Bihus.Info journalists appealed to the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Freedom of Speech, as well as to the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Ethics due to the statements of the MP Oleksiy Honcharenko.
This is stated in the project announcement.
The journalists also wrote a statement to the National Agency for Corruption Prevention (NAPC) regarding a conflict of interest.
"Because writing requests to our advertisers and donors on behalf of a citizen of Ukraine and on behalf of a peopleʼs deputy is still a bit different," the journalists noted.
At the same time, Honcharenko himself stated that he had received a response from the European Union Anti-Corruption Initiative in Ukraine (EUACI) about the funds allocated to the Bihus.Info project. According to him, Bihus was allegedly provided with €550 000 in 2020–2024.
"Denys uses European money to make stories that violate journalistic standards, use obscene language towards elected officials, conduct operational surveillance (!) of other individuals — and all this is funded by our friends from Europe. I believe that they simply did not see what they were giving money for," he wrote.
Conflict between Bihus.Info and Oleksiy Honcharenko
On May 12, Bihus.Info published a story about Honcharenko, in which the deputy was accused of "hyper-gluttony" and "buckwheat-sowing", referring to the opening of "Honcharenko Centers".
Journalists also cited information from the "CHESNO" movement that one of the donors to these centers is businessman Oleh Bakhmatyuk, who was reported in 2022 on suspicion of bribery.
After that, Honcharenko turned to the editorial staff of the investigative project Bihus.Info with a request to provide information about its funding. In response, the projectʼs founder Denys Bigus noted that such a request could be interpreted as pressure on the media.
Later, Honcharenko wrote a letter to the director of the psychological support platform "Rozmova" — the platformʼs advertisement was in the journalistsʼ video, which featured the MP. In the letter, he asked whether they approved the release of such a video and whether the platform shared the journalistsʼ opinion about Honcharenko.
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