Outlet that leaked Bihus.Info surveillance video closes YouTube channel and deletes news

The online outlet Narodna Pravda (People's Truth), which posted a video on 16 January containing covert video and audio recordings of the Bihus.Info investigative journalism team, has deleted the video from its YouTube channel and website.

Source: Bihus.Info with a link to the Narodna Pravda (People's Truth) website; Narodna Pravda YouTube channel

Details: The video has been removed from the Narodna Pravda YouTube channel and the channel has been closed. Bihus.Info said a news item containing the video has disappeared from the outlet's website.

Background:

• On 16 January, a video was leaked online showing employees of the Bihus.Info investigative journalism 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 Security Service of Ukraine to investigate who was involved in the surveillance of Bihus.Info journalists.
• The Security Service of Ukraine says it is investigating the circumstances of the illegal bugging and filming of Bihus.Info staff. Criminal proceedings have been opened under Article 359 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (illegal acquisition, sale or use of special technical means of obtaining information).

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