Slidstvo.Info journalist call-up attempt: investigation continues, no suspicion notices issued

Photo by Slidstvo.Info

The pre-trial investigation into the attempt to hand a draft notice to the Slidstvo.Info journalist Yevhen Shulhat by the employees of an enlistment office following his investigation into the family wealth of the SBU's ex-chief of cyber security Ilya Vitiuk, continues. No suspicion notices have been issued to those involved in the case.

The Prosecutor General's Office reported this in response to a query by "Ukrainian Pravda".

"Currently, the pre-trial investigation is underway, no procedural decisions under Article 278 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine (delivery of a written suspicion notice. – Ed.) have been made," reads the reply of the PGU Office.

The pre-trial investigation is being carried out by the Main Investigation Department of the State Bureau of Investigation under the procedural guidance of the Specialized Prosecutor's Office for Defense Affairs.

Previously

On April 4, 2024, Slidstvo.Info released an investigation into the wealth of Illya Vitiuk's wife and mother.  The journalists discovered that his relatives own at least UAH 25.5 million worth of real estate (at market value). Namely, Vitiuk's wife Yulia bought an apartment worth over UAH 20 million during the war.

Shortly before the release, on April 1, Slidstvo.Info journalist Yevheniy Shulhat was approached by the Solomyansky TSC employees in an Obolon district mall (Kyiv). The men tried to hand him a draft notice.

On April 6, Slidstvo.Info reported that an SBU officer may have instructed an army staffing center to deliver a draft notice to their journalist. In this way, the special services wanted to punish the man for exposing the SBU head of cyber security Illya Vitiuk for owning elite real estate.

On April 8, 2024, the Prosecutor General's Office opened a case over the incident with summons delivery to Slidstvo.info journalist Yevheniy Shulhat.

On April 9, 2024, it was reported that Illya Vitiuk, chief of the SBU Department of Counterintelligence and National Information Security has been suspended from work by the SBU head Vasyl Maliuk for the time of the investigation into the incident reported by Slidstvo.Info.

On May 1, 2024, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, dismissed Ilya Vitiuk from the post of head of the SBU Department of Counterintelligence and National Information Security.