Zelenskyy on surveillance of journalists: Ukraine's Security Service will investigate

KATERYNA TYSHCHENKO — Sunday, 21 January 2024, 21:19

Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Stock photo: Office of the president of Ukraine

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stated that the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) will investigate the illegal surveillance of Ukrainian journalists and find those responsible.

Source: Zelenskyy in an interview for British TV programme Channel 4 News

Details: The interviewer asked Zelenskyy about the situation concerning independent journalists in Ukraine who have been "intimidated, some of them physically".

Quote: "A criminal case was opened right away – this is very important. I summoned the head of the Security Service of Ukraine and got the details from the Prosecutor General. Some people might say: ‘Well, there was some video recording of journalists, but nothing happened.’ I think something did happen. And we have to find all the answers. So the Security Service will investigate this and solve the case."

More details: The question about intimidation may have been referring to the situation around journalist Yurii Nikolov. But the President’s reply about the "video recording of journalists" indicates that he was talking about the illegal surveillance conducted against the team from the investigative journalism project Bihus.Info.

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 took place months apart.
The Security Service of Ukraine has reported that it is investigating the circumstances of the illegal bugging and filming of Bihus.Info staff. A criminal investigation has been opened under Article 359 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (illegal acquisition, sale or use of special technical devices for obtaining information).
On 17 January, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a meeting with law enforcement officials, including Vasyl Maliuk, the head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU), to discuss the surveillance of the Bihus.Info journalists.
Yurii Nikolov, an investigative journalist, has claimed that unknown people broke into his house on 14 January in an attempt to intimidate him. Anonymous Telegram channels have posted a video of some men knocking on his apartment door and threatening him.
On 21 January, the Prosecutor’s Office stated that Kyiv's law enforcement agencies had identified the individuals who broke into Nikolov’s home in order to impede his work.