put myself in people's shoes,' 'process the emotions,' and that I was not physically harmed at all, everyone was alive and intact", the journalist said.

Elmira says that the policeman appealed to her guilt and told her that these people had lost their homes in the shelling strike and were perhaps emotional, so her grievances with the victims are excessive.

"From our conversation, I understood that the police were demanding that I sign some kind of document stating that I am withdrawing my statement and have no complaints," said the journalist.

"What infuriates me in this story is the police's stance: if nobody was physically harmed, then there is nothing to complain about, even though both my case and the stories that happened with my colleagues in other cities across Ukraine are cause for concern about the safety of journalists. It seems as if the law enforcement bodies can only open a case if  journalists get beaten, probably by a crowd," says Elmira.

Opinion by an IMI lawyer

According to Roman Holovenko, a lawyer at the Institute of Mass Information, if the police did not open a case based on a complaint about a crime, this is a violation that should be contested. Part 1 of Article 214 of the CPC quite clearly indicates that proceedings must be opened within a day after the complaint is submitted, he added.

Other attacks on journalists in Zaporizhzhia

On July 19, 2024, 061.ua photojournalist Kateryna Klochko was attacked by a participant of the rally against "unjust power cuts" in Zaporizhzhia. The attacker did not like the fact that she was not filming the car blocked by the protesters and demanded that she film the people who did it. When the journalist refused to do so, the woman grabbed the journalist by the arm, pushed her and forcibly turned her towards the car. The journalist called the police and filed a statement on obstruction to her reporting. Later, the Zaporizhzhia police said they had found no corpus delicti in the July 19 attack on 061.ua journalist Kateryna Klochko.