Bihus.Info: 30 people are involved in monitoring journalists

The Bihus.Info team went to the ethnographic complex "Ukrainske selo" near Kyiv, where media employees were being monitored, and talked with the staff. Journalists learned that around 30 people were involved in the surveillance.

A week before the arrival of the journalists, a man came to the complex who was interested in the restaurant, namely: where the Christmas tree, speakers and heaters are. He booked hotel rooms and a sauna for December 26, where Bihus.Info employees were the next day.

According to the media, as soon as the staff entered the restaurant hall, 30 people who were allegedly at a corporate party fell silent. Bihus.Info suggests that these people installed cameras in the teamʼs hotel rooms and in the sauna. Media workers recalled seeing what looked like a fire alarm in their rooms. When the team returned there again, there were no "alarms".

"When we arrived, most of the "technical team" left. And when we left the next day, a strange man called the complex and rebooked all the rooms in which the team lived. After that, only a few people came and took the keys to all the rooms. Probably to take away the cameras," Bihus.Info added.

• On January 16, a video appeared on the Internet, where employees of the Bihus.Info investigation project are allegedly using narcotic substances. The video was shot on a camera placed in a rented house where the employees had a corporate party. The video also included recordings of phone conversations of project workers. Journalists believe that they have been followed for at least several months.
• The head of the project, Denys Bihus, in a video address to the audience, announced the dismissal of the operators caught on video. Later, he added that journalists had been following his project for almost a year. The SBU is investigating the illegal wiretapping of Bihus.Info employees. Also, the lawyers of the Bihus.Info editorial office appealed to the law enforcement officers with statements under several articles — in particular, regarding the violation of privacy and obstruction of the activities of journalists.