Medvedchuk's attorney warned "Skhemy" about criminal responsibility in case they broadcast their story

On November 9, the editorial office of the journalist investigations program “Skhemy” in an hour before the scheduled program broadcast time, received from the attorney of Viktor Medvedchuk a letter, threatening criminal responsibility if they publish investigation called “Black little men” about his travels. This was reported at the Facebook page of the program. In the letter, the attorney called the investigation of the journalists about the politician's travels to Russia “a provocation” and accused them of intrusion into Viktor Medvedchuk's and his family's  private life, Radio Liberty reports. “According to the legislation of Ukraine in effect, collection, storage, use and dissemination of confidential information about V.V.Medvedchuk is possible only with his personal consent. Therefore, the provocation of the journalists of “Radio Liberty” is within definition of article 182 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (“Violation of privacy”)”, the attorney's letter reads. "Skhemy" sent information request to Viktor Medvedchuk a day before. Threy asked him to comment the actions of his security guards near the VIP terminal of airport "Kyiv", and asked if his visits to Russian city Sochi on November 7 were of official nature, related to his participation of humanitarian trilateral contact group, and, if so, which Russian official he planned to contact in Sochi. The response was received, however, in less than an hour before airing of the program, when it was impossible to change it or add the claims in the letter to the program content. The administration of the program claims that Medvedchuk had enough time if he wanted to comment the situation before the airing. Also, they said that baseless threats will not stop the broadcasting schedule. The editorial office staff considers the arguments in the letter invalid, and their goal is just to intimidate the journalists who perform their lawful duties. In addition, Mr. Kyrylenko, the attorney who wrote the letter mentioned above, accused the journalists who had a conflict with the body guards of provoking a conflict and having a weapon on them. Natalka Sidletska, the chief editor of the program "Skhemy", denies these allegations.