Pressure through call-up notice: Ukrainian media association calls for proceedings to be opened against Security Service and enlistment office staff

KATERYNA TYSHCHENKO — Sunday, 7 April 2024, 00:03

The Ukrainian media association Mediarukh is demanding that criminal proceedings be opened against employees of the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) and an enlistment office following an incident involving an investigative journalist from Slidstvo.info.

Source: a statement by Mediarukh, sent to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Vasyl Maliuk, Head of the Security Service of Ukraine, Prosecutor General Andrii Kostin, Defence Minister Rustem Umierov and Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine

Quote: "As Ukrainian journalists and media organisations who are members of Mediarukh, we are appealing to you to see that justice is done and to protect the rights of journalists in Ukraine. The current situation around the harassment of Slidstvo.info investigative journalist Yevhen Shulhat raises serious concerns about a possible abuse of office and obstruction of journalistic activity on the part of the SSU, as well as the use of the military as a tool to curtail journalistic investigations."

Details: The journalists’ demands are as follows:

The immediate opening of criminal proceedings with regard to the possible abuse of office, illegal surveillance and obstruction of journalistic activity on the part of employees of the SSU and the enlistment office.
A thorough and prompt investigation into the circumstances of the case, including the role of the SSU and enlistment officers in this incident.
Reliable protection of journalists’ rights and their safety in performing their professional duties.

The statement notes that the circumstances of the incident indicate that the SSU was attempting to use its official position to obstruct the activities of a journalist who was uncovering facts that were potentially inconvenient for the SSU leadership. At the same time, the journalists emphasise that they are aware of the need for every citizen to contribute to the defence of Ukraine, and that four of the sixteen employees of Slidstvo.info have received call-up notices and joined the ranks of the Armed Forces.

The statement also said that unknown persons recently asked the State Bureau of Investigation to look into the work of a Vinnytsia military enlistment office which is apparently not performing well and has failed to mobilise Oleksandr Salizhenko, Editor-in-Chief of the Chesno movement [a Ukrainian public campaign for transparency in politics].

In addition, the journalists recalled that employees of the SSU’s Department for the Protection of National Statehood conducted video surveillance of journalists from the investigative outlet Bihus.info in late December 2023.

For reference: Mediarukh is a community that brings together journalists from leading Ukrainian media outlets, investigative journalists and experts from media NGOs. Mediarukh was founded on 5 February 2019 and has over 70 members.

Background:

Investigative journalists discovered that the wife of Illia Vitiuk, head of the SSU’s cybersecurity department, purchased an apartment in December 2023 at the market price of over UAH 20 million (about US$512,000). However, the official's declaration states that UAH 12.8 million (US$328,000) was paid for the apartment.
On 6 April it was reported that after this, staff from a military enlistment office approached Yevhen Shulhat, an investigative journalist from Slidstvo.Info, and attempted to serve him with a call-up notice. The enlistment officers were allegedly accompanied by Oleksii Bilenko, who is close to Illia Vitiuk and works in the SSU cybersecurity department.
The SSU and the Ministry of Defence, in conjunction with the General Staff, are looking into information published by Slidstvo.Info regarding the attempts to serve a call-up notice to one of their journalists after he published an investigation into a Security Service official.

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