Freedom of Speech Barometer for April 2024
The Institute of Mass Information experts recorded 19 freedom of speech violations in Ukraine in April, according to the monthly IMI monitoring “Freedom of Speech Barometer”.
Russia’s crimes (14 cases) include abduction, bodily harm and death threats to journalists, shelling strikes on a TV tower, which resulted in Ukrainian broadcasting being disabled, damage to media offices, and cyber attacks.
The Russian aggression resulted in the deaths of four media workers who were defending Ukraine from occupation. The death of one was only reported in April, as he had been considered missing:
- Oleh Shemchuk – a journalist investigator from Zaporizhzhia who went missing in action near Bakhmut, Donetsk oblast, in September 2022. Declared dead on April 3, 2024.
- Andriy Topchiy – "Fakty" journalist, UAF soldier, rifle battalion combat medic. Killed on April 20, 2024, while performing a combat mission in Zaporizhzhia oblast, near Robotyne village. Andriy Topchiy was 38 years old.
- Alla Pushkarchuk (call sign "Ruta") – a soldier, former journalist, was killed by shelling in Donetsk oblast on April 25, 2024.
- Yuriy Siliuk – a soldier, videographer from Lutsk. Died on April 26, 2024, while performing a combat mission in Arkhangelske (Pokrovsk district, Donetsk oblast).
Freedom of speech violations in Ukraine in April 2024
As of May 3, a total of 79 media workers have died in Ukraine as a result of Russia's aggression, with 10 dying while reporting.
At least four journalists were injured by Russian shelling strikes on Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia in early April. They all came under “double tap” strikes while filming the aftermath of the previous attacks.
Two journalists were injured while filming the aftermath of a Russian mass drone strike on Kharkiv on the night of April 4:
- Victor Pichuhin, “Nakypilo” journalist;
- Yulia Boyko, “Novyny.Live” reporter, "Belstat" freelancer.
Victor had a concussion. Yulia Boyko was diagnosed with barotrauma and a mild concussion. They were saved by the State Emergency Service car parked nearby, which shielded them from the shock wave.
In Zaporizhzhia, two journalists were injured:
- Kira Oves, TSN (1+1) journalist (she had her temple stitched);
- Olha Zvonaryova, Ukrinform correspondent (leg injury). She was hospitalized in a serious condition with severe trauma and blood loss and remains in the hospital now. She had surgery; her state has stabilized.
Furthermore, a Russian strike on Zaporizhzhia damaged the office of the media outlet RIA Pivden, which had relocated from Melitopol. After the start of the full-scale war and the Russian occupation of Melitopol, the team and the chief editor, Svitlana Zalizetska, faced persecution.
The Russians keep pressuring RIA Melitopol journalists. In April, they urged the administrators to surrender as prisoners in a Telegram post. Namely, they offered the journalists to "go out into the Victory Square" in "liberated Melitopol" and surrender. The post with the call featured a World War 2 era photo of German Nazi occupiers surrendering as prisoners, and contained hate speech towards Ukrainians.
Moreover, in April it was reported that RIA Melitopol (RIA Pivden) journalist Anastasia Hlukhovska, who was detained by Russia together with the administrators of the Telegram channels RIA Melitopol and “Melitopol is Ukraine” in August 2023, has been in detention for almost eight months.
The journalist's name had not been revealed until now out of safety considerations, as requested by her mother. To date, the family's attempts to find Anastasia have yielded no result. The occupiers give out no information on the whereabouts of the Melitopol journalist.
On April 22, the Russian troops targeted a TV tower in Kharkiv, destroying it. The TV tower was the tallest building in the city – 245 meters high. It should be noted that TV towers are civilian objects and destroying them is a war crime. The shelling strike on the Kharkiv TV tower resulted in digital broadcasting disappearing in the city and the nearby municipalities.
Russia continues to target Ukrainian media with cyber attacks. In March – April, the IMI recorded at least five such cases. The enemy was attacking Ukrainian TV channels on the Astra4A and Hot Bird 13G satellites, jamming their signal, interrupting their broadcasting and streaming their own propaganda. The 1+1 Media’s channels, Freedom, and others were affected.
In addition, the Russians attacked the Poltava news website “Zmist” for several days. The website was running slower and asking visitors to confirm if they are human.
IMI also recorded five freedom of speech-related violations committed by citizens of Ukraine. These include restrictions on access to public information, political and legal pressure, as well as surveillance of journalists.
The political pressure included attacks on Suspilne by deputy Maryana Bezuhla, as well as plans to remove Suspilne Broadcasting from the evening slots of the joint telethon. The pressure began shortly after it was reported the US State Department had included the national telethon "United News" in its report on human rights violations in Ukraine in 2023. The report noted that the telethon provided the government with an "unprecedented level of control over primetime television news."
IMI also recorded a case of Slidstvo.Info journalist Yevheniy Shulhat facing surveillance, when employees of an enlistment office tried to hand him a call-up notice. This happened right before the release of his investigation into the fortunes of the wife and mother of Illya Vitiuk, chief of the SBU Department of Counterintelligence and National Information Security.
The journalists said that the enlistment office representatives may have been instructed by an SBU employee to deliver a draft notice to the Slidstvo.Info journalist. In this way, the special services wanted to punish the man for exposing Illya Vitiuk for owning elite real estate.
The Media Movement demanded that a case against SBU and TSC employees be opened over the Slidstvo.Info journalist incident. On May 1, President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed Vitiuk from his post.
Read the full monitoring below:
RUSSIA'S CRIMES
Abduction – 1
1. RIA Melitopol journalist Anastasia Hlukhovska has been Russia's prisoner for eight months
10.04.2024 RIA Melitopol (RIA Pivden) journalist Anastasia Hlukhovska, who was detained by Russia together with the channel's administrators in August 2023, has been in detention for almost eight months; her whereabouts are unknown, announced the RIA Pivden (RIA Melitopol) chief editor Svitlana Zalizetska at the international Council of Europe conference on April 9 in Kyiv, IMI correspondent reports.
The Russians detained Anastasia and the administrators of the Telegram channels "RIA Melitopol" and "Melitopol is Ukraine" on August 20, 2023.
The journalist's name had not been revealed until now out of safety considerations, as requested by her mother.
To date, Zalizetska noted, the family's attempts to find Anastasia have yielded no result. The occupiers give out no information on the whereabouts of the Melitopol journalist.
On October 23, 2023, the Russian media released a news story about the detention of the RIA-Melitopol and "Melitopol is Ukraine" Telegram channel administrators, which happened two months prior. The administrators were charged with terrorism.
The Russians disclosed the names of the following detainees: Oleksandr Malyshev, Heorhiy Levchenko, Maksym Rupchov, Yana Suvorova, Mark Kaliush, Kostiantyn Zinovkin. RIA Melitopol journalist Anastasia Hlukhovska who continued to work in the temporarily occupied city, was recognized as one of the other detainees in the video.
All of them are charged under several articles of the Russian criminal code: public calls for terrorist attacks, treason, espionage. They face 12 to 20 years in prison.
In early May 2023, Melitopol journalist Iryna Levchenko and her husband Oleksandr were kidnapped in the temporarily occupied city (Zaporizhzhia oblast). Both have been in retirement for years. The occupiers detained the couple on the street, first keeping them together and then separating them. Their current whereabouts are unknown.
Journalists injured – 4
1. "Nakypilo" journalist injured in a Russian drone strike on Kharkiv
04.04.2024 The Russian mass drone strike on Kharkiv on the night of April 4 injured Victor Pichuhin, a journalist with the "Nakypilo" Media Group, reported the IMI representative in the Kharkiv oblast.
The Russian strikes hit civilian infrastructure and apartment buildings. Victor was working side-by-side with the paramedics, filming their work and the aftermath of the strikes.
The journalist received a concussion and plans to go to a hospital for a full examination. Victor came under fire when the Russians "double tapped" an apartment building while rescuers were working after the first strike. This killed four people (three emergency workers and one civilian woman) and injured 12 more.
In the comment to the IMI representative, the journalist remarked that he was very lucky and considered this day his second birthday, since the explosion went off very close to him.
Victor said that he survived because he had headed out in time together with the paramedics and because they were wearing safety gear – bulletproof vests and helmets. He was wearing a helmet and bulletproof vest provided by the Institute of Mass Information.
They were also saved by an emergency service car that shielded them from the main blast. Three rescuers died in that car. In another 10 minutes, the air raid alarm sounded for the third time, and the police took everyone to the bomb shelter; the journalist spent the next 20–30 minutes there.
On another note, Victor stresses that his fellow journalists should not neglect the bulletproof vests, helmets and first-aid kits, as it is obvious that such "double taps" (repeated strike on the same spot) are specifically targeting the rescue workers saving people and the reporters documenting Russia's crimes in Ukraine and that the Russians have no reason not to keep doing this in the future.
On the night of April 4, 2024, Russia mass struck Kharkiv and the oblast with Shaded drones. The Kharkiv Prosecutor's Office found the inscription "For the Crocus City Hall" on one of the drones.
In the recent months, the Russians struck the Kharkiv Palace Hotel, injuring a ZDF interpreter. On January 10, the Russians struck the Park Hotel, injuring the reporters with the Turkish news agency Anadolu, who were staying there. On January 23, a strike on downtown Kharkiv injured a journalist from the "Nakypilo" Media Group, who was on her way home from the office. During the same period, the offices of the Ukrainian Radio and "Suspilne Kharkiv" and the Objektyv Media Group newsroom were affected.
2. Kharkiv journalist injured in a Russian drone strike
04.04.2024 Russia's mass drone strike on Kharkiv on the night of April 4 injured a Novosti.Live and Belstat freelancer Yulia Boyko. She was diagnosed with aquabarotrauma and a mild concussion.
The journalist reported this to the IMI representative in the Kharkiv oblast.
At the time of the impact, the media worker was at home; she came downstairs after the first hit and started filming the aftermath on the spot.
According to Yulia, the drone dropped near her house and the explosion damaged the windows, the doors and the roof. Immediately after the first explosion, the journalist went down to do her job, but 10 minutes later, another air raid alarm sounded and she left to look for a bomb shelter. The drone was already somewhere nearby, and there was no time to take cover, so she dropped down onto the asphalt behind the curb. In the morning, she saw that she had been 5-7 meters awa from the epicenter of the explosion.
Russian troops struck civilian and residential buildings on the night of April 4, killing, three rescue workers and a civilian woman and injuring 12 more people. The impacts damaged apartment buildings and private houses.
Yulia Boyko was also saved by a State Emergency Service car, as was the injured Nakypilo reporter Victor Pichuhin.
Yulia was diagnosed with aquabarotrauma and a mild concussion; she has no flesh wounds, only scratches after dropping down onto the asphalt. The media worker feels fine, but notes that she is now afraid of sounds that are similar to the sounds of a drone.
3. Ukrinform correspondent Olha Zvonaryova injured by Russians in Zaporizhzhia
05.04.2024 Ukrinform correspondent Olha Zvonaryova was injured by shelling in Zaporizhzhia on April 5, reports Ukrinform, citing their photo correspondent Dmytro Smolyenko.
"There was a strike, and it hit near us. Everything happened before my eyes. Olya was wounded in the leg. She is currently in the surgery room," Dmytro said.
The media outlet notes that over the course of the invasion, Olha Zvonaryova and Dmytro Smolyenko have prepared hundreds of reports from hot spots in the oblast.
According to the IMI representative in the Zaporizhzhia oblast, Olha Zvonaryova had a surgery. Her condition is stable.
As reported earlier, Russia's mass drone strike on Kharkiv on the night of April 4 injured a Novosti.Live reporter and Belstat freelancer Yulia Boyko. She was diagnosed with aquabarotrauma and a mild concussion.
4. TSN journalist wounded in Russian strike on Zaporizhzhia
05.04.2024 TSN journalist Kira Oves (1+1 TV) was injured by Russian shelling in Zaporizhzhia on April 5. She has had her temple stitched, TSN reports.
She was injured by a double tap strike. It happened when the reporters were filming the aftermath of the previous strike on the city.
"I'm actually feeling fine, but as my friends tell me, tomorrow what should have happened today will catch up with me," the journalist said.
According to her, at the moment of the second strike the crew was filming the aftermath of the enemy shelling, the shattered windows and the debris.
"I don't have the words to tell you what it was like, because you hear a whistle, you hear a roar, and it just explodes somewhere. We immediately started running away from the place, the police gave me first aid, and later we found out right there, on the spot, that my colleague was injured. She is in the hospital now, the doctors say nothing about her condition. So far I know that she is undergoing surgery," Kira Oves said.
When asked about the state of other victims, the journalist said that some people were lucky – they received minor injuries and did not need hospitalization.
"The ones I saw in the hospital sitting next to me are more or less in the same condition as me. Some refuse to take a sick leave... Everyone's heads are bandaged, some have bruised hands, legs, face. I also have two stitches and a shaved temple now, but overall I am very lucky," said Kira.
Ukrinform correspondent Olha Zvonaryova was wounded by shelling in Zaporizhzhia on April 5.
As the Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko wrote on his Telegram channel, both journalists came under a double tap strike while working at a shelling site.
"The enemy cynically strikes again just when the police, emergency workers, medics, and journalists arrive. At the moment when our units are trying to rescue the victims," Ihor Klymenko wrote.
On April 5, the Russians struck Zaporizhzhia twice. The attack killed three people and injured 19.
Death threats – 1
1. Russians urge RIA Melitopol administrators to surrender as prisoners
19.04.2024 The Russian occupiers on Telegram are urging the administrators of the Ukrainian media outlet RIA Melitopol to surrender, reports the regional representative of the IMI in the Zaporizhzhia oblast.
The post, shared by the propaganda channel "New Melitopol. Zaporizhzhia Region", among others, offers the journalists to "go out into the Victory Square" in "liberated Melitopol" and surrender.
The post with the call features a World War 2 era photo of German Nazi occupiers surrendering as prisoners, and contains hate speech towards Ukrainians. It calls on the administrators to "choose the right side and stand up for the truth."
"If you are in the liberated Melitopol, you have a chance. Go out to Victory Square or call the city commandant's office and say that you are an administrator of the RIA Melitopol channel. After all steps, you will be assigned an appointment. You will be asked to switch to a Russian media outlet, where you will receive a salary. Choose the right path," the post reads.
The RIA Pviden (RIA Melitopol) chief editor Svitlana Zalizetska considers the propaganda resources working in the temporarily occupied part of the Zaporizhzhia oblast making such posts about the media outlet to be part of an information campaign targeting the entire team.
Zalizetska and her team have been receiving numerous threats since their refusal to work with the occupiers in March 2022. The screenshots spread by the occupiers on social media contain death threats, including calls for murder, which target her, her parents, and children.
In August 2023, the Russians hacked the Telegram channel of the Ukrainian media outlet RIA Melitopol, which kept working even after the temporary occupation of Melitopol (Zaporizhia oblast). The channel's administrator Heorhiy Levchenko was detained. On October 23, 2023, the Russian media released a news story about the detention of the RIA-Melitopol and "Melitopol is Ukraine" Telegram channel administrators, which happened two months prior. The administrators were charged with terrorism. RIA Melitopol journalist Anastasia Hlukhovska, who continued to work in the temporarily occupied city, was recognized as one of the other detainees in the video. All of them are charged under several articles of the Russian criminal code: public calls for terrorist attacks, treason, espionage. They face 12 to 20 years in prison.
In early May 2023, Melitopol journalist Iryna Levchenko and her husband Oleksandr were kidnapped in the temporarily occupied city (Zaporizhzhia oblast). Both have been in retirement for years. The occupiers detained the couple on the street, first keeping them together and then separating them. Their current whereabouts are unknown.
Strikes on TV towers – 1
1. Russian troops destroy a TV tower in Kharkiv
22.04.2024 Today (April 22, 2024) the Russian troops targeted a TV tower in Kharkiv, destroying it, reports the representative of the Institute of Mass Information in the Kharkiv oblast.
Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov reported on the explosion at 4:37 p.m.
The IMI representative notes that reports from the locals about TV signal going out in the city started coming later. There have been no reports of issues with the radio signal yet.
The chair of the Kharkiv Oblast Military Administration, Oleh Synehubov, said that none of the TV tower's employees were injured, as they were in a bomb shelter.
He added that there were some interruptions in the digital television signal at that moment and urged the people to only trust verified sources of information.
The Kharkiv TV tower was the tallest building in the city – 245 meters high.
"The strike on the TV tower in Kharkiv is part of Russia's systematic, large-scale campaign targeting Ukraine's civilian population. TV tower destruction is a war crime both under Ukrainian law and under international humanitarian law. Civilian facilities such as TV towers are under total protection and cannot be a legitimate target in an armed conflict. We demand a thorough investigation and an appropriate response from the international community," said Oksana Romaniuk, director of the IMI.
The Russians resumed the shelling of Ukrainian TV and radio infrastructure in 2024.
Damaging media offices – 2
1. RIA Pivden office damaged by Russian strike on Zaporizhzhia
06.04.2024 The office of the relocated Melitopol media outlet RIA Pivden (RIA Melitopol) was partially destroyed due by the Russian missile strike on Zaporizhzhia on April 6, around 6 AM. The office was located in the Melitopol IDP assistance center "Same Tut", reports RIA Pivden (RIA Melitopol) on their Telegram channel.
The aid center now has shattered windows, a damaged ceiling, and broken equipment and furniture in the rooms where classes for children were given.
As RIA Pivden chief editor Svitlana Zalizetska told the regional IMI representative in the Zaporizhzhia oblast, they are currently taking inventory of the damage caused by the attack.
"Some of the equipment was damaged. Now we're collecting what is left. Checking its condition," the editor said.
Before the full-scale invasion RIA Melitopol was the largest website in the Zaporizhzhia oblast audience-wise. After the start of the full-scale war and the Russian occupation of Melitopol, the team and the chief editor, Svitlana Zalizetska, faced persecution. As the IMI wrote, in March 2022, the Russian troops took Zalizetska's father hostage and demanded to meet the journalist as a condition for her father's release.
In October 2023, the IMI reported that the Russians were holding the administrators of the Zaporizhzhia Telegram channels RIA Melitopol and "Melitopol is Ukraine" captive for two months on charges of terrorism. The media workers were detained in August 2023. On the night of August 21, 2023, the Russians hacked the Telegram channel of the Ukrainian media outlet RIA Melitopol, which was working even as Melitopol (Zaporizhzhia oblast) was occupied.
Ukrinform correspondent Olha Zvonaryova and TSN reporter Kira Oves were wounded by shelling in Zaporizhzhia on April 5.
As the Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko wrote on his Telegram channel, both journalists came under a double tap strike while working at a shelling site.
"The enemy cynically strikes again just when the police, emergency workers, medics, and journalists arrive. At the moment when our units are trying to rescue the victims," Ihor Klymenko wrote.
On April 5, the Russians struck Zaporizhzhia twice. The attack killed three people and injured 19.
2. Zorya newspaper office destroyed by Russian attack on Kharkiv oblast
24.04.2024 A Russian shelling strike on Zolochiv (Kharkiv oblast) on April 24 destroyed the office of the "Zorya" newspaper. The office is located across from the district administration building, which was also damaged.
This was reported to the regional representative of the Institute of Mass Information by the chief editor of "Zorya", Vasyl Myroshnyk.
According to him, no one was in the building at the time of the impact. However, he adds, now the building has a missing roof, battered walls, and broken windows, though the local authorities have already supplied tarpaulin and plywood to cover the windows and protect the building from rain. The chief editor sees no point in replacing the windows, as he believes that they will be damaged by Russian shelling again.
One Russian missile fell in the yard, and the second hit the building.
The head of the Kharkiv Oblast Military Administration, Oleh Synehubov, reported that the enemy attacked the downtown Zolochiv with two S-300 missiles at night, damaging the administration's premises, and that there were no casualties.
Victor Kovalenko, the chair of the Zolochiv military administration, told Suspilne Kharkiv that the administration building was empty and not in use, there were no people there. The impacts were powerful and damaged over 10 private houses: windows, roofs, doors. In addition to the "Zorya" office, an "Oshchadbank" branch, as well as education, culture, and economy departments were affected.
The Russian troops shell the Kharkiv oblast and the city daily.
Disabling Ukrainian broadcasting – 1
1. Digital broadcasting disabled in Kharkiv due to the TV tower strike
23.04.2024 The shelling strike on the Kharkiv TV tower resulted in digital broadcasting disappearing in the city and the nearby municipalities.
This was reported on Telegram by the Kharkiv Oblast Military Administration chair Oleh Synehubov on April 23.
According to him, the Russian troops hit the TV tower with an Kh-59 missile.
"The total height of the tower before the strike was 250 meters. The impact was at about 140 meters high. Technical premises are damaged. Specialists are assessing the damage to the television equipment," he wrote.
Synehubov noted that Kharkiv residents can connect to cable and satellite TV. Radio, the Internet, and mobile connection are in order.
On April 22, the Russian troops targeted a TV tower in Kharkiv, destroying it. People reported interruptions in the digital television signal.
The Kharkiv Oblast Prosecutor's Office opened a case over the April 22 shelling strike on the Kharkiv television tower. The Russians resumed the shelling of Ukrainian TV and radio infrastructure in 2024.
Cyber attacks – 4
1. 1+1 Media: Kremlin bot farms spread fake news branded as "1+1 Ukraine" to target the US
08.04.2024 1+1 Media says that Kremlin bot farms are spreading a fabricated video branded "1+1 Ukraine" on social media. The video announces the start of a project titled "United States of Treason", the media holding reported on their website on April 8.
The media group notes that the fake news is part of a campaign aimed at undermining the society and US support for Ukraine's Defense Forces.
The fake news was shared on April 8 on Telegram and in other social networks.
"This video is an outright fabrication actively shared by the Kremlin bot farms. On the same day, The Washington Post warned that Russia had deployed a wide network of 'trolls' to underming the US support for Ukraine. This video is part of a campaign initiated by Russia to destabilize Ukraine," the media group said.
The company urged the viewers and the journalistic community to observe information hygiene and abstain from spreading fake news.
"The enemy is insidious and always uses persuasive tools to capture the audience's attention. Use the official 1+1 Media sources and do not trust dubious information online," the media holding noted.
Earlier, the Center for Combating Disinformation reported that Russia was spreading fake news about Ukraine's involvement in the terrorist attack on the Crocus City Hall in Krasnogorsk (Russia), threatening to restore the death penalty.
2. Poltava's "Zmist" says their website has been under a Russian attack for three days
15.04.2024 The Poltava publication "Zmist" stated that the Russians attacked its website, reports the newspaper on their Telegram channel.
The editors note that the DDoS attack has been going on for three days in a row, since April 13.
"ZMIST has been under a Russian DDoS-attack since Saturday (April 13. – Ed.). It is currently at its peak, and our website is running slower and asking you to confirm you are human for security reasons," the editorial team said.
The outlet notes that they are working to restore the website: "What matters is that we keep working while our tech support is repelling the attack."
The outlet's news can be accessed on social media.
In her comment to the IMI representative in Poltava, the "Zmist" editor-in-chief Anastasia Dobryak noted that the issues first emerged on April 13, and as soon as April 14 the team could not fix the connection between the hosting and the return of pictures on the website, and the page loading slowed down.
"There were speculations that it was an attack, but we leaned towards the internal malfunction theory. Later, the tech support detected unusual traffic from abroad. Analyzing the IP addresses and the traffic composition 'clogging up' our website, they discovered that it was in Russia. Currently, the website is heavily loaded with bot requests, the tech support has installed additional protection to keep the site running. You may experience loading problems on some pages right now. We are working to fix them promptly," commented Dobryak.
She also added that the team views the situation as an attempt to destroy an independent media outlet and crowdfunding platform that is supporting the army. In the future, "Zmist" plans to make the website unavailable in Russia and Belarus.
3. 1+1 Media reports a Russian attack: 39 channels suspended
17.04.2024 1+1 Media reports a the Russian attack on Ukrainian satellite broadcasting: the streams of 39 TV channels have been suspended until the problem is resolved. This was reported by the media holding's website on April 17.
According to the media group, the Russians jammed Ukraine's satellite signal on the 11766H transponder Astra 4A, which streams 39 TV channels, including the channels of 1+1 Media as well as those of their partners such as 1+1 Ukraine, 1+1 Marathon, 2+2, TET, PlusPlus, Bigudi, KVARTAL TV, etc.
"We call on Ukrainians to observe information hygiene so as not to help the enemy spread disinformation. With all these actions, Russia aims to destabilize the situation in Ukraine," the media holding notes and recommends their viewers to ensure they receive the signal from various alternative sources such as T2, cable, OTT, or the Internet (TV channels' websites, YouTube) if possible.
1+1 Media also reminds that Russia has been actively jamming the satellite signal of Ukrainian TV channels on the Astra4A and Hotbird13E satellites, which are owned by the European telecom companies SES and Eutelsat, since March.
On March 28, 2024 the Russians targeted the Ukrainian TV broadcasting on the Astra4A satellite, jamming the 1+1 Media and partner channels on the reception frequency 11766H. Instead of the United News telethon and other broadcasters' content, for some time Ukrainian viewers could only see Russian propaganda.
On April 17, the Ukrainian international broadcasting channel FREEDOM TV reports a Russian interference in the channel's work: the signal was jammed and replaced with the Russian channel "Za Zhyzn!"
4. FREEDOM TV under attack: stream switched to the Russian channel "Za Zhyzn!"
17.04.2024 The Ukrainian international broadcasting channel FREEDOM TV reports an interference in the channel's work today, April 17: the channel's satellite signal was blocked and the content was temporarily replaced, writes the channel's website.
The technical services recorded the TV channel's signal being absent from the Hot Bird 13G satellite at 15:06.
"The attack's goal was to replace the FREEDOM TV stream with other content. A broadcast by the channel branded 'Za Zhyzn!' was seen instead of FREEDOM TV," the channel notes.
The broadcast continued uninterrupted on other satellites (in the networks of the cable, IPTV and OTT operators that stream FREEDOM TV), except for those that receive their signal via Hot Bird 13G.
The channel's stream was restored at 15:24.
The state-owned company "International Multimedia Broadcasting Platform of Ukraine" has contacted the Cyber Security Situation Center at the Security Service of Ukraine regarding interference in the work of FREEDOM TV.
The interference in the work of the satellite operator Eutelsat, which owns the Hot Bird 13G satellite, is also being addressed by French law enforcers.
Hot Bird 13G is one of the most powerful and popular satellites, covering Europe (including the European part of Russia), Central Asia, the northern coast of Africa, and the Middle East.
On January 29, two websites of the state-owned "International Multimedia Broadcasting Platform of Ukraine" – those of the FREEDOM TV channel and the FREEDOM digital news aggregator – were subjected to a massive DDoS attack. The company believes that Russian hackers could be behind the incident.
On January 25, the websites of the TV channels "Dim" and "FREEDOM" crashed due to a large-scale cyber attack on a data center.
On the night of March 13, he website of the digital news aggregator FREEDOM (part of the state-owned "International Multimedia Broadcasting Platform of Ukraine") withstood a mass DDoS attack.
CRIMEA – 1
1. Citizen journalist Lutfiye Zudieva fined by Crimean court again
18.04.2024 A Russian court in Crimea fined the Crimean Tatar human rights activist and citizen journalist Lutfiye Zudieva, finding her guilty of "abusing the freedom of mass information," reports ZMINA, citing Zudieva's lawyer Nazim Sheihmambetov.
According to him, the Russian "Center for Combating Extremism" employee who charged Zudieva was present at the hearing.
"The defense presented its well-founded arguments regarding the case, but the court disregarded them," the lawyer said.
Lutfiye herself mentioned that the Russia-appointed judges called her arguments "an attempt to evade administrative penalty" and "a wrong interpretation of Russian law."
"In court, I insisted that the employees of the Center for Combating Extremism approached the case files study in bad faith and drew up the protocol with gross violations. In my opinion, there are severe violations even in the evidence base. But unfortunately, the 'court' did not take this into account," she said.
The journalist and her defense disagree with the occupation court's judgement and will appeal it.
"Of course, we will insist on our stance and, of course, carry on with our journalism and human rights advocacy. Because I believe that my actions did not violate Russia's current legislation in this case," Zudieva said.
On February 22, 2024, officers of Russia's Center for Combating Extremism searched Lutfiye Zudieva's house. After the search, she was taken away to the counter-extremism center, but later released.
The police opened an administrative case against her under Parts 2 and 2.1 of Art. 13.15 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation (abuse of freedom of mass information). The investigation was triggered by her Facebook post about the unlawful persecution of alleged Hizb ut-Tahrir members, as she did not mention that Hizb ut-Tahrir is considered a terrorist organization by Russia, and also cited a Radio Liberty article without noting that the media outlet is considered a "foreign agent" by Russian law.
In March 2024, the Russia-controlled Kyiv District Court in Simferopol fined the human rights activist and journalist Lutfiye Zudieva 2,500 rubles (UAH 1,000). Roman Filatov of the Russian Counter-Extremism Center (CEC) charged her with "abuse of freedom of mass information."
According to Zudieva, the judgement was issued without her participation and the court did not review the written objections of the defense. She believes that she is not an offender and as a natural person was not obliged to comply with the requirements, and that the head of the Crimean CEC department Ruslan Shambazov essentially treated her personal Facebook page as a registered media outlet.
THE FREEDOM OF SPEECH SITUATION IN UKRAINE FOR WHICH UKRAINIAN CITIZENS ARE RESPONSIBLE
CENSORSHIP, INFORMATION ACCESS
Access to information for journalists – 1
1. Zaporizhzhia City Council suggests journalists print the Budget Code at their own expense
08.04.2024 The Education and Science Department of the Zaporizhzhia City Council refused to provide Zaporizhia Center of Investigations (ZCI) journalists with information about the the local school meal prices almost tripling. Instead, the journalists were offered to have the Budget Code printed for 1,590 hryvnias.
The representative of the Institute of Mass Information in the Zaporizhia oblast was informed of the situation by Serhiy Sydorov, the head of the Zaporizhia Center of Investigations.
After the backlash, the City Council announced a press conference on child meals and later mailed a free electronic copy of the state budget along with the documents that the investigators had requested.
According to Serhiy Sidorov, they sent the request on March 14. The investigators were asking for the documents on the spike in the prices for children's lunches during the time when schools and kindergartens were closed following the start of Russia's full-scale aggression. The journalists had learned that the city's executive committee passed several decisions during this time, which resulted in the 2021 price of one meal almost tripling – the increase was 280%.
In their request, the journalists asked for a copy of the explanatory note to the draft decision on increasing the price of meals, as well as documents where the price of school lunches is calculated, the need to raise the prices and the reasons for the increase are explained, as well as the background for the decision, the financial and economic indicators and comparisons (namely the minutes from the meetings of the permanent deputy committee on education, science, culture, sports, youth and tourism, which discussed the 2021–2024 meal prices).
On April 3, the journalists received a reply which said that, having processed the request, the officials "could not understand the purpose requesting the information in question, the method of its distribution and the circle of persons to whom the information is to be distributed."
The reply signed by the department's deputy director Oleksiy Fursa also said that "the requester has not substantiated that the requested information is of public interest." The journalists were sent the first 10 pages of Ukraine's 2024 State Budget and an offer to scan the remaining 525 pages for a fee, at 3 hryvnias per page, with an invoice for UAH 1,590 included. The journalists reported on this on the media outlet's website on April 4.
"I am really surprised by such non-replies. We report on officials critically but appropriately and without manipulation. Quite often the departments call me and other journalists to clarify what exactly we need. And it's not hard for us to give the clarifications or even send an updated request. And here they cannot answer us why the Zaporizhzhia school meals are more expensive by a large margin than in other cities. I appreciate a good joke, but not when the situation is about a 75 million tender deal," Serhiy Sydorov commented.
On April 5, when the news about the denied request were released, the city authorities held a press conference on the price of the Zaporizhzhia school lunches. During the press conference the department's deputy director Oleksandr Zayika, informed the ZCI journalists that the issue of school lunches had gained public interest, so the information would be provided to them in full for free.
ZCI director Serhiy Sydorov confirmed receiving a 535-page digital reply on the same day. The first 480 pages were indeed the 2024 state budget and another 50 pages were the documents requested by the journalists.
Institute of Mass Information lawyer Roman Holovenko noted that the Law "On Access to Public Information" does not say that the person filing a request should specify the purpose of filing it or the methods of distributing the information in question. The law does not authorize the information holder to ask for these details, therefore they cannot demand them, as stated in the requirements of the Part 2 of Article 19 of the Constitution of Ukraine. The information received upon request can be distributed freely (Part 2 of Article 4 of the same law), the lawyer said.
INDIRECT PRESSURE
Political pressure – 1
1. Svitlana Ostapa: Government plans to remove Suspilne from the telethon's evening slots
25.04.2024 The government plans to remove Suspilne from the evening slots of the telethon. Instead, the Suspilne Supervisory Board came out with a counter-proposal regarding the telethon slot reassignment: to give all primetime slots to Suspilne, according to a blog post by Svitlana Ostapa, the head of the Suspilne Supervisory Board and deputy editor-in-chief of Detector Media, posted to the Detector Media website on April 25.
She reports that today, April 25, the Suspilne Supervisory Board met to discuss an address from the editors saying that the government planst to remove the broadcaster from the telethon's evening slots.
"It is unclear who made this decision; it is definitely not the consensus of all the telethon producers," Ostapa notes.
The meeting also discussed the "suspicious activities" of deputy Maryana Bezuhla, who has written several posts mentioning Suspilne over the last two days.
"The posts (by Bezuhla. – Ed.) contain a lot of twisted information. The deputy repeatedly calls Suspilne a state-owned channel, obviously unaware that we are a joint-stock company, putting us next to the channels which are truly owned by the state, such as Rada, Dim, FreeDom, and the army ones. […]
"Ms. Bezuhla's latest message is: why should the state be using the budget to fund six broadcasters, let's leave one and let it produce and stream the telethon. And the rest of the money should be re-allocated to the information forces and cyber forces. Believe it or not, I've been talking about this for over a year! Why, following the privatization, did the government create new state channels to spend budget money on all over again? All while consistently underfunding Suspilne. Well, this was a rhetorical question, we all know why," writes the chair of the Suspilne Supervisory Board.
Svitlana Ostapa remarks that Ukraine undertook before the Council of Europe to reform the state broadcasting and did so by creating Suspilne Broadcasting.
"Only two state channels were left then: International Broadcasting and Rada. Now there is also Dim, created on the basis of International Broadcasting; Rada essentially split into two channels, one of which has speaks on the telethon. Army television and radio have also emerged. Those who do not understand Suspilne's mission or the difference between the public, the state-owned, and the commercial, persistently call us state-owned. By doing so, they almost imply they have the right to interfere in our editorial and personnel policies," she writes.
Svitlana Ostapa also pointed out that the US State Department included the national telethon "United News" in its report on human rights violations in Ukraine in 2023. The report noted that the telethon provided the government with an "unprecedented level of control over primetime television news."
"Considering that trust in the telethon is dropping and trust in Suspilne is rising, is it reasonable to remove it from the evening primetime? Perhaps the reason is that only the Suspilne slot provides a balance of political forces in the parliament? If the telethon arose as a voluntary association, then such a decision made by someone undermines the parity principle," writes the head of the Suspilne Supervisory Board.
She added that Suspilne has never been allocated the full amount of state budget budget money since 2017: it was 0.2% of the total budget in the previous year, although the company manages to defend their staff and editorial independence while producing tens of thousands of hours worth of content.
Ostapa notes that the media should provide reliable information, not withhold the facts that politicians don't like, not embellish reality, not engage in propaganda.
"For some reason, some officials believe that if a broadcaster works with state budget money, then it should only work for the government. We are a joint-stock company that has a shareholder, its management bodies, a Supervisory Board and a management board, which all work consistently in compliance with the law. State bodies have no right to interfere in the programming policy of the broadcasting company," she said.
Svitlana Ostapa considers posts such as Bezuhla's to be an interference in the broadcaster's work and editorial policy.
She added that the Supervisory Board has developed a counter-proposal regarding the telethon slot reassignment: to give all primetime slots to Suspilne.
The meeting was attended by representatives of embassies and donors, as well as two heads of parliamentary Committees – Mykyta Poturayev and Yaroslav Yurchyshyn.
Surveillance over journalists – 1
1. Slidstvo.Info: SBU may have used TSC to persecute a journalist for his investigation
06.04.2024 An SBU officer may have instructed the army staffing center to deliver a summons to a Slidstvo.Info journalist. In this way, the special services wanted to punish the man for exposing the SBU head of cyber security Illya Vitiuk for owning elite real estate, according to an investigation by Slidstvo.Info, which is based on footage from surveillance cameras.
As the team notes, Slidstvo.Info journalist Yevheniy Shulhat was approached by the Solomyansky TSC employees in an Obolon district mall (Kyiv) on April 1. The men tried to hand him a summons.
"I was surprised to see that they walked right up to me, addressed me by name and clearly knew me by face," says Shulhat.
The journalist filmed the conversation with the servicemen on camera, which later allowed to identify them and talk to them. It should be noted that the TSC representatives traveled to a different district and met the journalist at 9:15 PM.
"During the conversation, the servicemen noted that Yevheniy had recently turned 27 and had not come to the TSC to update his data. When the journalist started filming and asking questions about whether the situation had anything to do with his investigation about the SBU head of cyber security, the servicemen left, noting that they were going to record this as a summons refusal," the team noted.
Slidstvo.Info reminded that in the days prior Yevheniy had been working on the investigation about the head of the SBU cyber security department Illya Vitiuk, "SBU general's wealthy women and royal estate", which was released on April 4.
"Since I was working on this report, I immediately suspected that it was the reason why I was approached at the mall," says Shulhat.
The mall surveillance camera footage from Dream Town (where the event took place), which was reviewed by Slidstvo.Info, helped the journalists see the wider picture.
The footage shows the journalists entering the mall at 9:08 PM.
A few minutes later, two TSC employees enter the mall as well, accompanied by a man dressed as a civilian. It is clear from the video that the man is giving instructions to the TSC officers.
While the journalist is in the mall, the man in civilian clothes is walking around the cash registers, and then quickly walks back to the servicemen. He gestures frantically, pointing in different directions, and leaves the mall. In less than a minute, the servicemen approach the journalist.
The video suggests that the man was pointing out Yevheniy Shulhat to the servicemen.
Siledstvo.Info identified the Solomyansky TSC officers. One of them, Oleksandr (surname not disclosed for safety reasons. – Ed.), confirmed that he worked in that TSC, but refused to answer the questions about the mall situation, saying that he could only answer such questions with his command's approval. His colleague Serhiy (surname not disclosed for safety reasons. – Ed.), who was with him on the evening of April 1, responded in the same way.
The military officials refused to name the person pointing them to the man who should be served with a summons.
Slidstvo.Info sent a request with detailed questions about the incident to the UAF General Staff in order to understand on what grounds this man in civilian clothes was giving instructions to military personnel.
The journalists' sources helped identify that man.
"We were told that it could be Oleksiy Volodymyrovych Bilenko, Illya Vitiuk's close confidante," the editors note.
After browsing the databases, the journalists found Oleksiy Volodymyrovych Bilenko, who had previously worked in the SBU's Lviv department. Now he works in the SBU cyber security department, which is the department run by Illya Vitiuk, the subject of Yevheniy Shulhat's investigation.
The editors noted that they had found Oleksiy Bilenko's phone number. Some users previously listed it in their contacts as "Lyosha SB".
Oleksiy Bilenko did not answer the journalists' calls and tried to block them after several texts in messenger apps.
Slidstvo.Info plans to pass their findings to the law enforcement along with a statement about harassment and obstruction of journalistic work.
LEGAL PRESSURE
Other instances of legal pressure – 2
1. "Chesno" chief editor reports pressure by multiple online outlets and Telegram channels
04.04.2024 The Chesno Movement chief editor Oleksandr Salizhenko reports that multiple online resources and anonymous Telegram channels are spreading misinformation about him, claiming that he was dodging the draft. He wrote about this on Facebook on April 2.
"Several online cesspits and anonymous Telegram channels remembered me recently, claiming that I was dodging the draft. At the same time, individuals whose style is remarkably similar to Medvedchuk's lawyers sent a request to the SBI, demanding they look into the work of the Vinnytsia Oblast TSC. They say the Center is not thorough enough, because I still haven't been drafted," he wrote.
He posted a photo of himself standing next to the enlistment office and added that he had visited the Department No. 4 of the Vinnytsia Oblast TSC and passed the physical exam of his own volition, without any notices.
Salizhenko also reminded that he was being treated for cancer and had repeatedly written about it. According to him, the medical board recommended declaring him unfit for military service and removing him from the conscription register, and his case files are still being reviewed by the Vinnytsia Oblast TSC.
"Starting 2020, I have been openly and repeatedly writing about my cancer treatment, giving interviews about it; I am an ambassador for the support of adult cancer patients. In 2020, I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's primary mediastinal large B-cell lymphoma with metastases in multiple lymph nodes and bones (stage IV). I am under supervision at the National Cancer Institute and have an official disability," he wrote.
He believes that the work of the Chesno Movement is "inconvenient for many pro-Russian politicians who are trying to smear public activists and the mobilization process."
The Chesno Movement leader Vita Dumanska notes in her column for "Ukrainian Pravda" that online scammers are exploiting the authorities, namely the State Bureau of Investigation, to put pressure on the public.
"Following a citizen's appeal, the SBI opened an investigation into the TSC's inaction regarding Salizhenko's mobilization. Moreover, the Bureau started working on this appeal immediately. Even though state bodies often respond with a non-reply or do not take any action," she wrote.
She also added that this is not the only case of draft threats being used to interfere with the work of NGOs. According to her, a similar appeal regarding Vitaliy Shabunin from the Anti-Corruption Action Center was filed by the head of the NGO "Public Integrity Council", the lawyer Rostyslav Kravets.
In his comment to "Detector Media", Oleksandr Salizhenko said that he noticed the online outlet "Law and Business" allege he and representatives of other organizations were dodging the draft in the Chesno media monitoring. The media campaign targeting him started a few weeks ago.
The media outlet noticed identical articles on the websites "Zakon i Media", "Komsomolska Pravda" (now "Korotko Pro"), Znay.ua and uanews.net. In addition to Oleksandr Salizhenko, the sources also mention the journalist investigator Yuriy Nikolov, the Anti-Corruption Action Center board chair Vitaliy Shabunin, the head of the DEJURE Foundation Mykhailo Zhernakov and other representatives of anti-corruption organizations.
Oleksandr Salizhenko said that it unclear who filed the statement with the SBI requesting an investigation into the TSC's "inaction" regarding its conscription. Chesno is working to identify the person.
29.04.2024 Arina Litvinova, a judge of the now-liquidated District Administrative Court of Kyiv, filed complaints with the Prosecutor General's Office and the High Council of Justice against the "Skhemy" (Radio Liberty) journalist Heorhiy Shabayev, claiming that he "interfered in her work as a judge," reports Radio Liberty, citing a post on the HCJ website.
Earlier, Shabayev released an investigation into Litvinova's Russian citizenship, while the judge denied having one, calling the journalists' report a "provocation".
In her complaint, Litvinova stated: "I believe that such actions on the part of the journalist are an interference in the work of the court, complete with loud allegations aimed at harming a judge's reputation and undermining the authority of the judiciary. By making baseless allegations and acting to discreditct judge A.V. Litvinova, the journalist is creating a threat to the independence of the judicial branch of the government."
The judge insists that the purpose of the report was, among other things, to "prevent her from passing the qualification assessment" and to instill a "negative opinion" on her and the DACK judges in general in Ukrainian society.
"Skhemy" asked the Prosecutor General's Office whether a case has been opened based on the judge's complaint and are waiting for a response.
After the release of the investigation, Arina Litvinova sent a letter to the editors, claiming that "the reported information is untrue, presented in a biased manner so as to cause reputational losses, and is not confirmed by any official documents."
The media outlet reminds that on December 13, 2022, the Verkhovna Rada voted to liquidate the District Administrative Court of Kyiv, and as soon as the evening of the same day, President Volodymyr Zelensky signed the bill into effect. However, as per the Constitution, the liquidation of the court where a judge works is not grounds enough to dismiss the judge. Therefore, all 51 DACK judges, including Arina Litvinova, continue to receive salaries as judges. According to Litvinova's's 2023 declaration, she received 1,629,000 hryvnias worth of salary while not administering justice.
The further fate of the DACK judges will be decided by the Higher Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine. Its members must assess the DACK judges to check if they are fit for the positions they hold, and then issue recommend them for appointment either to the newly formed Kyiv City District Administrative Court or to another first instance court.
Earlier, "Skhemy" reported that the District Administrative Court of Kyiv, headed by Judge Pavel Vovk, was to play a key role in the establishment of a Russia-backed government in Ukraine, ruling in favor of Viktor Yanukovych in two lawsuits about his allegedly unlawful deprivation of his presidential status.
On February 18, 2024, someone tried to access "Skhemy" journalist Heorhiy Shabayev's Telegram account. He believes this had to do with his reporting.
DEFENDING FREEDOM OF SPEECH
The authorities' response to breaches of journalists' rights – 4
1. Two collaborators complicit in kidnapping Oleh Baturyn sentenced to 12 years in prison
03.04.2024 The Suvorov District Court of Odesa sentenced two Ukrainian citizens in absentia to 12 years in prison for ordering the kidnapping of "Novy Den" journalist Oleh Baturyn for his pro-Ukrainian stance in March 2022 in Kakhovka.
The judgement was passed on March 27, 2024, reports the Public Interest Journalism Laboratory.
The court convicted the Nova Kakhovka occupation administration chair (until the fall of 2022) Volodymyr Leontiev and the so-called "advisor to the DPR governor" Valentyn Motuzenko of crimes against civilians in the territories occupied in the course of a military aggression, as well as of violating the laws and customs of war and international humanitarian law.
Oleh Baturyn was a victim in the case. He testified during the trial. In the spring of 2022, while the Kherson oblast was occupied, Russians also forcibly abducted the Tavriysk Mayor Mykola Rizak and the Nova Kakhovka City Council Secretary Dmytro Vasyliev.
The men were held captive and subjected to physical violence: severely beaten, handcuffed and restrained for a long time, deprived of water and food and harrassed psychologically. Dmytro Vasyliev died nine months after being released, but the testimony he gave to the police was read aloud in court.
The court ruled that the defendants' complicity in the crimes was proven: they gave the orders, which makes them the organizers of systematic repression against Ukrainian citizens, residents of the occupied Kherson oblast.
Valentyn Motuzenko and Volodymyr Leontiev were not in the courtroom, the judgement was announced in absentia.
Commenting on the court's ruling, Oleh Baturyn expressed hope that the Ukrainian judiciary will one day be able to identify and bring to justice not only the organizers, but also the rest of the perpetrators.
"In my opinion, the prison term is too short and does not reflect all the crimes committed by Motuzenko and Leontiev. But I am sure that this is only the first ruling, and that makes me happy. Leontiev is charged with other crimes, which means that new sentences should come shortly. What matters to me personally is that the Russians have basically punished Motuzenko already. He had been 'on the run' since the summer of 2022, and in the spring of 2023 he was thrown into a torture basement, which, judging by everything, he will not leave. This is the 'Russian world' that he so longed for. I am sure that sooner or later Leontiev will be written off from this world by his own Russian handlers," said Oleh Baturyn.
Oleh Baturyn is a journalist with the newspaper Novy Den. He was kidnapped on March 12, 2022 in Kakhovka. He was released on March 20.
Baturyn is convinced that he was kidnapped and held captive for eight days due to his reporting and vocal political stance. While in captivity, Oleh was handcuffed to a heating battery, questioned, threatened with violence, beaten and unlawfully detained for a week. According to Baturyn, both Motuzenko and Volodymyr Leontiev threatened to kill him.
The police opened criminal proceedings under Part 1 of Art. 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (violation of the laws and customs of war). Later, the law enforcers issued a suspicion notice to the so-called "advisor to the DPR governor", Valentyn Motuzenko, who gave the order to kidnap Baturyn due to his active citizenship and professional reporting.
Oleh has also said that the Russian troops occupying the Kherson oblast had lists of local journalists.
2. Court fines the men obstructing the work of two reporter crews 850 hryvnias
03.04.2024 The Kamin-Kashyrsky District Court of the Volyn oblast convicted two citizens of obstructing the work of journalists and fined them 850 hryvnias each. The judgement was passed on March 26, 2024, reports "Sudovy Reporter".
The crews of the TV channels "1+1" and "Avers" were attacked on April 27, 2021 in Stobykhivka village (Volyn). The journalists were filming a report about illegally operating sawmills in the Kamin-Kashyrsky district.
The media workers entered the premises of the company Ecopalet, where they were led by two locals. There they met two men, introduced themselves and said they wanted to talk to the owner. But the men pushed them out into the street with wooden batons. One of the men also took away the 1+1 cameraman's camera, only giving it back after the journalists left the enterprise.
The defendants pleaded not guilty. They said that the company belonged to their brother and they helped him every now and then. One day, strangers entered the premises and started filming, accompanied by two locals. The defendants claimed that they were unaware that the people entering were journalists, asked who they were and, having received no answer, asked them to leave. But the people refused and continued filming defiantly, disregarding safety rules, brazenly heading to the production rooms where woodworking machines and other dangerous equipment were in action. An argument ensued and the defendants said that they had to pick up some timber rails to defend themselves from the attack, because one of the locals had taken up a wooden board.
The two locals confirmed that the filming crews arrived in the village on their initiative to report on the illegal sawmills. Before that, one of them posted a video showing a large amount of timber products stored in the premises of Ecopalet LLC, most of which did not appear to have accounting chips. The eyewitness received an open sourced document excerpt saying that this plot of land is in communal ownership, which convinced him that they had the right to enter it.
The CEO of Ecopalet LLC said that he owned a woodworking enterprise in Stobykhivka village and that the defendants are his brothers. He received no requests for an interview from the journalists or the activists. He rents the land plot under a sublease agreement. According to the owner, the actions of his brothers in chasing out the outsiders were legal, as there was woodworking equipment on the property that is dangerous to approach. Furthermore, the equipment is expensive and must be protected from competitors. He noted that all the timber was purchased at an auction and he has the documents to confirm it. In 2020, the company was searched and part of the products were seized, but later returned due to the lack of evidence suggesting illegal activity.
The village mayor confirmed that the land plot belonged to the village council and has been subleased to Ecopalet LLC. The local authorities had no complaints against the enterprise, as it operates legally, pays taxes properly and creates jobs in the village.
The police officers who arrived at the scene noted that the filming crew's video camera and microphone have 1+1 logos, which contradicts the defense's claim that the victims could not be identified as journalists.
The 1+1 video includes the fight, during which the journalists introduce themselves as media representatives and say that they want to talk to the company's owner. A recording made by onoe of the journalists on her mobile phone shows a defendant holding a video camera with the 1+1 Studio logo in his hands, only returning it after being warned about criminal liability. On the video, on of the journalist can be heared asking to call for the director of the company for a talk, which the defendants ignore.
The details are confirmed by video footage that journalists posted online, as well as by a video recording made by an eyewitness (a local) on their mobile phone and footage from an Ecoplanet external CCTV camera.
The police opened a case under Article 171 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine ("Obstruction of the legal professional work of journalists") following the attack.
3. Prosecutor General opens a case over Slidstvo.Info journalist summons incident
08.04.2024 The Prosecutor General's Office has opened a case over the incident with summons delivery to Slidstvo.info journalist Yevheniy Shulhat, reports the press service of the Prosecutor General's Office.
The case was preliminarily filed under Part 1 of Art. 364 (Abuse of authority or office) and Part 3 of Article 171 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (obstructing the professional work of journalists); the crime is thought to be committed by SBU officers and Territorial Staffing Center employees.
Pretrial investigation in the proceedings has been entrusted to the Main Investigative Department of the State Bureau of Investigation.
On April 6, Slidstvo.Info reported that an SBU officer may have instructed the army staffing center to deliver a summons to their journalist. In this way, the special services wanted to punish the man for exposing the SBU head of cyber security Illya Vitiuk for owning elite real estate.
The Media Movement demands a police investigation into the SBU and the TSC officers in view of the incident with the Slidstvo.Info journalist.
On April 6, the UAF Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said that he had ordered an official inspection into the Slidstvo.Info report about an attempt to serve an army summons to their journalist following his investigation.
The SBU have said they were looking into the report by the Slidstvo.Info team about the the SBU allegedly using TSC officers to put pressure on journalist Yevheniy Shulhat following his investigation into the SBU's head of cyber security, Illya Vitiuk.
4. Prosecutors open a case over Kharkiv TV tower strike
23.04.2024 The Kharkiv Oblast Prosecutor's Office has opened a case over the April 22 shelling strike on the Kharkiv television tower.
As reported by the prosecutors, a pre-trial investigation into an act of violation of the laws and customs of war (Part 1 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) has been initiated.
Prosecutors and police investigators documented the impact of Russia's armed aggression.
On April 22, the Russian troops targeted a TV tower in Kharkiv, destroying it. People reported interruptions in the digital television signal.
The Russians have resumed the shelling of Ukrainian TV and radio infrastructure in 2024.
Previously, the IMI recorded such incidents back at the beginning of the full-scale invasion in 2022 (back then, 16 cases of the Russians shelling TV towers, which are civilian objects, were recorded).
In March 2024, the Russian troops deliberately struck TV infrastructure in Kharkiv oblast with drones. They also carried out missile and air strikes on the radio facilities in the Sumy oblast, leaving some municipalities without TV or radio signal. Later, Suspilne reported that due to the strikes their T2 TV channels and radio channels were temporarily unavailable in both oblasts.
The Kharkiv Oblast Military Administration chair Oleh Syneguhov said that the Russians deliberately mass targeted the television and radio infrastructure of Kharkiv Oblast with drones on the night of March 14.
Response by the media community – 4
06.04.2024 We, Ukrainian journalists and media organizations, members of the Media Movement, appeal to you with a demand to restore justice and protect the rights of journalists in Ukraine. The persecution of the Slidstvo.info journalist investigator Yevheniy Shulhat raises serious concerns about possible abuse of office and obstruction of journalistic work by the SBU, as well as exploitation of the military as a tool to hinder journalist investigations.
According to the investigative journalism agency Slidstvo.Info, journalist Yevheniy Shulhat was subjected to undue pressure. On the evening of April 1, Yevheniy Shulhat was approached by the Solomyansky TSC employees in an Obolon district mall (Kyiv). The men tried to hand him a call-up notice. The journalists analyzed the surveillance camera footage and learned that the enlistment office employees were acting on instructions from an SBU employee, namely from the Department of Counterintelligence and National Information Security. A few days prior, Slidstvo.Info had released an investigation into the head of this exact department, General Ilya Vitiuk. The agency’s journalist Yevheniy Shulhat investigated the elite real estate owned by the Vitiuk family and the sources of their income.
Before the investigation’s release, the Slidstvo.Info team received repeated hints that they should not publish the material. In light of the events that followed, such as the TSC representatives’ attempt to hand a draft notice to the journalist investigator, we see this detail as purposeful intimidation for refusing to heed the warning, and possibly as an order from above, carried out by the military structures. Moreover, the CCTV footage released by Slidstvo.Info clearly shows that the SBU was unlawfully surveilling the journalist.
Such actions suggest that the SBU is abusing their authority in order to interfere with the work of a journalist whose reporting was potentially inconvenient for the SBU leadership.
We, Ukrainian journalists, value our obligations to the country highly, especially in this difficult time when martial law is in place, and are aware of the need for every citizen to contribute to Ukraine’s defense. Thousands of our colleagues are in the army, dozens of journalists have already died defending our country. We emphasize that four of the sixteen Slidstvo.info team members have been drafted and joined the ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. However, the case we recorded raises grave concerns about military service being used as a tool to persecute journalists for their work.
Unlawful surveillance of a journalist by the special services and using the army as a tool to hinder journalistic investigations is an unacceptable and alarming precedent. We hope for understanding and an appropriate response from the law enforcement and expect answers to our questions regarding the source of the instructions, which were so unquestioningly carried out by persons in military uniform, casting a shadow on the enlistment offices’ reputation.
The other day, someone contacted the State Bureau of Investigation with a request to check the work of an enlistment office in Vinnytsia. They claimed that the enlistment office does not work properly, as they have not yet drafted the “Chesno” Movement editor-in-chief Oleksandr Salizhenko. We also remind you that in late December 2023, employees of the SBU’s National Statehood Protection Department were spying on the Bihus.info team during a New Year's corporate party.
In view the above, we demand the following:
- Immediately open a case over possible abuse of office, unlawful surveillance and obstruction of journalistic work by employees of the Security Service of Ukraine and the TSC.
- Conduct a thorough and prompt investigation into the details of the incident, including the role of the SBU and TCC employees in the events.
- Ensure reliable protection of journalists' rights and their safety while reporting.
The lack of a proper response to such incidents undermines trust in state institutions and endangers the principles of democracy and freedom of speech in Ukraine.
12.04.2024 Ukraine's civil society representatives say that they are seeing a dangerous trend of Ukrainian law enforcement bodies targeting anti-corruption activists and investigator journalists, namely through army recruitment centers and the mobilization campaign, reports "Detector Media".
The signatories point out that on April 10, 2024, the Security Service of Ukraine and the State Bureau of Investigation searched the home of Dmytro Bulakh, board chair of the Kharkiv Anti-Corruption Center (KhACC) and an active National Guard member.
"As a pretext for the search, they said that Bulakh was a person of interest in a case of enlistment-related abuse of authority (Part 5 of Article 426-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine "Abuse of authority by a military official committed under martial law or in combat"). The article provides for eight to twelve years in prison. The law enforcers are not disclosing Dmytro Burakh's procedural status, but they note that Bulakh has not been issued a suspicion notice," the statement reads.
According to the statement, the targeting of Dmytro Bulakh may be motivated by the Kharkiv Anti-Corruption Center (which he runs) reporting in February 2022 that the Deputy Chairman of the Kharkiv Oblast Council Bohdan Malyovany, who is a member of the pro-Russian faction "Opposition Platform – For Life", holds Russian citizenship he received on April 27, 2014, almost immediately after the occupation of Crimea.
Following Russia's full-scale invasion, the the KhACC stressed that a citizen of the aggressor state occupying a high rank in a local self-government body was unacceptable. On February 14, 2023, it was reported that Malyovany had resigned. At the same time, Dmytro Bulakh received a "warning" from the deputy's aides for such exposure.
The KhACC also consistently monitors public procurement deals in the Kharkiv oblast, revealing the numerous abuses in this area. This helped save the taxpayers' money during a full-scale war, but deprived many individuals of profit. Their interest in persecuting Bulakh cannot be dismissed, either.
"In view of this we consider the case opened against Dmytro Bulakh after his mobilization for alleged abuse of military office as a potential act of revenge by pro-Russian forces or local corrupt officials, carried out by the hands of the Ukrainian law enforcement bodies," the signatories stress.
They note that this is not the first attempt to target of discredit anti-corruption activists and investigator journalists, some of which had to do with the mobilization and military service. They recall the recent cases of persecution faced by the Anti-Corruption Action Center board director Vitaliy Shabunin, the Slidstvo.Info investigator journalist Yevheniy Shulhat, the "Nashi Hroshi" investigator Yuriy Nikolov, the Bihus.Info anti-corruption investigation team, the Chesno Movement chief editor Oleksandr Salizhenko, and others.
The authors of the statement are also concerned about the public campaign "with the purpose of targeted smearing of activists who expose corruption schemes, officials' Russian citizenship and excessive profits."
"In their rhetoric concerning anti-corruption activists and investigator journalists, the law enforcers disregard the presumption of innocence and manipulate a topic which is particularly sensitive to the people: mobilization and service in Ukraine's security and defense forces. Such rhetoric is unacceptable and deliberately shifts the focus of the public's attention from the subjects of anti-corruption investigations to those investigating, discrediting their work and undermining the results of these investigations," the authors add.
They point out that this harms Ukraine's international reputation plays into Russian propaganda, as it adds to Ukraine's image as an authoritarian and undemocratic country, which undermines foreign aid that is critically important for repelling Russia's aggression.
The authors put forward their demands to the country's leadership and the President.
"In view of the above, as well as the increasing trend of Ukrainian law enforcement bodies targeting anti-corruption activists and investigator journalists, we stress the following:
The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, must publicly condemn the harassment and smearing of the media and civil society representatives which occurs through mobilization and the work of the defense forces.
Representatives of state authorities and local self-government must immediately stop persecuting public activists and journalists, namely through the defense and security recruitment offices. Such actions are an unlawful abuse of office, a violation of the Constitution of Ukraine and of human rights.
Representatives of investigative bodies (in particular, SBU, SBI, the National Police) must stop abusing their authority to investigate crimes and carry out overt or undercover investigative (search) actions to persecute public activists and journalists in the interests of individual politicians or officials. Such actions contradict the objective of the judicial process (impartial investigation), constitute attempts to punish innocent persons and target them with unwarranted procedural coercion, and violate the principles of criminal proceedings. The aurhorized bodies should also investigate all the abuse cases mentioned above and bring the culprits to justice. If this is not done, we will see this as a signal for the authorities to freely continue such actions.
Ukraine's Prosecutor's Office must pay special attention to the law enforcers' actions in relation to activists and journalists, in particular those fighting corruption, as they provide procedural management in criminal proceedings. Prosecutors must prevent the law enforcement bodies from abusing their powers to persecute public activists and journalists.
Judges should pay special attention to the legality of investigative actions as they process law enforcers' warrant requests for investigative (search) actions targeting anti-corruption activists and journalists. These people is an important part of civil society, as they expose corruption, report on abuses and other unlawful actions by officials."
3. Journalists say Natalya Humeniuk interferes with Russian war crimes coverage, call for her dismissal
16.04.2024 Multiple media workers have said Natalya Humeniuk barred them from covering Russia's war crimes in the area she supervises. They demand that the military command replace Natalya Humeniuk "with a more competent person and keep her out of communications management of any kind," according to the media workers' address to the Ukrainian Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrsky, Ukraine's Minister of Defense Rustem Umerov and the Chief of the UAF General Staff Anatoliy Barhylevych.
"We are convinced that a person who manages an OSG's communications in wartime must be able to adequately and professionally interact with the media, understand the extreme importance of covering frontline developments, the need to document and report on Russia's crimes, and in no case set unwarranted restrictions that hinder the work of journalists," the address reads.
The media workers also demand to ensure journalists' access to the key districts of the Kherson oblast and the neighboring regions, in compliance with the requirements of the UAF Commander-in-Chief's Decree No. 73.
"These territories have been kept off-limits by Natalya Humeniuk for an unreasonably long time, which has caused irreparable informational harm for Ukraine," the media workers say.
4. Media Movement calls to cease pressure on Suspilne and let it keep the evening primetime slots
30.04.2024 The Media Movement members call to cease pressure on Suspilne Broadcasting and to let the company keep the evening primestime slots in the telethon.
The media workers issued an according address to President Volodymyr Zelensky, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk, Chairman of the parliamentary faction "Servant of the People" David Arakhamia, Chairman of the VRU Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy Mykyta Poturayev, Chairman of the VRU Committee on Freedom of Speech Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, and embassies of Ukraine's partner states.
The media representatives noted that there has been a series of public informational and institutional attacks on Suspilne over the last week, such as statements by deputy Maryana Bezuhla and the idea of removing Suspilne from the evening primetime slots being promoted.
The authors of the statement believe that "it is no accident that these events coincided" and express "their strong support for Suspilne Broadcasting, which showcases one of the most successful reforms implemented after the Revolution of Dignity."
"We, Ukrainian journalists, media outlets and media organizations, members of the Media Movement, call for an end to the pressure on Suspilne Broadcasting, to let the company keep the evening primetime slots in the telethon, to respond to the false statements of deputy Bezuhla, and to allocate a sufficient amount of budget money to the broadcaster for 2025," the statement reads.
The Media Movement calls:
- on the President of Ukraine, the Verkhovna Rada Apparatus, the VRU Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy, and the VRU Committee on Freedom of Speech: to take action to ensure that Suspilne Broadcasting keeps the evening primetime slots in the United News telethon;
- on the faction "Servant of the People": to respond to the false claims by deputy Maryana Bezuhla;
- on the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine: to comply with the prescribed amount of funding allocated to Suspilne Broadcasting, and, if ensuring 100% funding is impossible, to consult with the Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine to determine the expenditures for 2025 which would enable Suspilne to sustain their operations;
- on embassies of Ukraine's partner states: to increase the attention to preserving freedom of speech in Ukraine as a pillar of democracy and to preserving the public broadcaster as a flagship of Ukraine's media reforms.
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