KYIV -- The Kyiv city administration has officially reprimanded the city's general architect for briefly locking a journalist in a room during a council meeting, RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service reports.
City administration Chairman Oleksandr Popov said at an official meeting today that he signed a decree officially reprimanding architect Serhiy Tselovalnyk.
He said any future cases of officials behaving like Tselovalnyk would be punished in a more severe way.
On February 2, Tselovalnyk ignored journalists' requests to comment on a meeting of Kyiv's City Planning Council and proceeded to the hall where the gathering was to take place.
When Olha Koshelenko, a journalist for the 1+1 television company, caught up with Tselovalnyk and tried to ask him again about the meeting, she said Tselovalnyk forced her into a utility room and locked her in.
Koshelenko was later released from the room.
Tselovalnyk then stated at the City Planning Council meeting that he intended to expel all the journalists from the building because they "interfere in the work of experts."
Popov said Ukrainian laws demand that officials should provide adequate conditions for any media outlet to cover any official event and those laws should be respected.
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