“1+1” to seize court for search conducted by SBU

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"1 + 1” TV broadcaster is going to seize the court because of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) actions, as its offices had been searched, as well as to contest the warrant issued by court and determining the SBU mandate. The lawyer of the media group said it at the meeting of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Freedom of Speech on February 6, as Ukrainian National Novyny (UNN) reported.

"There is an official position the TV channel has as to this case. We believe it was caused by the fact that the channel, in particular this project, is engaged in investigative activity which is pertinent... There were violations of procedural legislation, we will use it at the litigation, appealing against certain actions of representatives of the authorities, "the lawyer said.

According to him, two computer systems with information were illegally seized, and the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine establishes the obligation to copy such information, not to seize it.

"They (the SBU. - Ed. ) are referring to the court order. However, if we examine the court order, first, we consider this decision to be unmotivated and we will challenge these actions and challenge these decisions within the Code of Criminal Procedure" , - the lawyer said.

According to him, the court order authorized the Security Service of Ukraine to seize any data storage device.

"Persons who are operational executives were involved in search, but according to the Code of Criminal Procedure, they had no right to conduct the search. The court order did not specify the person who conducted the search, namely who drew up the protocol itself," the lawyer added.

As IMI reported, on February 5, the SBU officers searched the office of the “Secretni Materialy” project at “1+1” TV channel at 18 Kurenivska Street in Kyiv.

The “1 + 1 Media” group claimed that the SBU was conducting a search of the premises of the Money program and stated that that incident was "total violation of journalistic immmunity and pressure on independent media ".

On February 5, the Head of the Security Service Ivan Bakanov said that search at premises of “1 + 1” TV channel were due to investigation in the case of illegal wiretapping of the Prime Minister Oleksiy Goncharuk. He added that measure was not aiming to make pressure on journalists of “1 + 1” broadcaster, nor to crack down freedom of speech in Ukraine.