Today in Warsaw, a journalist from TV Republika was unlawfully detained and his equipment confiscated. Despite having obtained all necessary permits, authorities objected to the use of a drone by the television crew, which was filming an abandoned tenement building where four bodies were found. Michał Rachoń, the program director of TV Republika, unsuccessfully sought information regarding the legal basis for the police’s actions.
“We are equipped with a multitude of documents. Our actions are based on the law, and the fact that we, as an innovative and trend-setting station, use modern tools to cover such events does not give the police the right to detain our journalists. That’s why, with the permits for the flight in hand, I am heading to the police car at the moment,” said Michał Rachoń on TV Republika. He added that a lawyer from TV Republika would soon arrive at the scene.
“I have no doubt that if it weren’t for your presence, our viewers, the situation would have ended completely differently. Our journalist was released as a result of our viewers’ intervention. For an hour, he was held in the police car, and the decision made here on the spot was to seize TV Republika’s equipment. The memory card was confiscated, which means that the police have just taken possession of materials protected by journalistic privilege,” said editor Rachoń after the release of the TV Republika journalist by the police. “This is an unprecedented situation, absolutely scandalous action, an action we do not agree with,” he added.