1+1 claims its journalists were under surveillance and attacked

The TV channel 1+1 addressed law-enforcement agencies demanding to investigate surveillance of the journalists of the programs “Hroshi” ("Money") and “Secretni materialy” ("Secret materials") and an attack against them. This is published on the TV channel’s website.

Oleksander Dubinskyi, the journalist whose investigative materials were broadcast in the last weeks, received several threats; also, he and his colleagues noticed that they were under surveillance – they were followed by suspicious cars with number plates from Donetsk, three people in each. When the journalists tried to ask the people in one of the cars, who they were and what were they doing, the car escaped without the people answering. One men from the car was left behind, but when the journalists tried to ask him questions, he attacked the 1+1 journalist Yaroslav Buhakov, hitting him with a metal object, and escaped. Lately, the group was working on a series of stories about financial affairs of Mikheil Saakashvili.

   The channel administration demands the authorities to investigate the case, and sent the corresponding address to the police, listing people whom they suspect of participating in the pressure campaign against their journalists.