RT France journalist told the details of their detention with the operator in Poland

According to him, they were in a small village called Usnarz Gorny, which is located a hundred meters from the Belarusian border.

“Cameraman Jordi Demory and I started to put up [the camera] to assess the situation with the migrants at the border, to tell us exactly what was happening.

And as soon as we took out the camera, as soon as we installed it, a police car approached us, ”he said.

After that, the police brutally demanded that they stop filming, handcuffed them and took them to the police station.

“From that moment on, we were in a small and rather cramped cell while the police officers who interrogated us were drawing up a protocol.

We, for our part, immediately began to ask them what would happen to us, we did not get an answer - we were only told that we needed to wait for the translator.

Fortunately, this translator got to us very quickly, otherwise we would have to spend 48 hours in a cell, in custody, if the translator had not arrived, ”said Khalifa.

After that, he and the operator were interrogated in turn, each interrogation lasted about an hour.

Then they were brought to trial. 

“For you to understand the scale of the situation, keep in mind that during all these nine hours in custody, we were not given any water or food.

And we spent that much time (nine rather difficult hours, I must admit) in custody.

And all this was accompanied by pressure on us, brutality from the police, ”he said. 

Also, Khalifa and Demory were not given the opportunity to contact a lawyer, explaining that the "process is accelerated."

“An hour later, a verdict was passed: either we pay the fine, or we spend 10 days in prison if we do not pay this fine presented to us.

It is worth considering that my colleague Jordi Demory does not have a passport, since the authorities kept the document with them.

We will receive it when this fine - quite high, by the way - is paid in full, ”he said.

On November 15, it became known that the RT France film crew was detained at the Polish-Belarusian border. 

Later, a representative of the police of the Podlaskie Voivodeship of Poland said that the correspondent and operator of RT France was taken to the court of the Polish city of Sokolka.

They were subsequently sentenced to a fine.