Vladyslava Kritska, a journalist with the local online outlet Cukr, was detained for about 20 minutes by the staff of a Sumy shopping mall, where she had come to film the aftermath of a Russian strike, on 16 October. The staff claimed that she needed permission from the owner to film, threatened to take away her phone, and blocked the exit. The journalist was only able to leave the building with the help of a police officer, Cukr editor Vladyslava Kudielnik reported to Olha Panfilova, the Institute of Mass Information’s representative in Sumy oblast.
Kudielnik said that Vladyslava Kritska had arrived at the mall along with a colleague after the attack to assess the impact of the strike. The journalist holds accreditation from the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Part of the territory around the shopping centre had been cordoned off, with rescuers and police working there. Kritska introduced herself to the police officers and the State Emergency Service and asked them about the details of the incident. She then went to another entrance to the building, which was not taped off.
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A security guard opened the door for her and let her inside. The journalist filmed a short interview with him about the details of the strike and documented the destruction inside the premises. When she was about to leave, she found the door locked.
Kudielnik says that several people who did not introduce themselves, probably employed by the mall’s owner, met the journalist at the exit.
They said it was private property and that the journalist had no right to film there. They told Kritska they would “not let her out,” threatened to take away her phone, and said they would call their lawyer, Kudielnik says. The security guard was then ordered not to let the journalist through. He locked the door and stood in front of it, blocking the exit, the editor says.
Soon a woman who claimed to be lawyer arrived. She insisted that the journalist needed permission from the shopping mall’s owner to film. The reporter explained that the security guard had let her in, and refused to talk without the police present.
The lawyer called the police but, the editor says, only mentioned the Russian strike during the call, not the situation with the journalist. Meanwhile, Kritska was able to get a colleague to ask a police officer working on site to come over.
Vladyslava Kritska says that even after the police officer arrived, they refused to let her out. A mall manager objected to her leaving, saying they needed to “sort things out,” while the security guard continued to block the door. The journalist recorded this episode on a voice recorder.
In the end, the police officer personally escorted the journalist out of the building, together with the other parties to the conflict. She was detaimed for about 20 minutes in total.
Throughout this time, there was an air raid alert in Sumy, and the threat of repeat strikes remained, the editor remarked. Soon after the journalist stepped outside, air defence started going off, so she had to seek shelter together with the police officer.
The police documented the incident and took the journalist’s statement. The Cukr team plans to file an official report over obstruction of lawful reporting.
