Poland: CFWIJ condemns police interference with Agnieszka Kaszuba's reporting on state of emergency at Belarus border

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September 27, 2021 – Agnieszka Kaszuba, a reporter for the daily newspaper Fakt, was briefly detained along with her team when she was following a bus carrying migrants near the Polish-Belarusian border. The journalist was reporting about the arrest of migrants on the frontier. Police held Agnieszka and her team for about an hour and searched their car. The Coalition For Women In Journalism (CFWIJ) denounces the obstruction against journalists. We extend our solidarity with Agnieszka. 

 On September 27, journalist Agnieszka Kaszuba was detained by the police when she was reporting about a coach carrying migrants near the Polish-Belarusian border. According to the newspaper Fakt, the reporter had previously observed the intervention of the Border Guard against a group of migrants near the Siemianówka Lagoon and also at the Border Guard building in Michałów. "It is not an area under a state of emergency, which means that media are not allowed there," claims the news platform.

 The journalist was detained in connection with the possibility of “committing a crime of driving behind Border Guard". Agnieszka described the situation to TVN24 and said, “We followed the coach which, we hoped, transported them to a guarded centre in Białystok. However, it turned out that the coach of the Border Guard cars was going towards the border.” 

 She said her team was stopped before the state of the emergency border. The officer said that he received a notice about a possibility of committing a crime that obstructs the mission of the Border Guard. “We followed the guards only, we followed the regulations, we turned off the headlights, we didn't make their work difficult in any way. We tried to report on the course of events,” she explained. 

 She added the control "dragged on" against them. They were held for around an hour, more than the standard timing of 10 to 15 minutes. The police officer allowed them to leave after talking to someone on the phone.

 The police department, on the other hand, denied the intervention. Police stated there was “a road check by a uniformed patrol of policemen”. 

 The Coalition For Women In Journalism denounces the intervention against the journalists. We extend our solidarity with Agnieszka. These practices are aiming to silence journalists and are unacceptable. Journalists must do their work without any impediment.