Tkach detained in Poland: Yurchyshyn writes to Sejm and Polish Senate commissions

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 Ukrainian Pravda journalist Mykhailo Tkach on the Ukraine–Poland border, Yurchyshyn reports on Telegram.

He says that the Polish police detained the "Ukrainian Pravda" journalist Mykhailo Tkach and cameraman Yaroslav Bondarenko as they were carrying out their professional duties.

"While the media workers were in detention, their car was searched, their equipment was seized, including mobile phones, and they were interrogated for about four hours. They could not contact anyone," Yurchyshyn said.

He noted that it is still unclear why Polish law enforcers threatened the journalists and deleted part of the footage they had filmed.

"In my letter, I ask my colleagues to take this issue under parliamentary control and find out why it happened. This incident is a human rights violation and obstruction of the journalists' work, which is unacceptable in a democracy," stressed the chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Freedom of Speech.

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.

According to Tkach, during the interrogation at the commandant's office, he said that he was a journalist and that his team was filming Poland's trade with Russia through Belarus and Poland's trade with Belarus, the agricultural products going from Russia and Belarus to Poland.

"It was obvious that the representatives of the Polish special service were scared. They started asking me who else knew about it, whether the Ukrainian authorities, the Ukrainian government knew about it. They asked who our sources were, how we found out about it, how long we have been working on this topic," the journalist said.

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 and that they planned to release the report on Poland–Belarus transit which he was filming on the day of his detention.

On March 1, 2024, "Ukrainian Pravda" released the investigation which journalist Mykhailo Tkach was filming when he was detained by the Polish police.