The Security Service of Ukraine, after the publication of Bihus.Infoʼs investigation into the surveillance of journalists, stated that among the clients of dealers through whom drugs were supplied to other people were some employees of Bihus.Info. In particular, the operator, who appeared in the criminal proceedings on the illegal production and storage of drugs.
This was announced by the SBU press service.
The SBU also opened criminal proceedings — for illegal acquisition, sale or use of special technical means of obtaining information, i.e. for illegal wiretapping of journalists.
The leadership of the Security Service of Ukraine also made personnel decisions regarding the Department for the Protection of National Statehood in order to optimize the directions of its work — earlier it became known that on January 31, Roman Semenchenko was dismissed from the post of head of the Department.
What preceded
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.
In the investigation, which came out on February 5, the investigators said that the journalists were monitored by the State Security Department of the Security Service of Ukraine — more than 30 people participated in the operation, who were identified thanks to the video from the cameras of the hotel where the editorial office was located on December 27 of last year. In a telephone conversation with Bihus.Info, the dismissed head of the Department for the Protection of National Statehood, Roman Semenchenko, did not deny the involvement of the department in this operation.