SBI asks the National Guard to look into journalist discrimination by the Khmelnytsky OMA
The Khmelnytsky territorial department of the State Bureau of Investigation did not find any signs of a crime in the Khmelnytsky Oblast Military Administration denying access to ZHAR.INFO journalists and tasked the National Guard with investigating this incident.
This is said in the letter sent by the SBI to journalist Alyona Bereza via Ukrposhta (received on October 20).
The letter was sent on September 21 and contained the results of the SBI verifying the facts regarding the regional administration refusing access to journalists, which was handed over to the Bureau by the local police in late August.
"Khmelnytsky TD of the SBI fully verified the facts presented in the UA case No. 14792 (28.08.2023). However, no objective data that would testify to the occurrence of a criminal offense was found, therefore there are no grounds for entering the information into the Unified Register of Pretrial Investigations," reads the reply signed by the head of the first investigative department, Mykhailo Borusovsky.
At the same time, the law enforcers passed the materials on to the Western Territorial Department of the National Guard of Ukraine, asking them "to investigate the case within the scope of their authority; in the event that signs of a criminal offense are detected, the materials should be mailed to the SBI Territorial Department in Khmelnytsky city within the deadline established by law." The National Guard was also asked to inform the interested persons about the results of the inspection within the timeframe established by the law.
The ZHAR.INFO team notes that they were not surprised by this reply, as they already have the experience of having their appeals regarding non-admission to the City Council reviewed by law enforcers. In that case, no signs of a crime were found, either.
"Similar picture. Denial again, and again the law enforcers find no grounds to punish those who prevent journalists from performing their duty. We have to wait for an inspection by the National Guard, which is the body that denied us access in the first place. We will follow up on this issue in the future," commented ZHAR.INFO journalist Alyona Bereza.
As reported, in August a reporter and a cameraman for the Khmelnytsky media outlet ZHAR.INFO were not allowed into the regional administration hall. The journalists wanted to get a comment from the first deputy head of the Khmelnytsky Oblast Military Administration, Serhiy Tyurin, regarding aid to the Hruzevytsya residents who were affected by the Russian shelling.
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