The Bihus.Info team conducted an investigation and found out that the journalists were being monitored by the State Security Department of the SBU. More than 30 people participated in the operation. They were identified thanks to the video from the cameras of the hotel where the editorial office was staying on December 27 last year.
The Department of Operational and Technical Support of the Security Service of Ukraine was probably also involved in the installation of cameras in the rooms where the editorial staff lived. In the recreation complex, the special service operation lasted six days, the investigators said.
According to the investigation, SBU representatives, under the guise of ordering a corporate company, came to the complex twice during the period from December 15 to 22 to inspect the rooms in which the Bihus.Info editorial office was supposed to stay. Journalists identified SBU employee Ihor Kravchenko.
About 30 people arrived at the hotel for the "corporate party", some of them had large suitcases. There was probably equipment there. A group of people arrived in a blue Volkswagen Caddy car, which is used by the operational and technical support of the SBU.
Journalists believe that these people installed hidden cameras in the rooms. A few days later, when the newsroom moved out, other people came and took the cameras. The editors believe that hidden cameras were illegally installed in the sauna and at least 8 rooms.
The Security Service of Ukraine did not answer journalistsʼ questions about whether they received court orders to install hidden equipment in the rooms and how the wiretapping materials and videos from hidden cameras ended up in public access.
On January 31, the head of the Department for the Protection of National Statehood, Roman Semenchenko, was dismissed from the Security Service — in a telephone conversation with Bihus.Info, he did not deny the involvement of the DZND in this operation.
- 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 Bigus, 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 violation of privacy and obstruction of journalistsʼ activities.