The State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) will investigate the case of surveillance of journalists of the Bihus.Info project, as the Prosecutor Generalʼs Office announced.
This was explained by the fact that law enforcement officers may be involved in the surveillance of journalists. Therefore, the pre-trial investigation concerns the investigation of the SBI. The journalists claim that they were monitored by SBU Department for the Protection of Nationhood.
What preceded
On January 16, a video appeared on the Internet, where employees of the Bihus.Info investigation project are allegedly using grugs. 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. 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 (DPNS) Roman Semenchenko did not deny the involvement of DPNS in this operation. Journalists of Bihus.Info stated that the monitoring of them continued in recent days.
The Security Service of Ukraine, after the publication of Bihus.Infoʼs investigation into the surveillance of journalists, stated that among the clients of the 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.
Deputies of the Verkhovna Rada summoned the head of the SBU Vasyl Malyuk to give a report on the surveillance of journalists. Later, Malyuk criticized the actions of employees of the Department for the Protection of National Statehood, who are accused of monitoring journalists.