Surveillance of Bihus.Info journalists: Commission on Journalism Ethics issues statement

The Commission on Journalism Ethics (CJE) has issued a statement on the pressure on Ukrainian investigative journalists, calling it "a dangerous threat to democracy and the country's future".

Source: statement by the CJE

Quote: "Bugging, covert filming, uninvited visits to their homes, harassment on social media, accusations of allegedly breaking the law – we regard all of this to be intimidation of investigative journalists and their teams.

The recent attacks on Yurii Nikolov and Denys Bihus look like pre-planned campaigns to discredit the media in the eyes of the public. The purpose of such attacks is to destroy the reputation of well-known journalists and provoke distrust of investigative journalism in Ukraine."

Details: The statement emphasises that the consequence of interference with the privacy of media professionals may be the disclosure of confidential sources. This could pose a threat to sources and make it more difficult for all journalists to find information in the future.

The CJE also adds that investigative journalism in Ukraine plays a significant role in the context of martial law, closed registers and the limited ability of society to control the actions of the authorities. The Commission on Journalism Ethics considers it unacceptable that journalists resort to self-censorship and refuse to address sensitive topics amid threats and pressure.

"Only bringing the guilty to real accountability will stop the shameful campaign of intimidation of journalists and devaluing their work," the statement emphasises.

Quote: "The Commission on Journalism Ethics stresses that the president of Ukraine is the guarantor of the constitutional rights of citizens, and therefore demands that he demonstrate his ability to protect democracy and freedom of speech.

We call on law enforcement agencies, including the Security Service of Ukraine, the Office of the Prosecutor General, and the National Police of Ukraine, to investigate these cases of pressure comprehensively and impartially. Given the serious threats to democracy and parliamentarism in Ukraine, we call on the parliament to independently oversee the investigation of attacks against journalists.

Such crimes must not go unpunished."

Background:

• On 16 January, a video was leaked online showing employees of the Bihus.Info investigative project apparently using drugs. The project's head, Denys Bihus, recorded a video message giving explanations and stated that everyone who works with Bihus.Info would take drug tests.  
• Later, Bihus said that after talking to the people involved in the video, it transpired that members of the Bihus.Info editorial team had been under surveillance for about a year, and that fragments of intercepted conversations had been edited together from several episodes that were months apart.
• The Ukrainian Parliamentary Committee on Freedom of Speech has promised to formulate a request to the SSU to investigate who was involved in the surveillance of Bihus.Info journalists.
• On 17 January, the SSU stated that it would be investigating the circumstances of the illegal bugging and filming of Bihus.Info staff.
• President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had held a meeting with law enforcement officials, including Vasyl Maliuk, Head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU), to discuss the surveillance of investigative journalists working for the Bihus.Info project which had been reported the day before.

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