Polish police says they did not confiscate Tkach's belongings. Tkach responds
The Polish police deny confiscating the phones and other personal belongings from the "Ukrainian Pravda" journalists who were detained near the Poland–Belarus border on February 27 or taking any procedural action against them.
This is stated in the Lublin Voivodeship Police Department's reply to the request sent by the IMI representative in the Volyn oblast, Maya Holub.
"Neither phones nor other personal belongings were taken from Ukrainian citizens, nor was any procedural action taken against them. The police carried out an inspection of the luggage of the Ukrainian citizens' car in accordance with Article 15, Clause 1 of the Law 'On Police' (April 6, 1990). A corresponding protocol was drawn up and signed by one of the men with no objections," the police said.
Earlier, Mykhailo Tkach said that they and their car were searched, their belongings were thrown out on the car's hood, all the memory cards were taken from their cameras and all their phones and documents were taken from them. As a result, they stayed in detention for four hours, unable to make any calls.
In their response, the police noted that they "took action" after a Lukow Gmina resident reported two men using a drone and video cameras near the international railway track in Golashyn (for about two days). The police officers from the Lukow police commandant's office checked their passports and found that they were citizens of Ukraine.
The UP crew's filming equipment. Photo by the UP
They added that the journalists had professional photo and video recording equipment, a drone. They showed the law enforcers laminated Ukrainian journalist IDs with their names on them.
The police also claim that the journalists did not immediately disclose the purpose of their work:
"At first, the men were unwilling to state the purpose of their stay in the area near the international railway track or of their work. Only during the next stage of verification, the identified persons stated that they were Ukrainian journalists who were writing an article about the grain trade."
The police also noticed that the men who called themselves journalists did not show the foreign correspondent accreditation cards as required by the March 15, 2004 decree by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland "On the accreditation of foreign correspondents", which confirms foreigners' right to do reporting work on territory of the Republic of Poland.
Moreover, the police say that they asked the journalists to come to the police station in Lukow in their own car "as it was necessary to confirm their identities and verify the information" about them, since this could not be done on the spot.
At the same time, the police stressed that the journalists were not handcuffed or restrained in any other way.
The police informed the Internal Security Agency in Lublin about the journalists' arrival.
The police claim that their actions in relation to the journalists did not require the presence of an interpreter and the reporters did not tell them that they needed to speak with a lawyer.
The police also confirmed that they had a phone conversation with the representative of the Consul General of Ukraine in Lublin, Michal Zaslawsky.
Before the journalists left the Lukow police station, they were informed of their right to file a complaint with the local prosecutor's office regarding the manner in which the searches and interrogations were carried out.
The IMI also reached out to Poland's Internal Security Agency to ask them the incident, but the Agency said that they did not disclose the details of their current operations. They did not answer any of the questions and advised the IMI to contact the police.
"Ukrainian Pravda" journalist Mykhailo Tkach commented on the police's reply to the IMI representative as follows: "They have cameras everywhere in the commandant's office, and if they take the footage or take some interest in it, they will see everything. Whether they took our things or not. What was taken and how."
Mykhailo Tkach detained in Poland
On February 27, 2024, the Polish police detained Mykhailo Tkach and his cameraman near the Poland–Belarus border as the journalist was filming a report on the transit of goods between Poland and Russia, Belarus. Some of the footage was deleted by the Polish law enforcers. Later, Tkach released the investigation "Granica na miazhy. How Poland is stepping up trade with Russia through Belarus".
According to Tkach, about 10 people searched their car, throwing their things out onto the hood; they took all the memory cards from their cameras, took all the phones and the documents. Tkach and the cameraman were kept in the commandant's office for at least 4 hours and were only released after permission from "above". All this time, journalists were not allowed to contact anyone. At the Polish commandant's office, Ukrainian journalists were interrogated not only by the police, but also by special service officers.
After the incident, the journalists' belongings were given back to them, but the police deleted some of the footage they had filmed.
"They pulled out the charging wires in the car for some reason. Why and where would they take our phones. What was the rationale – we will figure it out. But I've never seen ten policemen and two special agents pay such attention to two journalists whose faces can be googled in a second," Tkach wrote.
On February 28, following the news of Ukrainian Pravda journalist Mykhailo Tkach and his cameraman being detained at the Poland–Belarus border, the Polish Lublin police confirmed carrying out "identification activities" near the border the day before.
The international human rights organization "Reporters Without Borders" condemned the obstruction of the work of "Ukrainian Pravda" journalist Mykhailo Tkach and cameraman Yaroslav Bondarenko by the Polish police.
On February 29, "Ukrainian Pravda" announced that they had contacted a Polish lawyer following the detention of investigator Mykhailo Tkach by the Polish police near the border. On March 1, 2024, "Ukrainian Pravda" released the investigation by journalist Mykhailo Tkach.
On March 6, the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Freedom of Speech, Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, wrote to the specialized commissions of the Sejm and the Polish Senate over the detention of the journalists.
On March 8, 2024, the Polish Sejm passed a resolution introducing sanctions on the agricultural products coming to the EU from the Russian Federation and Belarus. The lower house of the Polish parliament calls on the European Commission to impose sanctions on the import of Russian and Belarusian food and agricultural products to the European Union.
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