Freedom of Speech Barometer for May 2024
The Institute of Mass Information experts recorded 16 freedom of speech violations in Ukraine in May, according to the monthly IMI monitoring “Freedom of Speech Barometer”.
Russia’s crimes (11 cases) included abduction, TV tower shelling, and cyber attacks.
The Russian aggression resulted in the deaths of two media workers who were defending Ukraine in the ranks of the UAF:
- Oleksandr Mashlay – a soldier who had been the chief editor for the socio-political newspaper and later magazine "Pravyi Postup" for a long time, killed in action in the Avdiivka area on May 7, 2024.
- Iryna Tsybukh – paramedic with the Medical Volunteer Battalion "Hospitaliers". She was the regional broadcasting department manager at Suspilne and worked with Hromadske Radio as an editor and journalist. Iryna was killed in action in Kharkiv oblast on May 29.
As of June 6, a total of 81 media workers have died in Ukraine as a result of Russia's aggression, 10 having died while reporting.
Freedom of speech violations in Ukraine in May 2024
It was reported in May that the chat administrator of the Ukrainian Telegram channel "Melitopol is Ukraine", Vladyslav Hershon, has been in Russian detention for almost 10 months. Vladyslav Hershon was detained in the occupied Melitopol on August 20, 2023 together with the administrators of the Telegram channel "RIA Melitopol". All Telegram admins detained on that day are being charged under multiple articles of Russia’s criminal code: public calls for terrorism, high treason, and espionage. They face 12 to 20 years in prison.
Vladyslav Hershon’s name was announced by the service "Kidnapped from Melitopol" on May 3, 2024, the World Press Day.
IMI also learned that Volodymyr Martynov, a journalist from Novoaidar (Luhansk oblast), was taken prisoner by the Russian occupiers in December 2022. Russian troops kidnapped him from his home on December 10, 2022. He was taken to Luhansk and kept "in a cellar" for 18 days. According to the journalist, no investigators visited him during this time, he was never interrogated or charged.
He was never allowed to shower during the entire time. His cellmate and he had a bucket for a toilet, which would only be replaced when it was full.
On December 28 he was taken to an unknown place and released. Volodymyr managed to get to his sister, and then went home to Novoaidar. He later left the occupied territory with some help. Now he lives in Pristina (Kosovo) on a program for Ukrainian journalists and works as a freelance reporter.
Volodymyr suspects that an acquaintance who would quarrel with him and hold opposing views snitched on him to the Russians.
Russia continues to shell TV towers. On May 6, the Russian troops shelled a TV tower in Bilopillya (Sumy oblast); the tower was damaged by the strike and is currently disabled. The previous time Russians targeted the Bilopillya TV tower was on March 9, 2022.
Russia continues to carry out cyber attacks on Ukrainian media. IMI recorded at least seven such cases in May. On May 9 Russian hackers targeted Ukrainian satellite broadcasting en masse, streaming the parade in Moscow instead. The attack affected the channels owned by Victor Pinchuk, as well as Dim, Espreso, Suspilne. Moreover, intense DDoS attacks were reported by Hromadske Radio and dev.ua. Both outlets believe Russia to be behind the cyber attacks.
IMI also recorded five freedom of speech-related violations committed by citizens of Ukraine. These include death threats, censorship, political pressure, and cyber attacks.
"Ukrainian Pravda" reported death threats to investigator Mykhailo Tkach and other members of the team, the media outlet's chief investigator. Mykhailo Tkach received a text in a messenger app on May 10 from someone who called themselves Oleksandr Slobozhenko (the subject of the media outlet's recent investigation "Unfit"). He offered the journalist to "make peace" in exchange for money. There have been multiple unsuccessful attempts to access the journalist's Monobank account and Tkach started receiving dozens of calls from unknown numbers and text messages with authorization codes from banks and credit companies.
Later, at least 10 "Ukrainian Pravda" employees received threatening letters with the following content: "I already wrote to Tkach about this, but he probably didn't understand, I'll try to get the idea through one last time. Sometimes knowing when to shut your mouth can save a life. My proposal to resolve the issue peacefully is valid, I'm waiting for an answer. S."
The censorship cases had to do with “topic guidelines” at Ukrinform. On May 29, "Ukrainian Pravda" released the article "No outsiders around. How the President's Office is taking control over Ukrinform", reporting that during his time as the director of the news agency Ukrinform, journalist Oleksiy Matsuka, who is considered a protege of the President's Office, introduced censorship, "topic guidelines", and planned to overhaul the agency so as to appoint the "right" people to certain positions.
The existence of “topic guidelines” was confirmed by Yuriy Stryhun, the Ukrinform correspondent for Chernihiv and Cherkasy oblasts, who said that he had receiving "topic guidelines" with a list of preferred and unwanted guests for Chernihiv oblast from the editor in December 2023.
On the following day Yuriy Stryhun received a conscription notice with a demand to come to the enlistment office by his registered address. Yuriy Stryhun calls it a strange coincidence that the enlistment office paid him such attention after he confirmed receiving “topic guidelines”.
Read more below:
RUSSIA'S CRIMES
Abduction – 2
28.05.2024 Another chat administrator of the Ukrainian Telegram channel "Melitopol is Ukraine", Vladyslav Hershon, has been in Russian detention since August 20, 2023. His name was announced by the service "Kidnapped from Melitopol" on May 3, 2024, reports RIA Pivden.
Vladyslav Hershon was detained in the occupied Melitopol on August 20, 2023. On that day, the Russians detained some administrators of the Telegram channel "RIA Melitopol" and appropriated "Melitopol is Ukraine".
The occupiers only released the video showing the administrators being detained in their propaganda media and Telegram channels on October 29, 2023. Vladyslav’s relatives recognized him in one of the videos.
According to RIA Pivden, the Russian TV report shows Hershon being led out of his cell, searched, handcuffed and taken to an interview with a Russian propagandist, who tells him that no one will swap him and that he will be in prison for 20 years.
All Telegram admins detained on August 20, 2023 are being charged under multiple articles of Russia’s criminal code: public calls for terrorism, high treason, and espionage. They face 12 to 20 years in prison.
On the night of August 21, the Russians hacked the Telegram channel of the Ukrainian media outlet "RIA Melitopol", which continued to work even after Melitopol (Zaporizhia oblast) was occupied. According to Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov, the occupiers also hacked several other pro-Ukrainian Telegram channels which have been "tirelessly reporting the terrible truth about the life in the TOT while facing constant threats from the occupiers" since the first day of the war.
RIA Melitopol (RIA Pivden) journalist Anastasia Hlukhovska, who was detained together with several Telegram channel administrators in August 2023, has been detained by Russia in an undisclosed location for almost ten months.
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.
2. Luhansk journalist Volodymyr Martynov was taken prisoner by Russia in 2022
Volodymyr Martynov, a journalist from Novoaidar (Luhansk oblast), was taken prisoner by the Russian occupiers in December 2022. He confirmed this to the representative of the Institute of Mass Information in Luhansk oblast.
He says that Russian troops broke into his house on December 10, 2022. While "searching" the place, they packed various things away and broke his music instruments.
"One of them, probably the commander, said: 'You will tell us everything now, or we will take you away.' I say: 'What should I tell you? Take me, if you have something to report.' They let me put on my jacket and shoes. They put a bag over my head. Twisted my arms behind my back and shoved me into the car. I prayed and tried to guess where I was being taken," Volodymyr recalls.
He was taken to Luhansk, but he never realized where exactly. He heard the city noise and a sound similar to a tram. He was kept "in the cellar" for 18 days.
According to the journalist, no investigators visited him during this time, he was never interrogated or charged.
They kept him in a cell together with another man. He was never allowed to shower during the entire time. His cellmate and he had a bucket for a toilet, which would only be replaced when it was full.
On December 28, no lunch was brought to the prisoners, and later people in camouflage and masks entered the cell and ordered Volodymyr to come out.
He and, as it turned out, another man, were taken to an unknown destination with their hands tied and told that they had to untie themselves and get home in 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, Volodymyr freed himself and saw his acquaintance next to him. The other man had also been detained on December 10. Volodymyr managed to get to his sister, and then went back to Novoaidar. Over time, left the occupied territory with some help.
Now he lives in Pristina (Kosovo) on a program for Ukrainian journalists and works as a freelance reporter.
Volodymyr suspects that an acquaintance who would quarrel with him and hold opposing views snitched on him to the Russians.
According to IMI, 29 Ukrainian journalists are currently in Russian captivity.
TV tower shelling – 1
1. Russian troops shell a TV tower in Sumy oblast
06.05.2024 Russian troops shelled a television tower in Bilopylla (Sumy oblast) on May 6; the TV tower was damaged by the strike and is currently disabled, reports a representative of the Institute of Mass Information.
The video of the impact of the strike was uploaded to Russian propaganda channels on Telegram. The occupiers reported hitting the tower with high-explosive aerial bombs-500 (FAB).
"Footage of enemy objects' loss: a cell tower, an army deployment point, an elevator with an electronic warfare system installed, a warehouse with ammunition, and a substation," the Russians wrote.
The Ukrainian side has not yet commented on the extent of the damage.
It will be recalled that the Russian army fired at least four times on the television tower in Bilopyl. For the first time - March 9, 2022. In June 2023, the TV tower shut down again due to a Russian attack.
On March 14, 2024, the Russian troops shelled the largest TV and radio transmitters in Sumy oblast: in Bilopillya, Sumy, Shostka, and Trostyanets. MH-1 and MH-2 broadcasting in Bilopillya was resumed in early April, reported Larysa Yakubenko, representative of the National Council for Television and Radio Broadcasting.
Cyber attacks – 8
1. Russian hackers stream Moscow parade on Pinchuk's channels and Inter
09.05.2024 Russian hackers broke into the satellite livestream of the StarLightMedia channels and Inter to broadcast the Red Square parade in Moscow.
This information was confirmed to "Detector Media" by the National Council for Television and Radio Broadcasting.
The satellite hack was first reported on Telegram.
Ukrainian providers are switching to an IPTV signal; experts are working on repelling the attack.
The signal of the StarLightMedia channels and Inter was eventually restored, said NCTRB member Maksym Onopriyenko during a Council meeting.
He said the channels promptly launched the security protocol to shut down the signal.
"Providers switched to another way of receiving the signal. But there were a few minutes of interference in the livestream during which the Victory Parade in Moscow was broadcast. The channels have gove back to their streaming networks," he said.
First Deputy Chairman of the NCTRB Valentyn Koval said that the regulator is preparing a letter to the International Telecommunication Union, a special unit of the UN.
The StarLightMedia press office specified that the parade livestream lasted from 10:00 to 10:18.
On February 23, 2023, hackers broke into the Inter stream and played the USSR anthem. This happened while Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council, was speaking at the "United Marathon". Social media users also reported that the anthem was played on the group's other channels: K2 and Zoom.
StarLightMedia is owned by Viktor Pinchuk.
2. Russian hackers continue to target Pinchuk's channels
09.05.2024 The StarLight Media channels have already suffered three Russian attacks. Hackers continued to interfere with the signal of Ukrainian TV channels after the broadcasting was restored, reports "Detector Media", citing the media group's press office.
On May 9, 2024, Russian hackers broke into the satellite livestream of the StarLightMedia channels and Inter to broadcast the Red Square parade in Moscow. The signal of the StarLightMedia channels and Inter was eventually restored. The channels promptly launched the security protocol to shut down the signal.
However, new attacks followed after that.
According to StarLight Media, after the broadcast was restored at 11:27, interference with the satellite signal began again; SES disabled the signal at 11:29. At 12:43, the channels' livestream was switched on. However, at 12:51 a new attack featuring content replacement began. As a result, the broadcast was shut down again at 12:55 p.m.
3. Russian hackers attack "Dim", stream Moscow parade
09.05.2024 Russian hackers targeted the broadcast of the TV channel "Dim" on the Astra satellite on May 9, jamming the signal and streaming the Moscow parade on the channel's airwaves.
This was reported to the Institute of Mass Information by the press office of the state-owned company "International Multimedia Broadcasting Platform of Ukraine" (IMBPU), which owns the TV channel.
According to the IMBPU, the signal absence was recorded by technicians from 12:18 to 12:20. The parade was streamed on the channel for two minutes.
The operator of the SES Astra satellite promptly shut down the Russian broadcasting. The "Dim" streaming was resumed on the Astra satellite at 13:55.
On May 9, 2024, Russian hackers broke into the satellite livestream of the StarLightMedia channels and Inter to broadcast the Red Square parade in Moscow. The signal of the StarLightMedia channels and Inter was eventually restored. The channels promptly launched the security protocol to shut down the signal.
On May 9, 2024, the StarLight Media channels said they have already suffered three Russian attacks. Hackers continued to interfere with the signal of Ukrainian TV channels after the broadcasting was restored.
4. Suspilne targeted by Russian hackers
09.05.2024 Suspilne Broadcasting was also hacked by Russian hackers, announced the PBCU board chairman Mykola Chernotytsky, reports "Detector Media".
According to him, the hackers were jamming the signal and tried to replace the content with the stream of the Moscow parade.
Suspilne's SD satellite signal has been disabled.
5. Russians attack Espreso satellite signal
09.05.2024 On May 9, Russia attacked the Espreso satellite streaming in an attempt to replace the channel's signal with a broadcast of the Moscow parade, reports Espreso on their website.
The Russian hackers targeted the Astra 4A 11766 H transponder where Ukrainian TV channels stream, including Espreso.
The livestream has been temporarily suspended until the issue is resolved.
"We call on Ukrainians to observe information hygiene so as not to help the enemy spread disinformation. All these actions by Russia are carried out in order to destabilize the situation in Ukraine," the broadcaster notes, asking the providers to ensure the reception of the TV channel's signal through Internet network providers.
On May 9, Russian hackers targeted the StarLight Media channels and Inter, Suspilne, and Dim, jamming the signal and trying to replace the content with the stream of the Moscow parade.
6. Hromadske Radio under an intense DDoS attack
12.05.2024 Hromadske Radio is fighting back a DDoS attack that started on the night of May 12, the radio station reports on their website.
"It occurred in two waves and reached 84.22 million requests at its peak. But even that was not the most intense one, there was an attack several months ago that was 10 times heavier," the company noted.
According to Serhiy Omelchenko, Hromadske Radio's chief of digital services, this has been a typical tactic on the part of those who want to make the Hromadske Radio website inaccessible in recent months. The DDoS attacks happen at night or early in the morning.
He added that the list of countries that mass requests are coming from has not changed: India, the United States, Germany, Vietnam, the United Kingdom.
Hromadske Radio's social media pages are also constantly under attack.
"Comments by fake profiles appear instantly under our social media posts. The bots commenting call for peace talks with Russia, not to support the West and to refuse aid from international partners. And we also receive many content strikes, especially when we report from the battlefield or cover yet another shelling strike. We have reached out to media lawyers for support and help, prepared statements to Meta and challenged the takedowns. Despite the bot attack and their strikes against our content, we continue to produce and post news, report on the battlefield developments and support our subscribers," said Lina Machulska, Hromadske Radio's chief social media manager.
The technicians monitor the situation and take all necessary action to ensure that users have stable access to Hromadske Radio's online resources.
"We don't know for sure who is trying to block our websites and for what purpose, but we can make a guess. The intense attacks began after the full-scale invasion in 2022," says the Hromadske Radio editor-in-chief, Victoria Yermolayeva.
She added that the team is currently doing everything in their power to fend off the attacks.
"However, to ensure that we will not lose contact, follow us on social media and on YouTube, find our channels on podcast platforms or download the application on your mobile phone. Support Hromadske Radio in our fight for the right to speak the truth," says Victoria Yermolayeva.
13.05.2024 The Russians are jamming mobile connection in the border areas of Chernihiv oblast. They are also making efforts to make their broadcasting reach these areas and spread propaganda among the locals, correspondent Talina Tarasenko tells Hromadske Radio.
She said that the Ukrainian defense forces are working to prevent this and to ensure that local residents have access to Ukrainian television and radio. Still, the correspondent says, in some municipalities Ukrainian broadcasting is completely unavailable.
"These are mostly the municipalities where almost all of the locals have already left, though" said the correspondent.
Talina also noted that the lack of mobile connection in the border areas is interrupting the work of schools.
"Offline learning is impossible there. The situation with ordinary phone connection is quite complicated. So parents and children find some additional means to help them study, help them stay in touch. And I have heard about children bringing their workbooks to teachers to have their homework checked, because submitting assignments online through social media is not always an option," said Talina Tarasenko.
On May 9, the Chernihiv Oblast Military Administration received reports about a possible attack on the Chernihiv TV tower. The city authorities urged people not to ignore the air raid alerts.
8. Dev.ua is under a DDoS attack; editors suggest Russian involvement
14.05.2024 On May 14, the website of the online media outlet dev.ua suffered an intense DDoS attack, which led to temporary problems in the website's functioning. The editors assume that the attack could have been orchestrated from Russia, reports dev.ua chief editor Stas Yurasov to AIN.UA.
According to him, the attack occurred after they switched of the Cloudflare protection, as the service had decided to continue working in Russia in 2022.
Yurasov explained that they decided to disable the service because one of the IP addresses in the Cloudflare pool was blocked in Ukraine for being used by Russian torrent networks.
Immediately after Cloudflare was shut down, the portal was targeted by a DDoS attack – 240 million requests in three hours.
The site was stabilized for a while after the team reactivated Cloudflare and stepped up anti-bot defense. However, the attackers launched a new attack, this time on the host's IP address, resulting in it being blocked.
The attackers also tried to discredit dev.ua with links to PornHub and dubious resources. Now the dev.ua website is stable.
The reasons for the attack are still unclear, but dev.ua suggests that it could have been orchestrated from Russia and, based on their previous experience with cyberattacks, may be related to their recent reporting such as an interview with the deputy head of the National Security and Defense Council, Serhiy Demedyuk, where he talked about Telegram and called Pavel Durov an agent of the Russian special services.
On May 14, Hromadske Radio reported that they were fighting back a DDoS attack that had started on the night of May 12. It occurred in two waves and reached 84.22 million requests at its peak.
CRIMEA – 2
1. Journalist Lutfiye Zudieva receives a warning from Russian anti-extremism center
07.05.2024 Crimean human rights activist, journalist Lutfiye Zudieva was handed a warning from the Russian Center for Combating Extremism. Zudieva reported this on Facebook.
She was handed a warning by "a Canköy criminal investigation department superintendent by the name Varfolomeev." He tried to interview Zudieva at the request of the Center for Combating Extremism. Zudieva refused the interview.
According to her, the warning he handed her was written in vague terms.
"This 'document' without any source data, about unspecified possible illegal actions committed at unspecified possible events, should not be handed out, let alone have any legal value, but that is how life here is at the moment," wrote Zudieva.
She noted that this was initiated not by local officers, but by their Simferopol colleagues from the Russia-installed Ministry of Internal Affairs of Crimea, who "use such warnings not at all as a means to prevent crime."
"This is exactly how censorship works, the prohibition to express opinions, the attack on independent advocacy, human rights organizations and mass media," the journalist 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.
In April 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.
29.05.2024 Citizen journalist Ruslan Suleimanov, who was sentenced to 14 years in prison, has been preliminarily registered in the Verkhnyuralsk prison (Chelyabinsk region, Russia) for "adherence to extremist ideology, predisposition to defection and violence", reports the public initiative "Crimean Solidarity", citing Ruslan's wife Elzara Suleimanova.
According to Suleimanova, her husband was registered immediately after being moved out of the PTDC in Novocherkassk. He also received two reprimands for sitting on the bed.
On March 27, 2019, mass searches of Crimean Tatar households took place in the Kamyanka and Strohanivka microdistricts of Simferopol, Crimea. Due to the large amount of case material, the authorities divided the 25 defendants in the case into five groups of five. Almost all the detainees were citizen journalists or public activists.
On November 24, 2022, the Southern District Military Court's presiding judge Vyacheslav Korsakov, together with judges Denis Galkin and Igor Shendrikov, convicted the Crimean Tatar activists, including Ruslan Suleimanov, of terrorism and an attempted coup. Activists Enver Ametov and Yashar Muedinov were sentenced to 13 years in a high-security prison, and civilian journalists Ruslan Suleimanov, Rustem Sheikhaliev, and Osman Arifmemetov were sentenced to 14 years in prison.
The political prisoners will spend four years in prison, and then their freedom of movement will be restricted for another year. The defendants have pleaded not guilty and consider their persecution to be political.
As reported earlier, Russia unlawfully holds at least 15 journalists in custody. All of them were imprisoned on false charges. Ruslan Suleimanov is one of them.
THE FREEDOM OF SPEECH SITUATION IN UKRAINE FOR WHICH UKRAINIAN CITIZENS ARE RESPONSIBLE
PHYSICAL AGGRESSION
Death threats – 1
1. "Ukrainian Pravda" reports death threats to their team, including Mykhailo Tkach
14.05.2024 "Ukrainian Pravda" editors report death threats to journalist Mykhailo Tkach, the media outlet's chief investigator.
As the team notes, Tkach received a text in a messenger app on May 10 from someone who called themselves Oleksandr Slobozhenko (the subject of the media outlet's recent investigation "Unfit"). He offered the journalist to "make peace" in exchange for money.
"The text closed with the following words: 'I advise you not to wait too long before answering. I know how to fight, too,'" the newspaper writes.
The UP noted that the next day, May 11, there have been multiple unsuccessful attempts to access the journalist's Monobank account.
The media outlet also says that Mykhailo Tkach started receiving dozens of calls from unknown numbers and text messages with authorization codes from banks and credit companies.
On May 13, at least 10 "Ukrainian Pravda" employees received threatening letters with the following content:
"I already wrote to Tkach about this, but he probably didn't understand, I'll try to get the idea through one last time. Sometimes knowing when to shut your mouth can save a life. My proposal to resolve the issue peacefully is valid, I'm waiting for an answer. Z."
The UP remarks that identical messages were sent not only to the corporate, but also to the personal e-mail inboxes of the UP journalists, including the inboxes that have not been used for a long time.
"We regard these actions as an attempt to influence and intimidate both Mykhailo Tkach and other members of Ukrainian Pravda team.
"The team is filing a statement with the law enforcers regarding attempts to pressure, threaten and obstruct journalistic work and asks them to identify the sender of these letters," the media outlet said in their statement.
CENSORSHIP, ACCESS TO INFORMATION
Censorship – 2
1. "Topic guidelines", pressure on employees: UP studies Ukrinform under Matsuka
29.05.2024 During his time as the director of the news agency Ukrinform, journalist Oleksiy Matsuka, who is considered a protege of the President's Office, introduced censorship, "topic guidelines", and planned to overhaul the agency so as to appoint the "right" people to certain positions. This is reported by "Ukrainian Pravda" in their article "No outisders around. How the President's Office is taking control over Ukrinform".
"Topic guidelines"
According to the UP, Oleksiy Matsuka shared "topic guidelienes" in the teams' group chats, indicating which topics should and should not be reported on.
"Ukrainian Pravda" published the documents sent by Matsuka to different regions. Almost every file had an "unwanted guests" column listing the people, organizations, local officials whose comments should not be used in reporting.
All documents revealed a trend: the "unwanted guests" are primarily figures oppositing the current government. However, some of them were also people from regions that have had no water supply for a long time.
The agency's staff refused to work by such "documents".
"When Matsuka found out that the 'topic guidelines' had spread throughout the agency, and not just among regional correspondents, he got scared. He denied everything at first, then said that he had only sent two columns (topics and guests. – Ed.), and the third one (with "unwanted guests." – Ed.) was written in by someone else. After a while he even went out of his way to order Ukrinform correspondents in these regions to make reports featuring all the 'unwanted guests,'" an eyewitness of the events at Ukrinform told the UP.
While speaking with the UP, people from the President's Office media team denied their involvement in the introduction of "topic guidelines" at Ukrinform. Oleksiy Matsuka refused to say where he got them.
Forming a new team
The article says that Oleksiy Matsuka and his team immediately started looking for ways to overhaul the agency in order to downsize the staff and appoint new management.
"What they failed to consider was that, according to the current law, a state institution employee can not be fired simply on the boss's whim. Even if a position is being eliminated, the person must be offered another job. So some employees from the 'old' team were openly pressured and threatened with dismissal to force them to resign of their own initiative," the article states.
The journalists report that Matsuka's team encouraged new employees with promises to postpone their conscription. The UP's sources at Ukrinform who were hired by the agency's deputy CEO Yehor Siharyov, said off the record that he listed the booking option as an important perk of the job.
The UP also writes that Matsuka's team at Ukrinform was primarily interested in financial reports.
"Lyosha had a pretty good salary back at FREEDOM (Matsuka's declaration, submitted at the time of his resignation, states that he received almost 2 million hryvnias at FREEDOM in 2023. – Ed.). He came to Karandeyev and said: 'I can't make a living with this money (the Ukrinform salary. – Ed.).' He asked for a salary at least equal to what he had at FREEDOM. The Office also asked the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy to resolve this issue. The Ministry increased his salary, agreed on bonuses for him and his team," a government official close to the state media told the UP off the record.
According to the data provided to the UP by the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy, in January–April 2024, Oleksiy Matsuka and his deputy Yehor Siharyov each received a 287% bonus from their salaries.
The deputy CEO Iryna Cherednychenko, who has been working at the agency for a long time, was assigned the lowest bonus rate – 40%.
Layoffs at Ukrinform
In early 2024, Ukrinform employees began to resign en masse. The data provided by the agency in response to a request from the UP shows that 45 people have left Ukrinform since Oleksiy Matsuka's appointment (with 30 resigning within the last three months), including heads of creative departments, journalists, videographers, photojournalists, and marketers. One of them was Maryna Synhayivska, a deputy CEO and the curator of almost all editorial team. All of them had worked at the agency for years and resisted the pressure from above in the last six months.
Ukrainian journalists (including an Ukrinform representative) meeting G7 ambassadors
In January, G7 ambassadors met with Ukrainian journalists and editors. The conversation lasted several hours. It was not Oleksiy Matsuka who was invited to represent Ukrinform at this meeting, but his deputy Maryna Synhayivska, who had still been working at the agency at that time.
The UP's sources who were present at the meeting say that Synhayivska was crying while talking about the pressure and the new management's efforts to impose censorship at Ukrinform. She also showed the ambassadors and her colleagues the "recommendations" that Matsuka sent out to the regional editorial teams.
"Everyone was shocked: both the ambassadors and us too. Everything that was said after Maryna Synhayivska's speech was dull," a meeting attendee told UP anonymously.
The decision to dismiss Matsuka
The PO learned about the meeting between the media representatives and the G7 ambassadors immediately. According to the UP's sources in the President's entourage, Bankova St. immediately started discussing possible scenarios of dodging the bullet "so that no one would know that they screwed up" at Ukrinform.
For several months, OP and MCIP discussed inviting an expert who would work at the agency and monitor its adherence to standards. Then there was an idea to create an independent supervisory board. But no decision was made.
According to the UP's sources in the Cabinet of Ministers and the PO, Bankova St. finally decided to follow the well-paved path – to dismiss Oleksiy Matsuka. No person – no problem.
An Ukrinform correspondent in Chernihiv and Cherkasy oblasts Yuriy Stryhun confirmed to Suspilne that he did receive "topic guidelines" with a list of preferred and unwanted guests for Chernihiv oblast from the editor in December 2023.
In the previous three years of his working at the news agency, the journalist had never been sent such "documents", he said.
"I have been working at Ukrinform for three years. Under the previous boss, Oleksandr Kharchenko, we did not have any 'topic guidelines', any prohibitions or recommendations regarding guests. Each correspondent would approve a topic with their regional editor, do their job, and there weren't any bans," Yuriy Stryhun noted.
He says that everything changed when Oleksiy Matsuka was appointed Ukrinform CEO in November 2023.
"Some time passed, until mid-December, I think, and he sent us a message (well, not he, but our oblast editors, who received these documents with lists of preferred / unwanted guests from him). It was a two-page file. One column listed the preferred speakers, the other the unwanted ones. The preferred ones included representatives of the Chernihiv Oblast Administration, some deputies (with brief characteristics), and the unwanted ones were mainly representatives of the former Chernihiv Mayor Vladyslav Atroshenko, and the acting mayor Oleksandr Lomako", Yuriy Stryhun said.
However, the journalist added, he mostly ignored the "topic guidelines" while working.
Previously
On May 24, 2024, Oleksiy Matsuka announced that he had resigned as the Ukrinform director general.
It was reported on May 23 that the spokesman of the UAF Eastern Group, Colonel Serhiy Cherevaty, has been appointed director general of the national news agency Ukrinform.
As IMI reported, on May 23, President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree ordering that the director general of the Ukrainian National News Agency Ukrinform be an army serviceperson.
Institute of Mass Information director Oksana Romaniuk has said that an army officer running the news agency Ukrinform may face a direct conflict of interest.
At his first meeting with the Ukrinform team, Serhiy Cherevaty said that no major staff changes were planned and that he would take healthy ideas from the team into account while organizing Ukrinform's work.
The director of the Institute of Mass Information, Oksana Romaniuk, believes that in order to solve the censorship crisis at Ukrinform, the President's Office should ensure a transparent competition for the post of the media outlet's director.
2. Ukrinform correspondent who spoke out about the "topic guidelines" summoned to the enlistment office
31.05.2024 Yuriy Stryhun, the Ukrinform correspondent for Chernihiv and Cherkasy oblasts who publicly confirmed the existence of "topic guidelines" in the agency on May 30, received a conscription notice with a demand to come to the enlistment office by his registered address, May 31.
The journalist reported this to IMI.
The notice was not delivered to the journalist's registered address, but sent to the Kyiv office of Ukrinform (his workplace). Yuriy Stryhun also told IMI that Ukrinform's newly appointed CEO Serhiy Cherevaty had issued a separate order for the journalist to visit the enlistment office as soon as possible and report back. According to the journalist, he was also offered to come to Kyiv and physically sign a confirmation that he received the notice and the corresponding order from the Ukrinform management.
"I received a draft notice today telling me to come to the Talne TSC (Cherkasy oblast. – Ed.) on Monday, June 3, to update my data," he said.
Yuriy Stryhun calls it a strange coincidence that the enlistment office paid him such attention after he confirmed receiving “topic guidelines” listing preferred and unwanted guests for Chernihiv region from the Ukrinform editor in December 2023.
According to the journalist, he is 57 and has never served in the army.
INDIRECT PRESSURE
Political pressure – 1
07.05.2024 The Zaporizhia communal channel "MTM" reports pressure and interference in their editorial policy by Yevhen Kovalenko, the chief of internal policy, press and information at the Zaporizhia City Council. The official denied the allegations and claimed corruption on the part of the channel's director, Iryna Poliyektova.
The channel reported the pressure to the Institute of Mass Information in a letter signed by the acting head of the communal company "MTM", Svitlana Zaychenko. She substitutes for Iryna Poliyektova, who has been suspended.
In the letter, the channel claims that Kovalenko "started his attempts to build a shadow management at MTM" immediately after his appointment in May 2023.
The channel's allegations regarding the City Council official
The channel accuses Kovalenko of actions such as:
- "requiring third-party intervention in the editing of the informational content prepared for being aired on the channel";
- "unlawful interference in news reports of high public interest in time of martial law."
The letter also mentions targeted pressure on the MTM director Iryna Poliyektova, such as:
- "refusing to approve the director's business trip to Kyiv to receive a media award for the company";
- "searching for arbitrary reasons to deprive the company director of bonuses for non-existent violations and mailing a written bonus refusal to the company".
The channel accuses the City Council official of "creating a climate and a model of relations between the internal politics, press and information department of the City Council and the company that are similar to administrative terror, manual control and strict censorship"; "a complete lack of effective support and constructive coordination of joint action to develop the only broadcaster in the city."
The channel remarks that they publicly reported on the pressure by Yevhen Kovalenko on April 12, 2024, and appealed to the law enforcement and supervisory authorities on this matter.
The letter says that later, on April 15, Iryna Poliyektova was suspended as head of MTM due to an official investigation being ordered. On April 18, the second order on official investigation was approved, based on Yevhen Kovalenko's application on the excess of authority and non-compliance with the law committed by Iryna Poliyektova.
The TV channel believes that both investigations were opened through corrupt means.
"It is obvious that both investigations are corrupt, unlawful, grossly violate the rights of a communal media outlet – the TV channel "MTM" – and testify to another instance of total and illegal administrative pressure by the body managing the company's property (Yevhen Kovalenko) on the normal operation of the only media actor in Zaporizhzhia city (the telecaster)," the letter says.
Yevhen Kovalenko, the chief of Internal Policy, Press and Information at the Zaporizhia City Council, has denied the censorship allegations, claimed that the channel's director Iryna Poliyektova has broken the law, and reported that two official probes into alleged corruption and abuse of office by her have been opened.
In the comment to IMI's regional representative, Yevhen Kovalenko noted that the conflict was not about censorship or influence on the channel's editorial policy, but about subordination and violations by the communal company's director.
"There is both a political and an ethical aspect to this. MTM is a communal company and Zaporizhzhia City Council is its owner. The director of a communal company is appointed under a contract signed by the Mayor. The body managing the property of this company is the internal policy department, which I am in charge of. What does it mean? We define all obligations under the contract. However, from the day of Iryna Poliyektova's appointment, there have been subordination issues. Some political contexts began to appear and interaction was not smooth. For instance, a year ago, the channel's management started claiming interference in the MTM editorial policy. However, the channel's editorial board, which includes some City Council deputies, convened on this issue and found no pressure. Iryna Yuriyivna was present at this meeting, too, and she agreed with the findings," the official said.
He also noted that he received no answers to his questions regarding the channel's administrative and financial activities.
"As the manager, I ask questions, but receive no answers from my official subordinate. The questions concerned the channel's finances, among other things: the director did not even attend the meetings discussing this. Essentially, it was me pushing for funding for the channel," Yevhen Kovalenko said.
He also said that in late November 2023, the City Council received documents from the Department of Strategic Investigations asking for paperwork related to the MTM TV channel.
"We provided some of the documents and requested some from the TV channel. However, our letter was ignored. We instructed them to provide these documents to us. That letter was also ignored by the channel's management. Then we received a letter from the Department of Strategic Investigations, saying that they had 10 cases opened against the MTM director Iryna Poliyektova over administrative offenses related to corruption," Kovalenko said.
He said that the MTM director was currently under two official investigations. One probe is related to the application by the Department of Strategic Investigations, and the second on due as to do with abuse of office, when Iryna Poliyektova went on air with a statement about an "alarming situation around the MTM channel."
Iryna Poliyektova was appointed director of the company "MTM" in late November 2021. Before that, she had never worked in the media, calling herself an HR consultant, and was affiliated with the NGO "Ukrainian Business Women in Zaporizhzhia Oblast". She is currently a candidate for a member of Ukraine's National Council on Television and Radio Broadcasting, nominated by the NGO "Territory of Original Projects Organization".
On March 7, 2024, the Ordzhonikidze District Court of Zaporizhzhia found Iryna Poliyektova guilty of failing to report a conflict of interest and passing a decision related to such a conflict, reported the Zaporizhia Investigation Center (ZIC).
The decision in question was that it in January 2022, two months after being appointed director of the TV channel, Poliyektova hired her daughter Sofya as a promotion department information support expert.
Right after that, according to the investigation, Poliyektova signed two more orders, giving her daughter a bonus "for high achievements" amounting to 50% of the daughter's salary and an additional reward for proactive work, amounting to 12% of the salary. Sofya worked in the company for two months and resigned in late March 2022.
Director Poliyektova has filed an appeal against this decision to the Zaporizhzhia Court of Appeal.
Official investigations should be completed in mid-June. The employer will make further decisions regarding the channel director after that, and after hearing the ruling by the Zaporizhzhia Court of Appeal.
Yevhen Kovalenko also reported that after the ZIC released their material mentioning the conflict between him and the TV channel, and after MTM's claims about pressure, he asked for his control over MTM to be suspended due to a possible conflict of interests.
On April 18, 2024 the Zaporizhzhia district police has opened proceedings under the article "Gross violation of an employment contract" following a statement from Iryna Poliyektova, the director of the Zaporizhzhia communal TV channel MTM.
The spokeswoman for the Zaporizhzhia National Police HQ, police captain Anna Tkachenko, reported this to the IMI representative in Zaporizhzhia oblast.
According to her, the pre-trial investigation started on April 18, 2024.
"The pre-trial investigation in the proceedings under Part 1 of Art. 173 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine on gross violation of an employment contract has been initiated follwoing Iryna Poliyektova's appeal. The data was entered into the URPTI and a case has been opened. We are currently taking action to find out all the details related to the event," she said.
Anna Tkachenko clarified that no separate proceedings opened following the TV channel's allegations regarding pressure by Zaporizhia City Council officials have been reported.
ONLINE PRESSURE
Cyber attacks – 1
1. "Syla Pravdy" receives a phishing email about their Facebook page
03.05.2024 The editors of the Investigative Journalism Center "Syla Pravdy" received a phishing email whose senders posed as the company Meta. Chief editor Yuriy Horbach reported this to the representative of the Institute of Mass Information in Volyn oblast.
According to him, the phishing email arrived on May 2 and was about the media outlet's Facebook page.
"The letter went to the spam folder right away, but we check it on a regular basis, so we noticed the message. It looked very believable, but the sender's domain and the website to which the letter forwarded you seemed suspicious," the editor said.
"Syla Pravdy's" journalist, graphic designer Anton Buhaychuk noted in a comment to IMI that the website to which the link in the email leads has several phishing hallmarks.
According to him, Facebook can send such notifications through the platform itself and has no need to do so by mail. In addition, the layout of the service is poorly designed and hosted on the cloud service Vercel, which offers free hosting for web applications.
“A large corporation such as Facebook (Meta) definitely has more reliable ways of posting information for users. Even without special expertise, you can see that the link to the page does not contain the words Facebook or Meta. Even though some criminals manage to bypass this aspect, in this case they didn't even try very hard," said Anton Buhaychuk.
He stressed that searching the main address of the link in the letter "https://help-center-campaign-for-business.vercel.app/" leads to a template website that is related neither to Facebook nor to any notifications.
"To an average user, this will be realize to understand that the website is phishing," concluded Anton Buhaychuk.
Ihor Rozkladay, deputy director of CEDEM (an organization that is a trusted partner of Meta), noted that although the letter had an addressee, it was not by Meta. "I highly recommend not to open such emails on your phone, but to view them on your computer; I myself have received such letters too," he noted.
DEFENDING FREEDOM OF SPEECH
The authorities' response to freedom of speech violations – 5
06.05.2024 The Chernivtsi District Administrative Court declared the refusal by the utility company "Chernivtsi Trolleybus Administration" to provide public information to journalists with the Khmelnytsky media outlet ZHAR.INFO, to be unlawful.
The judgement was passed on April 25, 2024, fully satisfying the lawsuit filed by journalist Alyona Bereza.
The court ordered the utility company to provide the editors with public information within five working days from the date the ruling was issued. However, the company may appeal the court's decision.
On October 20, 2023, the media outlet sent a request for public information to the company, asking for scanned copies of documents related to the introduction of an automated payment accounting system in the Chernivtsi passenger transport.
The company responded by saying that the requested information "can be obtained from publicly available sources." Disagreeing with such an reply, the editors filed a lawsuit
Oksana Maksymeniuk, the chief lawyer of the IRPD (Institute for Regional Press Development) and ZHAR.INFO's defense attorney in the case, advises journalists to sue in such cases.
"Journalists should sue so that the court orders the information managers to provide the public information, as court judgements will discipline the information managers: do not shirk from providing information or respond with non-answers, but process requests and provide information as the according laws require," she said.
Oksana Maksymeniuk also noted that journalists should not be afraid to file lawsuits against companies, because such judicial practice is important. According to the lawyer, court practice is currently on the side of those requesting information.
2. Court orders the VRU Apparatus to provide Khmelnytskyi journalists with requested information
09.05.2024 The Khmelnytskyi District Administrative Court ruled that the refusal by the Office for Citizen Appeals of the VRU Apparatus to provide public information to the Khmelnytskyi media outlet ZHAR.INFO to be unlawful and arbitrary.
The judgement was passed on May 8, 2024, fully satisfying the lawsuit filed by journalist Alyona Bereza.
The court ordered the VRU Apparatus to provide the requested information as required by the current law. However, the ruling may be appealed within 30 days.
On March 20, 2024, Khmelnytskyi media ZHAR.INFO filed a lawsuit against the Apparatus of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on behalf of their journalist Alyona Bereza for refusing to provide public data on the overseas business trips by the deputies representing the Khmelnytskyi oblast. Bereza sent several requests to the VRU Apparatus: on November 28, 2023; January 10 and February 7, 2024.
The Office for Citizen Appeals of the VRU Apparatus responded by saying that a document that would contain the requested information could not be created in the Apparatus and was not in its possession, but could only be obtained by summarizing and analytically processing data. The Office also claimed that the VRU Apparatus was not the manager of the requested information.
Disagreeing with such a reply, the editors sued.
Having heard the case, the court concluded that "the response given to the plaintiff's request should be declared unlawful" and that the journalist's claims are well-founded and should be granted.
In the judgement, the court also noted that the Office provided no evidence to prove that they were not the manager of the information or that they did not possess the information or the documents and did not in any way prove that the documents contained classified information. Moreover, the Office failed to prove that the requested information could only be obtained by summarizing and analytically processing data.
3. Police to investigate death threats to Ukrainian Pravda journalists under two articles
15.05.2024 The police have opened proceedings over death threats to "Ukrainian Pravda" journalists, reports the Kyiv National Police.
The proceedings were initiated under two articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine:
- part 2 of Article 171 ("Obstruction of legal professional work of journalists");
- part 1 of Article 345-1 ("Death threats or violent threats to a journalist").
The police noted that they learned of the death threats while monitoring social media.
"According to the post, a journalist with an online media outlet started receiving threatening messages after the release of his report. Furthermore, someone tried to hack into his online banking profile," the police said.
The articles stipulate that the perpetrators should face up to three years in prison.
Journalist Mykhailo Tkach noted that he has the victim status in 12 cases related to obstruction of reporting:
- eight cases are not being investigated at all and there has been no appropriate response;
- four cases are pending in courts;
- one case is being tried by the European Court of Human Rights.
"So if someone thinks that death threats or pressure matter to me in any way except from the procedural standpoint, then this someone was wrong again. Since the text messages were sent from anonymous accounts, I hope that the official investigation will identify whether it was Mr. Slobozhenko or someone else trying to take advantage of the situation," Mykhailo Tkach wrote.
On May 15, 2024, "Ukrainian Pravda" editors reported death threats to journalist Mykhailo Tkach, the media outlet's chief investigator. The threats started coming after the release of the investigation "Unfit".
4. Police opens case over the phishing email sent to "Syla Pravdy"
15.05.2024 The Lutsk District Prosecutors opened a case over the phishing emails sent to the Investigative Journalism Center "Syla Pravdy" in early May at the request of the NGO "Institute of Mass Information".
"Syla Pravdy" chief editor Yuriy Horbach reported this to the IMI representative in Volyn oblast.
The journalist received a notice from the district prosecutor's office about proceedings being opened under:
- part 3 of Article 15 ("Attempted criminal offense");
- part 1 of Article 171 ("Obstruction of legal professional work of journalists").
According to him, on May 7, the data on an attempt to obstruct the reporting by "Syla Pravdy" journalists was entered into the Unified Register of Pretrial Investigations.
The prosecutor's office reported that the probe will be carried out by the investigation department of the Lutsk District Office of Volyn National Police HQ.
On May 2, the editors of the Investigative Journalism Center "Syla Pravdy" received a phishing email whose senders posed as the company Meta. The email caught the team's attention because Facebook can send such notifications through the platform itself and has no need to do so by mail.
Chief editor Yuriy Horbach told the IMI representative that he had been questioned by the police as a witness on May 14. He shared the details with the police and provided evidence of the phishing email he had received and the link to an IMI news story about the incident.
5. Health resort loses appeal to Rivne 1 TV who reported on their Russian ownership
27.05.2024 The North-Western Commercial Court of Appeal dismissed the complaint filed by the health resort "Chervona Kalyna", which demanded that the TV channel "Rivne 1" retract some statements in the journalistic investigation about the health resort's new owner, the Russian businessman Yaroslav Zhdan, and a money laundering scheme involving the venue.
The judgement was passed on April 2, 2024.
In January 2024, the Rivne Oblast Commercial Court declined "Chervona Kalyna's" defamation lawsuit against the TV channel "Rivne 1". The first instance court ruled that the health resort failed to prove that the facts laid out in the journalistic investigation were false or the reported information's harm to the resort's reputation.
According to "Chervonaya Kalyna", first instance court's judgement was "unlawful and arbitrary". The appeal also included a request to re-examine the case and declare the information reported by the TV channel in their investigation as unreliable and defamatory to the Mykola Syvyi Health Resort "Chervona Kalyna". Furthermore, the resort demanded that "Rivne 1" retract the information and pay all the court expemses.
The health resort's lawsuit
"Chervona Kalyna" sued "Rivne 1" over their report "Is the pearl of the Rivne oblast really run by Russians and used to siphon millions?" The health resort wanted a retraction of many quotes by the investigator Illya Tomashevsky and other people featured in the report.
The investigation is based on documents obtained from sources and testimonies by dismissed employees of the resort. The article reports that after the previous CEO of the resort, Yaroslav Syvy, was murdered in 2022, the new acting manager started buying shares of the enterprise and looking for an investor. The new investor and owner of 92% of the resort's shares was the "Areji Yu" LLC, which belongs to the Cyprus company "Frowlaria Holdings LTD".
"And the actual owner (of the Cyprus company. – Ed.) is the Russian citizen Yaroslav Zhdan, who, according to the Russian media, has been featured in several high-profile scandals over dubious withdrawals of huge sums of money from the companies he runs," the report says. In their appeal, the health resort claimed this to be untrue.
The appeal court's judgement
The North-Western Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal by "Chervona Kalyna" and upheld the ruling of the first instance court. According to the judges, the resort failed to provide sufficient evidence that the TV channel published misleading information that harms the sanatorium's image.
However, the court of appeal reduced the legal expenses aid for "Rivne 1" from over ten thousand to eight thousand hryvnias.
Response by the journalist community – 1
1. Journalists call on the VRU to reject the draft bill restricting access to court rulings
23.05.2024 Ukrainian journalists and media organizations call on the Verkhovna Rada not to pass the draft bill No. 7033-d "On Amendments to Some Laws of Ukraine on Preventing Disclosure of Certain Information in Court Rulings", according to the statement signed by the Institute of Mass Information, the court journalism outlet Graty, the NGO and group of media outlets "Detector Media", and the Media Movement.
The signatories believe that this draft bill will significantly impede reporting on court cases related to the war, thus depriving the public of control over justice in important court processes.
The initiative "effectively makes rulings in cases related to the war, national security, army, and mobilization, which are of significant public interest, off-limits to the public."
"We view the draft bill No. 7033-d as an attempt at censorship, which will significantly narrow the possibilities for public control over important judicial processes and is likely to facilitate arbitrary rulings," the statement reads.
In addition, journalists with media outlets that often report on court publicly important processes and investigations see that the draft bill risks to interfere with their work and infringe on the readers' rights to receive reliable information about the events in Ukraine.
"Since the beginning of Russia's large-scale invasion, we have been actively monitoring and covering the trials in crimes related to the war, national security, collaborators, draft dodging, etc., using data from the Unified Register of Court Decisions as a source," the statement said.
The signatories list the provisions of the draft bill No. 7033-d:
- Postponing the publication of court rulings – the draft bill proposes that the documents appear in the register only one year after martial law is lifted.
- Giving judges the right not to release information that was announced in open court "for security reasons" if the judges believe it "may help identify" places and critical infrastructure facilities. "However, this information can be easily found online. And judges will be guided by their convictions only when making such decisions. All rulings in these cases that were passed since the introduction of martial law will disappear from the court register," the statement said.
The signatories note that even now, instead of withholding only sensitive information from the public, judges prefer to close off the entire court process, "vaguely referring to 'security councerns', which makes journalists unable to find the ruling in a case in the register."
"The new draft bill will scale up and legitimize this practice," the signatories note and call on the deputies to reject this draft bill.
On May 16, multiple human rights watchdogs called on the Verkhovna Rada not to pass the draft bill No. 7033-d "On Amendments to Some Laws of Ukraine on Preventing Disclosure of Certain Information in Court Rulings." The watchdogs stress: the draft bill limits access to information and the court register rulings, which are of significant public interest and are important for public control over the work of the law enforcement.
Lawsuits filed by journalists – 1
1. NikVesti sues the Mykolayiv TPP over access to data on the management's salaries
28.05.2024 The online news outlet "NikVesti" is suing the PJSC "Mykolaiv Thermal Power Plant" over the 100$ state-owned company's refusal to provide data on the salaries of the management and the supervisory board.
Chief editor Kateryna Sereda spoke to the IMI about this. The first court hearing was earlier this month, the next one is scheduled for mid-June.
"We sent a request for public information on January 24, 2024. In it, I asked for data on the salaries and bonuses received by the Mykolaiv TPP management. The letter also included a request for information on rewards, expense compensations, and additional benefits provided to members of the supervisory board of the private joint-stock company Mykolaiv TPP," the journalist said, adding that the editors received no reply before the deadline set by the law on access.
"NikVesti" wants to make the Mykolaiv TPP provide the requested data through court. The lawsuit was filed by Oksana Maksymeniuk, media attorney and the chief lawyer at the Institute for Regional Press Development (IRPD).
While preparing for the hearing, representatives of the Mykolaiv TPP responded to the jorunalists' claim by arguing that data on salaries, bonuses, material assistance, any other payments received by employees of a non-governmental body not from the state or local budget may be classified and that they were under no obligation to respond to the request. The PJSC also noted that the requested information about the employees of a private enterprise is considered confidential and can only be disclosed with the consent of the persons who have restricted access to the information.
"The Mykolaiv TPP did reply to the team's request for information three months after it was submitted, but it did not tell us the management's salaries. They justify their position by claiming that they are not a state authority, and therefore should not disclose such information publicly," said Kateryna Sereda.
According to Clause 5-1 Part 4 of Art. 21 of the Law of Ukraine "On Information", classified information cannot include data on the work of state-owned and communal unitary companies or business associations if over 50% of the shares in their authorized capital belong to the state or a territorial community, or of business associations 50% or more of whose shares belong to a company that 100% belongs to the state or a territorial community, if such data must be public according to the law.
The journalist notes that 100% of the shares of the PJSC "Mykolaiv TPP" essentially belong to the state-owned JSC "National Joint-Stock Company Naftogaz Ukraine" which means that the law forbids the company from refusing their request.
The media outlet replied to the company's response to the lawsuit, noting that the information they requested from the Mykolaiv TPP is of public interest, since the city was having serious heating problems during the 2023–2024 heating season, which makes it important for the city's residents to know about the income of the management of a company which failed to sufficiently fulfil its responsibilities to provide heating to the people.
Help us be even more cool!
