Freedom of Speech Barometer for September 2024
The Institute of Mass Information experts recorded 23 freedom of speech violations in Ukraine in September, according to the monthly IMI monitoring “Freedom of Speech Barometer”.
Russia's crimes (11 cases) inlcuded assassination attempts, damaging media offices, legal pressure, cyber attacks, and shelling strikes that caused Ukrainian broadcasting to be disabled.
Three media professionals were killed in action due to Russia's aggression:
- Pavlo Parkhomenko, a serviceman of the Ukrainian Armed Forces of Ukraine and Priamyi TV cameraman.
- Ihor Zakharov, a soldier and cameraman (previously with Ukraina TV and 1+1); his death was reported in September. Ihor had gone missing a year before that and his fate had been unknown. Recently his remains were discovered and the examination confirmed that it was him.
- Stanislav Zhytnytskyi, a soldier and line producer with the STB and Novyi Kanal. He was killed in action in September while performing a combat task.
According to the IMI, as of October 2, 89 media professionals have died in Ukraine as a result of Russia's full-scale aggression, with 11 of those dying while reporting.
Freedom of speech in Ukraine in September 2024
During the study period, the experts recorded two cases of attempted assassination of media professionals, targeting Dmytro Gordon and Odesa journalists.
The Suspilne office in Dnipro was damaged by Russian shelling. The main entrance door was damaged, windows on the second floor of the main building and in the former radio building were broken. None of the employees were injured. At the time of the shelling strike, one person was in the office – she managed to take cover in a safe place.
Due to the hostilities and the difficult safety situation in Hirnyk (Donetsk oblast), Hromadske Radio ceased broadcasting. In Pokrovsk (Donetsk region), a Russian shelling strike destroyed the broadcasting equipment used by Hromadske Radio and the local TV channel "Capri".
The digital news aggregator FREEDOM faced a massive DDoS attack on their website. The attack took place in two waves. The website received over 30 million requests in a short time from Singapore, USA, United Kingdom, Thailand, Germany, Indonesia, France, China, Hong Kong and other countries. The channel believes that Russian hackers are behind the attack.
Russia's FSB opened criminal cases against three foreign journalists for reporting from Sudzha: Australia's ABC News correspondents Fletcher Yeung and Kathryn Diss, and freelancer Mircea Barbu, who reports for the Romanian media outlet HotNews. All three are charged with illegally crossing the border and filming near Sudzha.
The IMI also recorded 12 freedom of speech violations not related to Russia's war on Ukraine. These were cases of physical aggression against journalists (attacks, threats, obstruction), restriction of access to public information, cyber attacks, and legal pressure.
MOST journalist Olena Hnitetska was attacked by an unknown man on a school's premises in Kherson. The man shoved her and took away her phone, tossing into a pit where construction equipment was working.
In Zaporizhzhia, residents of a local private sector interfered with the work of Elmira Shahabudtdynova, a journalist with the local website 061.ua, as she was photographing the aftermath of a Russian shelling strike. The people blocked her way, insulted her, threatened her, and demanded she delete the pictures she had already taken. They claimed that journalists only make things worse and that it is them who cause the shelling.
Journalists from several Ukrainian and international media outlets reported obstruction by officials and police in Poltava: they were not allowed to enter the site of a Russian missile strike. The Russian missile attack on Poltava on September 3 killed over 50 people and injured nearly 300. The building of the Institute of Communications and the nearby hospital were hit.
Restriction of access to public information was reported by:
- the Zaporizhzhia Center of Investigations (ZCI), who were refused information on the price of underground school construction by the Zaporizhia state-owned enterprise "Local Roads of Zaporizhzhia Oblast";
- "Poltavska Dumka", who received no reply to their query regarding the repair of the Hadyach–Opishnya highway from the Infrastructure Reconstruction and Development Service in Poltava oblast;
- the investigative journalism center NikCenter, whom the Odesa Oblast Military Administration (OVA) refused to provide the list of persons who were nominated for state awards during the war;
- the "Suspilne Poltava" journalist Ihor Izotov, who says that the Poltava Oblast Council press office did not provide the TV channel with a link to the August 30 session livestream because of his post in his own Telegram channel.
The Poltava City Council's executive committee held a meeting which was off-limits for the media, yet was attended by journalists from the TV channel IRT-Poltava.
The investigative journalism agency "Slidstvo.Info" suffered a DDoS attack after releasing an investigation into the high-end property owned by the Minister of Agrarian Policy, Vitaliy Koval. The team believes that the attack was directly connected with the Koval investigation, as the attack began an hour after its release.
Read the full monitoring below:
RUSSIA'S CRIMES
Assassination attempts – 2
1. FSB agents preparing sabotage operations, Dmytro Gordon's assassination detained in Kyiv – SBU
03.09.2024 Four agents of Russia's FSB, coordinated by an ex-deputy of the outlawed "Party of Regions", were detained in Kyiv while preparing sabotage operations and collecting data on Ukraine's public figures, including the Ukrainian media personality Dmytro Gordon, for assassination purposes, reports the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).
According to the investigators, the agent network was engaged in reconnaisance and subversion in Ukraine. It had a hierarchical structure with clearly defined roles. In addition to the ex-deputy as their curator, it included a saboteur, a supplier of explosive devices, and an agent specializing in external surveillance.
The agents were planning a series of detonations on Ukrzaliznytsia's railway tracks to disrupt the Defense Forces logistics. Namely, they were to blow up a Kyiv oblast track which the Ukrainian Armed Forces use to transport equipment and personnel to the frontline. However, the SBU managed to prevent this.
The agents were also tasked with collecting data on Ukrainian public figures of interest to the FSB with the aim of their assassination. In particular, the FSB tried to obtain data on where certain individuals live and visit, their daily schedule and social circle. According to the SBU, Dmytro Gordon was one of the people whose assassination the Russian special services were preparing.
The detainees were searched and their communication devices and digital gadgets were seized.
All four detainees are in custody. They have been notified of suspicion under the following articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine: Art. 111 (treason); Art. 113 (sabotage); Art. 258 (terrorism).
2. Group conspiring to murder activists and journalists detained in Odesa
19.09.2024 The leaders of an Odesa group which calls itself "Templars" were detained on suspicion of creating illegal armed formations and conspiring to seize power, reports "Dumska", citing its own sources in the police.
According to the publication's source, Oleh Maltsev and his closest associate Kostyantyn Slobodyaniuk were detained on September 12. The court ruled to detain them without bail.
According to the investigation data cited by "Dumska", the men created a militant structure (an "operational combat unit") after the start of the full-scale war. The unit was supposed to arrange sabotage, murder activists, etc. if Russian troops come close to the city.
According to the Institute of Mass Information's own sources, their hit list included several local journalists. As reported by "Dumska", Maltsev himself expected to chair the occupation administration of Odesa or become a high-ranking official.
"The terrorist group included stormtroopers, snipers, scouts, and signalmen. They bought a lot of firearms and ammunition, which were seized by the police during searches," the newspaper writes, citing their sources in the law enforcement agencies.
In 2015, Oleh Maltsev publicly threatened the "Channel 7" and "Tretiy Tsifrovyi" journalists who released an investigation mentioning him, announcing a "hunt" for them.
Damaging media offices – 1
1. Suspilne office damaged by Russian strike on Dnipro
20.09.2024 The Suspilne office in Dnipro was damaged by Russian shelling on September 20, reports the broadcaster's press service.
In the evening, the Russian troops shelled an education facility in the city, affecting the Suspilne branch based nearby.
According to Suspilne Dnipro acting manager Kateryna Lysiuk, the main entrance door was damaged, windows on the second floor of the main building and in the former radio building were broken.
None of the employees were injured. At the time of the shelling strike, one person was in the office – she managed to take cover in a safe place.
The Sobornyi district police of Dnipro city has opened a case under part 3 of Article 110 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine ("Tresspassing against the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine").
The investigation department of the Security Service of Ukraine in Dnipropetrovsk oblast is involved in the investigation.
Legal pressure – 4
1. Russia puts 7 journalists on wanted list for reporting from Sudzha
13.09.2024 The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia announced a wanted list of seven Ukrainian and foreign journalists who are being prosecuted in Russia for reporting from the Kursk region, writes "Mediazona", which found the journalists' profiles in the Ministry’s wanted persons database.
The following journalists are now wanted:
- CNN correspondent Nick Paton Walsh;
- journalists with the Italian TV channel RAI Stefania Battistini and Simone Traini;
- Germany’s DW correspondent Nick Connolly;
- Ukrainian journalists Natalya Nahorna, Diana Butsko and Olesya Borovyk.
Earlier, the Federal Security Service of Russia initiated cases against the above-mentioned seven journalists. The prosecution was triggered by the journalists’ reports from Suzha, Kursk region, during the UAF incursion aimed to fight off the aggressor.
2. FSB opens case against Australia's ABC News reporter Fletcher Yeung
27.09.2024 Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) has opened a criminal case against Australia's ABC News correspondent Fletcher Yeung for alleged illegal border crossing and filming in the Suzha district, reports Mediazona.
Cases were also opened against:
- ABC News correspondent Kathryn Diss;
- freelancer Mircea Barbu, who reports for the Romanian media outlet HotNews.
All three journalists are suspected of illegally crossing Russia's border in the Kursk region (Part 3 of Article 322 of the Russian Criminal Code).
The prosecution was triggered by the journalists' reports from Sudzha city, Kursk region, following the Ukrainian Armed Forces' incursion aimed to fight back against the aggressor.
The Australian journalists' report from Sudzha came out on ABC News on September 3. "A Ukrainian flag now flies where a Russian one once did. In the town square, images of destroyed Ukrainian cities have been plastered on a destroyed monument of Lenin," the journalists wrote.
Barbu's Sudzha report was released on August 28 on the HotNews YouTube channel.
3. FSB opens case against Australia's ABC News reporter Kathryn Diss
27.09.2024 Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) has opened a criminal case against Australia's ABC News correspondent Kathryn Diss for alleged illegal border crossing and filming in the Suzha district, reports Mediazona.
Cases were also opened against:
- ABC News correspondent Fletcher Yeung;
- freelancer Mircea Barbu, who reports for the Romanian media outlet HotNews.
All three journalists are suspected of illegally crossing Russia's border in the Kursk region (Part 3 of Article 322 of the Russian Criminal Code).
The prosecution was triggered by the journalists' reports from Sudzha city, Kursk region, following the Ukrainian Armed Forces' incursion aimed to fight back against the aggressor.
The Australian journalists' report from Sudzha came out on ABC News on September 3. "A Ukrainian flag now flies where a Russian one once did. In the town square, images of destroyed Ukrainian cities have been plastered on a destroyed monument of Lenin," the journalists wrote.
Barbu's Sudzha report was released on August 28 on the HotNews YouTube channel.
4. FSB opens case against Romanian correspondent Mircea Barbu
27.09.2024 Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) has opened a criminal case against the Romanian correspondent Mircea Barbu for alleged illegal border crossing and filming in the Suzha district, reports Mediazona.
The journalist works with the media outlet HotNews.
Cases were also opened against: Australia's ABC News reporters Fletcher Yeung and Kathryn Diss.
All three journalists are suspected of illegally crossing Russia's border in the Kursk region (Part 3 of Article 322 of the Russian Criminal Code).
The prosecution was triggered by the journalists' reports from Sudzha city, Kursk region, following the Ukrainian Armed Forces' incursion aimed to fight back against the aggressor.
The Australian journalists' report from Sudzha came out on ABC News on September 3. "A Ukrainian flag now flies where a Russian one once did. In the town square, images of destroyed Ukrainian cities have been plastered on a destroyed monument of Lenin," the journalists wrote.
Barbu's Sudzha report was released on August 28 on the HotNews YouTube channel.
Cyber attacks – 1
1. FREEDOM TV under a massive DDoS attack
22.09.2024 On September 22, the digital news aggregator FREEDOM faced a massive DDoS attack, reports the aggregator on their website.
According to them, the attack took place in the evening in two waves. The website received over 30 million requests in a short time from Singapore, USA, United Kingdom, Thailand, Germany, Indonesia, France, China, Hong Kong and other countries.
Technicians of the state enterprise "International Multimedia Broadcasting Platform of Ukraine" were able to quickly overcome the problem.
The news aggregator's website continued to work, but was difficult to access in the countries from which the attack was being carried out.
"International Multimedia Broadcasting Platform of Ukraine" assumes that Russian hackers are behind the attack.
Disabling Ukrainian broadcasting – 3
1. Hromadske Radio unavailable in Hirnyk
09.09.2024 Hromadske radio had to dismantle their equipment in Hirnyk (Donetsk oblast) due to the difficult safety situation, according to the radio station's website.
"We have been speaking in Hirnyk at 91.4 FM since 2018. Recently, due to constant shelling and power outages, the signal often disappeared in the city. Unfortunately, the current situation is such that we cannot ensure the safety of the TV and radio center’s staff who operated our equipment. It had to be dismantled. However, Hromadske Radio is still available in the city: at 99.6 FM, which reaches Hirnyk from Pokrovsk. And you can always listen to Hromadske Radio on the website and in the application," said Tetyana Kurmanova.
2. Hromadske Radio temporarily unavailable in Nikopol due to power outage
13.09.2024 The Hromadske Radio transmitter in Nikopol (Dnipropetrovsk oblast) is temporarily out of order due to a blackout, reports the broadcaster.
The repairs will take several days. The transmitters of several other radio stations are also down.
"We advise our listeners to follow the news on our online application and on social media," said the Hromadske Radio CEO Kyrylo Lukerenko.
On September 13, the oblast military administration chair Serhiy Lysak reported on Telegram that Russian troops had targeted the Nikopol region with drones and artillery on the night of September 13, damaging an electric power line among other things.
On September 9, 2024, Hromadske Radio reported that they had had to dismantle their equipment in Hirnyk, Donetsk oblast, due to a difficult safety situation.
On August 26, 2024, Hromadske Radio transmitters were not working in Kyiv and Hirnyk (Donetsk oblast) due to power outages.
On August 26, Russia mass-bombarded Ukraine with missiles and Shahed drones, causing powr outages in many oblasts. "Ukrenergo" has ordered to introduce emergency blackouts due to the Russian attack on Ukraine's energy infrastructure.
3. Russia destroys broadcasting equipment used by Hromadske Radio and Capri TV in Pokrovsk
17.09.2024 A Russian shelling strike on Pokrovsk (Donetsk oblast) on September 17 destroyed the broadcasting equipment used by Hromadske Radio and the local TV channel "Capri", Hromadske Radio reports.
"Broadcasting has been stopped indefinitely, as the safety situation does not allow to carry out emergency and repair work at the transmission station," Hromadske Radio explains.
As reported earlier, Hromadske Radio only started broadcasting in Pokrovsk on August 28, 2024.
On September 9, 2024 Hromadske Radio had to dismantle their equipment in Hirnyk, Donetsk oblast, due to a difficult safety situation.
On September 13, Hromadske Radio temporarily stopped broadcasting in Nikopol (Dnipropetrovsk oblast) due to a power outage.
CRIMEA – 1
1. Human rights advocates: Crimean journalist Remzi Bekirov under pressure in Russian prison
10.09.2024 Citizen journalist Remzi Bekirov, who was sentenced to 19 years in prison, is under pressure from the administration of the prison No. 33 in Abakan, Republic of Khakassia (RF), the lawyer Emil Kurbedinov tells Crimean Solidarity.
According to Kurbedinov, since the moment Bekirov was moved to the prison, he has been arbitrarily placed in solitary confinement several times. The prison administration forbids him to write letters or call his relatives.
The lawyer said that Remzi's imprisonment far from home – 4.5 thousand kilometers away – "violates his right to stay in touch with the family." The journalist's loved ones cannot come to see him, because it is physically difficult and expensive.
Kurbedinov also stressed that the climate in Khakassia is very different from the warm climate in Crimea, which "is becoming a serious challenge for the journalist's health."
"In fact, this is a form of exile that was widely practiced against the intelligentsia in Russia's recent history," added Emil Kurbedinov.
In August 2024, Remzi Bekirov was moved from the pre-trial detention center in Krasnoyarsk (Russia) to penal colony No. 33 in Abakan (the capital of the Republic of Khakassia).
Remzi Bekirov is a citizen journalist who livestreamed searches and trials in politically motivated cases against the residents of Crimea, in particular in the cases of Veciye Qaşqa, the detention of the UOC priest Klyment, the "Hizb ut-Tahrir" case, etc. Remzi Bekirov initiated the idea of collective assistance to the families of Crimean political prisoners. Has three underage children.
In March 2019, Russian security forces in Crimea searched the homes of Crimean Tatar activists, most of whom are Crimean Solidarity representatives. Remzi Bekirov was one of them.
25 Crimean Tatar activists were accused of involvement in the Islamic political party "Hizb ut-Tahrir", outlawed in Russia as a terrorist organization, but legal without restrictions in many countries across the globe.
Remzi Bekirov was charged under Part 1 of Article 205.5 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for organizing the activities of a terrorist organization.
On March 10, 2022, the Southern District Military Court of Rostov-on-Don sentenced the human rights activist Remzi Bekirov to 19 years in prison.
THE FREEDOM OF SPEECH SITUATION IN UKRAINE FOR WHICH UKRAINE'S CITIZENS ARE RESPONSIBLE
PHYSICAL AGGRESSION
Beatings, assault – 1
1. Journalist attacked in Kherson for filming underground school construction
30.09.2024 Olena Hnitetska, a journalist with the online news outlet MOST, was attacked by an unknown man on a school's premises in Kherson, today, September 30. The man shoved her and took away her phone, tossing into a pit where construction equipment was working, Olena Hnitetska reports to the Institute of Mass Information representative in Kherson oblast, Serhiy Nikitenko.
According to the journalist, she is working on a report about the construction of underground schools in Kherson and "wanted to inspect a construction site which has sparked indignation among the locals personally."
"Arriving at the construction site, I saw a man and a woman. A guy approached me and I told him that I was a journalist. He pointed to the people whom I had seen earlier and told me they were the developer's representatives. When I approached them to ask a question, the man started to lash out at me, took away my phone and tossed it into the pit, started shouting something, shoving me and throwing stones at me," she said.
According to Olena, the man refused to give her phone back and she left the building and asked a passerby to call the police.
At that moment, she added, a man who introduced himself as Viktor Spurza arrived at the construction site.
"He immediately told me that he knew everything about me and the online outlet MOST. Passed his greetings to the editor. He started saying, 'You write bad things about me all the time. Why did you come here at all?' At that moment, the police arrived and this Spurza ordered the assailant to give me back my phone," Hnitetska said.
As the IMI representative notes, Viktor Spurza, a Lviv oblast resident, is a co-founder of Budpostach-STSV LLC, which is building several underground schools in Kherson on city budget money. In autumn 2023, the Starosambirskyi District Court of Lviv oblast convicted him under Part 4 of Article 358 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (Aware use of a forged document) and fined him 850 hryvnias.
The police officers who arrived at the scene interviewed those present, who started claiming that there had been no attack on the journalist, and that the attacker, whom Olena pointed out, dropped her phone accidentally.
He did not explain how the journalist's phone got into his hands. The police recorded explanations from the journalist and witnesses.
Olena Hnitetska was examined by ambulance medics, who found no injuries.
Threats – 1
1. Zaporizhzhia journalist threatened while photographing shelling aftermath
29.09.2024 Residents of a Zaporizhzhia private sector, which was targeted by Russian anti-aircraft missiles, interfered with the work of Elmira Shahabudtdynova, a journalist with the local website 061.ua, as she was photographing the aftermath of the Russian strike.
Elmira Shahabudtdynova reported this to Natalia Vyhovska, the Institute of Mass Information representative in Zaporizhia oblast.
According to the journalist, the people blocked her way, insulted her, threatened her, and demanded she delete the pictures she had already taken. They claimed that journalists only make things worse and that it is them who cause the shelling.
The incident occurred in the morning of September 29, when Elmira arrived at a Zaporizhzhia private sector location which had been damaged in a Russian KAB strike during the night.
"As I was working, an unknown local woman stopped me, blocked my way, started shouting and demanded I delete the photos I had already taken. I introduced myself, showed my ID and credentials. However, this did not help. The woman continued to shout at me, curse and accuse me, saying that journalists are only making thigs worse and that we are the reason the strikes happen," said Elmira Shahabudtdynova.
According to the journalist, the woman tried to grab the phone from her hands and threatened to call the police. After some time, the woman was joined by several other locals who blocked the journalist's path, scolded her and did not let her pass. Finally, the woman called the police, but when the patrol arrived, the residents did not let the journalist meet the policemen.
"As far as I know, the woman filed a statement against me with the police, the content of which is unknown to me. In turn, I also filed a statement on obstruction of reporting," the journalist said.
According to Elmira Shahabudtdynova, the police officers who arrived at the scene did not ask her for any explanations, but simply took the statements and left. Later, when the journalist contacted the communication department of the Zaporizhzia National Police HQ, its representatives also arrived and tried to explain the situation to the attacker. Elmira notes that the woman behaved aggressively with the police as well, however, they finally gave her "green light" to work and the journalist was able to make a report from the scene.
Obstruction of legal reporting – 1
1. Journalists say authorities do not allow them to report from the shelling site in Poltava
04.09.2024 Journalists from several Ukrainian and international media outlets were not allowed to enter the site of the Russian missile strike in Poltava until the debris is cleared, reports Nadiya Kucher, the Institute of Mass Information representative in Poltava oblast.
According to the IMI representative, who was coordinating the journalists' communication with the Poltava City Council, the Poltava OMA, and other structures, the access denial was reported to her by Oleksiy Muzhchyna (who works with journalists from the Italian TV channel Rai), Nastya Horpinchenko (Investigation.Info), Andriy Lahutenko (war reporter with the TV channel " Espreso").
Other media representatives were also turned down.
The journalists told the IMI representative that they were barred from entering by the duty officer and the commander of the National Guard unit.
"UAF accreditation did not help. There are National Guard guys at the entrance, they have orders not to let us in," the journalists said.
According to the Institute of Mass Information director, Oksana Romaniuk, not allowing journalists to sites of Russian shelling until the debris is cleared is a violation of Part 4 of Art. 25 of the Law "On Information".
"Preventing journalists from accessing the site of the tragedy in Poltava, where over 50 people died, is a serious violation of the right to information. Even in wartime, the public has the right to know the truth about the current events. Safety concerns can be valid in an active combat zone, but here it looks like an attempt to limit the society's control over what happened. This situation looks like there is a risk of important information being hidden from the public, which, of course, we would not want to believe," said Oksana Romaniuk.
The journalists also complained to the IMI representative that they were not allowed to work in the hospital or talk to the victims. As the journalists reported, the press office of the Poltava OMA prohibited it.
The Russian missile attack on Poltava on September 3 killed over 50 people and injured nearly 300. The building of the Institute of Communications and the nearby hospital were hit. More people may still be under the rubble of the military institute.
CENSORSHIP, TOPIC GUIDELINES, INFORMATION ACCESS
Access to information for journalists – 5
04.09.2024 On September 4, the Poltava City Council's executive committee held a meeting which was off-limits for the media, yet was attended by journalists from the TV channel IRT-Poltava, reports "Poltavshchyna".
According to the media outlet, the Poltava City Council Sectretary and Acting Mayor Kateryna Yamshchykova had said that this meeting would be off-limits to journalists and that there would be no livestream. However, the journalists found out that meeting had been livestreamed.
The executive committee was discussing a decision to allocate materials from the city reserve to help the city's residents affected by the September 3 missile strike.
In a comment to the IMI's regional representative, the head of the Poltava City Council press office, Maryna Serova, explained that at the time of the meeting being announced in the group chat with the media, when it was said that the meeting would be "off-limits", the City Council was maintaining media silence when making any public announcements.
"The media silence was related to the emergency situation and would last until official instructions were received from the higher authorities for safety reasons under martial law," Maryna Serova said.
"The team learned about the executive committee meeting in the Telegram chat between journalists and the City Council. Accordingly, the journalists went to attend the meeting," said Ihor Kuzhyk, the head of IRT-Poltava, in a comment to the IMI representative.
2. Zaporizhzhia state-owned company withholds costs of building underground schools from journalists
10.09.2024 The Zaporizhia state-owned enterprise "Local Roads of Zaporizhzhia Oblast" has withheld 610 million hryvnias worth of estimates for the construction of underground schools from the Zaporizhzhia Center of Investigations (ZCI) for two months. The company has already dodged three queries.
The ZCI reported this on their website and confirmed to the IMI representative in Zaporizhzhia oblast.
According to the ZCI, the construction of underground schools in Zaporizhzhia oblast for a total cost of UAH 610 million began in June. However, estimates from the contractors were disclosed on Prozorro. In late June, the ZCI sent a query to the state-owned company "Local Roads of Zaporizhzhia Oblast", asking them for the estimates for these facilities. On July 3, the company replied that uploading the estimate with the other tender documentation was not covered by the current law, and "public organizations (the media outlet was founded by the NGO "Zaporizhzhia Center of Investigations" – Author) are not included in the list of bodies authorized to exercise control in the field of procurement."
The ZCI sent another query with arguments as to why this is incorrect, and received a reply on July 12 saying that the final document with prices will be approved when the agreement is made. Later, the media outlet sent the third query, in which they asked to provide the estimates that were approved as the contracts were made.
According to the ZCI, on July 27, the journalists received an reply saying that due to long-term blackouts, the state-owned company is facing great challenges in their operations and has no time to prepare an answer, so they would postpone responding for 30 business days.
The ZCI head Serhiy Sydorov told the IMI representative that the new deadline has expired and they were trying to get an answer to the query again, but are yet to hear it.
"We have been calling this state-owned company's lawyer who deals with queries since early September, but she does not pick up the phone. Now we are writing a complaint to the Commissioner and while sending queries to the state-owned company 'Local Roads of Zaporizhzhia Oblast' for advance reports on pre-payments for materials and the work of contractors," said Serhiy Sydorov.
3. Poltava branch of a state agency ignores a query by "Poltavska Dumka"
11.09.2024 The Infrastructure Reconstruction and Development Service in Poltava oblast failed to respond to a query by the newspaper "Poltavska Dumka" and did not explain the reasons for the refusal. The newspaper's chief editor Diana Strashko reported this to the Poltava representative of the Institute of Mass Information.
According to Strashko, the publication sent their query to the Service on August 9. The journalists were asking for information on the repair of the Hadyach–Opishnya highway. As of September 10, the team has not received a reply.
"At first, the company's press office promised us a response to the query, and later, again through the press office, they told us that there would be no answer, because the boss has 'his own vision.' We were given no reasons for the refusal, nor even a written refusal," Diana Strashko said.
According to the chief editor, the team plans to file a complaint with the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights.
The IMI's media lawyer Volodymyr Zelenchuk notes that failure to respond to a query by the information holder is a type of violation of the right to information and of the right to appeal, as per the list included in Article 23 of the Law "On Access to Public Information".
"Such inaction can be appealed to the head of the information holding body or to a higher body or court. There is also a mechanism for submitting a complaint (in the form of an appeal) to the Commissioner's Office. Officials guilty of violating the right to information may be held administratively liable for failure to respond to a query, according to Part 2 of Article 212-3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (fine in the amount of UAH 425 to UAH 950)," commented Volodymyr Zelenchuk.
The lawyer also stressed that only a court can bring the guilty official to justice based on an administrative offense protocol compiled by an authorized person from the Commissioner's secretariat or by his representative.
"The protocol is written based on an examination into whether a violation occurred. That is, in order for a media outlet to influence the body that fails to answer their query and bring the guilty persons to justice, the best option would be to contact the Commissioner's Office. If a media outlet wants to effectively challenge the inaction and make the body finally provide an answer to the query, they have to to sue (reflecting the relevant claims: to challenge the inaction and to order the body to answer the query) in the district administrative court," says the lawyer.
4. Odesa OMA says queries by NikCenter are "paperwork terrorism"
17.09.2024 The Odesa Oblast Military Administration (OVA) refused to provide reporters with the investigative journalism center NikCenter with the list of persons who were nominated for state awards during the war.
The NikCenter team reported this to the Institute of Mass Information representative in Mykolaiv oblast.
In August, NikCenter submitted a query to the OMA, asking for the full names of those nominees who are not in the army, as well as the dates, reasons and merits for which they were nominated for state awards. On September 10, the OMA wrote back, providing an incomplete answer to the journalists' query: for instance, with only the nominees' initials listed instead of the full names and patronymics. Moreover, the administration's reply did not include the grounds for the state award nominations or the merits for which the persons were so honored.
The journalists wrote to the administration again, asking them for more specific data, but the OMA refused.
On September 16, the Odesa Oblast Military Administration said in a letter to the media outlet that the journalists' stance "may be dangerous" for the people whose data they want to know.
"Considering that amidst the Russian Federation's armed aggression against Ukraine, our country is seeing active attempts at sabotage, reconnaissance and other activities aimed at undermining the authority of the state and the country's overall defense capability (including with the use of information received from state bodies through the mechanisms provided by law), your efforts to fully identify the persons may cause harm, which the Odesa Oblast State (Military) Administration cannot allow," says the letter signed by the Odesa OMA chief of staff, Volodymyr Zavadskyi.
The official also quoted the Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets, who has mentioned so-called "paperwork terrorism", when Ukrainians deliberately send many information queries to state bodies in order to overload them.
Yevhen Vorobyov, a media lawyer with the NGO "Human Rights Platform" said in a comment to NikCenter that the Odesa OMA was wrong in their refusal to provide the journalists with complete data on the state awards nominees.
"Last name, first name, and patronymics alone do not allow you to identify a person, but only when combined with other information about them: their ID number, the series and number of their passport, their address, date and place of birth, etc. are what enables you to precisely identify a person and as such are personal data subject to protection. Moreover, the information holder did not consider that the requested information is of public interest," explained the lawyer.
In a comment of the regional representative of the Institute of Mass Information, NikCenter journalist Olesya Boreyko said that the team has already filed a complaint with the office of the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights regarding the violation of the right to access information by the Odesa OMA.
23.09.2024 "Suspilne Poltava" journalist Ihor Izotov believes that the Poltava Oblast Council press office did not provide the TV channel with a link to the August 30 session livestream because of his post in his own Telegram channel.
The post mentioned the Poltava Oblast Council chair, Oleksandr Bilenko, the journalist tells the regional Institute of Mass Information representative.
Poltava journalists usually receive livestream links from the Oblast Council's press office upon request on the day of the meeting. However, this time the "Suspilne Poltava" team did not receive the link.
Ihor Izotov considers the situation to be a common misunderstanding and says that the Council's failure to send the link "is in no way related to the channel's activities."
"The Oblast Council press office representative had complaints about my own Telegram channel, which is unrelated to Suspilne. There was a post mentioning Oleksandr Bilenkyi, the chair of the Poltava Oblast Council, but the mention was somewhat incorrect. The head of the Oblast Council press office texted me in private messages, but it took me some time to see the text. Later, the Poltava OMA press office contacted me and I corrected the post. I saw the message from the Oblast Council press office after that. But there was no point in replying, because I had already edited the post. I think that this is just the press office holding a grudge. After all, I do not see how the situation concerns Suspilne's work. I think there was a misunderstanding," Ihor Izotov said.
When asked for a comment by the IMI representative, the head of the Poltava Oblast Council press office, Serhiy Nahornyi, advised to submit an official query.
The response to the query, signed by Oleksandr Bilenkyi, says that "the Poltava Oblast Council holds plenary meetings of the Oblast Council session in video conference mode, as per the Law of Ukraine 'On Local Self-Government in Ukraine', the Regulations of the Poltava Oblast Council of the 8th Convocation, approved by the second session of the Poltava Oblast Council of the 8th Convocation on 29.12.2020, decision No. 84 (with amendments)".
"The current law and the Regulations of the Poltava Oblast Council of the 8th Convocation do not stipulate that links to livestreams of the Poltava Oblast Council plenary sessions must be sent out," notes the reply to the query.
However, the IMI representative notes, the Oblast Council did not give a specific answer regarding the livestream links being sent out to Poltava journalists selectively, as other media professionals did receive the link to the session at their request.
ONLINE PRESSURE
Cyber attacks – 2
1. Relocated media outlet "Zmist Tyzhnya" targeted by hackers
05.09.2024 The online media outlet "Zmist Tyzhnya", relocated from Severodonetsk (Luhansk oblast), faced a wave of cyberattacks targeting journalists and their accounts.
The outlet's media manager Olena Nizhelska reported this to the Institute of Mass Information representative in Luhansk oblast.
According to her, one of the main threats were the attempts to get unauthorized access to the team's email inboxes.
"Moreover, there were cases of our Telegram accounts being hacked, which caused additional harm to our team's security. These attacks usually begin with our journalists receiving 'innocent' messages asking them to vote for someone's child in an art competition. After the victim clicks the link, the criminals gain full access to their account, including all contact information," Olena Nizhelska explained.
Once the account is hijacked, she added, the scammers use it to send fake messages to the victim's entire contact list, addressing the recipients by name and asking them to lend a little money for a short period of time.
“It adds a personal and trusting tone to the messages. The personalization misleads even those who are used to suspicious requests, because they seem to be sent from legit sources," noted Olena Nizhelska.
She added that such attacks not only jeopardize the journalists' privacy, but also undermine trust in their communication channels and create risks for other people who fall into the scammers' trap.
25.09.2024 The website of investigative journalism agency "Slidstvo.Info" suffered a DDoS attack after releasing an investigation into the high-end property owned by the Minister of Agrarian Policy, Vitaliy Koval, the agency reported on September 24.
As the team notes, the website was attacked after the September 23 release of the investigation into the property of the Agrarian Policy Minister Vitaliy Koval "Minister lives in his mother-in-law's UAH 17.7 million apartment. The woman does not seem to have the official income to purchase it."
The website security company contracted by "Slidstvo.Info" reports that the attack began at 5:00 p.m. on September 23 (the investigation about Vitaliy Koval was released at 4:01 p.m.) and lasted for about half an hour. The agency's website continued to operate during the attack.
"Although the DDoS attack was not targeting any specific article on the website, it is hardly a coincidence that it started an hour after the release of the article about the Minister of Agriculture Industry and Food. Now, such attacks against investigative media shortly after incriminating publications in themselves testify to their purpose," said the Qurium Managing Director, Ester Eriksson. They continue to analyze the data that were recorded during the attack on the website.
Anna Babinets, head of Slidstvo.info, said on Facebook that the attack was directly linked to the investigation into Vitaliy Koval.
"The company that takes care of our website's security (it is, of course, not in Ukraine) believes this DDoS attack is directly connected with the release of our about Vitaliy Koval. The attack lasted half an hour, but our website sustained it. Now we are collecting all the data to understand who did it and why, and we will publish our findings later," wrote Anna Babinets.
In her comment to the Institute of Mass Information representative, she said that the team is convinced that the attack was triggered by this investigation, since the media outlet does not often post materials on their website and the attack began an hour after the release.
Also, according to Anna Babinets, there were attempts to block the video – it has been flagged multiple times.
In their investigation, the journalists discovered that the Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food, Vitaliy Koval, lives in a 170 square meter apartment in a premium residential complex in Kyiv. This apartment belongs to his 69-year-old mother-in-law, who does not seem to have had any official income to purchase it.
Earlier, Rivne media received letters from "Limeo Agency", which claimed to be a marketing agency, with an offer to publish the Slidstvo.Info investigation into the Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food, Vitaliy Koval, for money. The head of Slidstvo.info, Anna Babinets, believes that such letters are intended to frame the agency's investigation as commissioned.
LEGAL PRESSURE
Frivolous lawsuits against the media – 2
1. Portnov wins the trial on his removal from the traitors register. "Chesno" Movement appeals
10.09.2024 The Pechersk District Court of Kyiv ruled in favor of the former deputy head of the Yanukovych administration and ex-deputy Andriy Portnov, who sued the "Chesno" Movement, demanding his profile be removed from the register of high traitors on the Movement's website.
The "Chesno" Movement is filing an appeal, the organization's website reports.
In addition to being removed from the register, Portnov demands that the following information be declared unreliable and defamatory:
- committing treason;
- "Z-traitor";
- "henchman to the Russian officials who initiated an aggressive war on Ukraine and changes to its border".
Portnov demands to declare the mention of "criminal proceedings under Art. 111 of the Criminal Code (treason)" unreliable as well and retract it.
The plaintiff wants UAH 250,000 from the "Chesno" Movement. The NGO noted that this is one of the largest financial claims in his lawsuits against various organizations.
"We see an attempt to put large-scale pressure on Ukrainian civil society organizations and the media. It is noteworthy that all the rulings by the Pechersk Court in Portnov's lawsuits have not been in favor of journalists and activists. 'Chesno' will defend our position in the appeal and defend the freedom of speech," said the Movement's leader Vita Dumanska.
In February 2024, the deputy head of Yanukovych's presidential administration, Andriy Portnov, sued the "Chesno" Movement and the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP)
2. Court of Appeal sides with Portnov in Sedletska case
26.09.2024 The Kyiv Court of Appeal dismissed the complaint filed by Natalia Sedletska, the director of Radio Liberty's Kyiv bureau and of the "Skhemy" project, in the defamation lawsuit by Andriy Portnov, an ex-deputy and former Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration. The Court upheld the ruling by the Pechersk District Court, who judged in Portnov's favor.
The verdict was announced on September 25 by the judges Anatoliy Stryzheus, Lyubov Polyvach and Olena Shkorina, Radio Liberty reports.
Portnov sued Sedletska and multiple other media outlets in the fall of 2020 over her Facebook post dated August 17, 2020 – the day a "Skhemy" corporate car was set on fire. In the post, Sedletska mentioned Portnov's negative attitude towards the team, namely the fact that he had leaked the personal data of their driver, including his address and the license plates of the car that was subsequently set on fire, and on the eve of the arson, he publicly threatened to "teach a lesson" to the investigative journalism project.
The full court ruling with the arguments has not yet been released.
After it is published, Natalia Sedletska's defense will file a cassation appeal against the Kyiv Court of Appeal's judgement in favor of Andriy Portnov in the Supreme Court.
Media lawyer Lyudmyla Pankratova notes that Portnov's numerous lawsuits against the media aim to discourage journalists from reporting or reporting as much on Portnov and his influence.
"Such lawsuits seriously threaten freedom of speech, as they have a 'chilling effect' on journalists and the media. This appears to be particularly dangerous in times of war, seeing as journalists investigate corruption as well as war crimes, and citizens have a right to receive such information. Silencing information about such public figures as Portnov deprives society of this information. Such signals from the authorities cannot be ignored – it is necessary to speak out about the threat to journalists and to freedom of speech," she said.
In April 2023, the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv judged in Portnov's favour and ordered Natalia Sedletska to retract the information in her post by sharing the court's ruling on her Facebook page. The court ruled that Hromadske, NV, Channel 5 and Pryamyi, which shared the journalist's post, had to do the same.
Sedletska's defense disagreed with the Pechersk Court's judgement and filed an appeal. This ruling will take effect after the full text is published by the Kyiv Court of Appeals, but the Court of Cassation may overturn it in the future.
On November 1, 2019, Andriy Portnov leaked the personal data of the "Skhemy" crew's driver. The outlet was investigating the former official's influence and connections with the new Ukrainian government. The editors saw this as direct pressure on their team.
On November 2, 2019, Andriy Portnov threatened to leak the data of the entire "Skhemy" team and published three more car numbers, which, according to him, had to do with the journalists.
On April 13 and 14, 2020, the two "Skhemy" drivers, Serhiy Ishchenko and Borys Mazur, sued Andriy Portnov in the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv for violating their right to privacy, demanding he remove their personal data and pay for moral damages.
However, the Pechersk District Court dismissed Borys Mazur and Serhiy Ishchenko's claim. Mazur's defense filed an appeal, but on December 14, 2020, the Kyiv Court of Appeals dismissed it as well.
On January 15, 2021, Boris Mazur's defense, disagreeing with the verdicts by the first two courts, filed a cassation appeal with the Supreme Court. In 2022, the Supreme Court granted Boris Mazur's cassation appeal in part by overruling the decision of the Pechersk and Kyiv Courts of Appeal and sending the case to the court of first instance for a new trial.
In 2021, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Andriy Portnov.
DEFENDING FREEDOM OF SPEECH
Lawsuits by journalists – 1
16.09.2024 The first instance court has judged in favor of the online media outlet "Chetverta Vlada" in their lawsuit against the Territorial Staffing and Social Support Center (TSC) in Rivne oblast, which refused to provide journalists with data on the management's salaries, reports the media outlet.
On September 6, the Rivne District Administrative Court fully granted the claim by "Chetverta Vlada" journalist Valentyna Paniuk and found the Rivne Oblast TSC's refusal to provide her with information on the 2023 salaries of the management unlawful.
The court obliged the regional TSC to process the journalist's query again, taking into account the legal assessment provided by the court in the ruling.
The TSC can appeal the judgement until October 6.
In January 2024, following the scandalous dismissal of the Rivne TSC director, the journalist submitted a query asking to provide information on the 2023 salaries of its management. The TSC responded to the query with a refusal, which was signed by Ivan Pavliuk, the head of the Rivne Oblast TSC.
At first, the journalists appealed this reply to the Office of the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights. However, after the Commissioner's response, they received another refusal from the TSC, justified as follows: "The disclosure of the requested information may harm Ukraine's national security interests."
"How data on the salaries of TSC officials can harm national security was not explained," writes "Chetverta Vlada".
The media outlet notes that the Commissioner stopped defending the journalists' right to information after that. The Rivne oblast representative of the Commissioner for Human Rights, Oleksandr Korniychuk, told the journalists in his reply that their rights had been restored, even though no information had been provided. Then the "Chetverta Vlada" journalist Valentyna Paniuk challenged the refusal in court.
Recently, "Chetverta Vlada" won a lawsuit against the Enforcement Service Department of the Ministry of Justice.
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