The team was under surveillance for a long time, says Bihus

The phones of the Bihus.Info team were wiretapped for several months, as follows from the statement by the project's director, Denys Bihus. In his second video address, he explained that the leaked phone conversation recordings point to this. These conversations happened some time apart.

"A brief questioning of the people featured in the video showed that the part with wiretapped phones was patchily edited from several conversations that happened months apart. We have reason to say that the team members have been under surveillance for a long time," says Denys Bihus.

He also said that unknown persons installing a secret camera in his colleagues' room an interference in their private life. According to him, journalists were also filmed covertly on a phone.

Denys Bihus makes it clear that an unspecified but large amount of budget money was spent on surveilling his colleagues. In the video, he also asks whether those who spied on the editorial team were authorised to do so.

As the IMI reported, on January 16, the head of the Bihus.Info project, Denys Bihus, recorded a statement in response to a provocative video shared on YouTube by the website "Narodna Pravda", wherein his employees negotiate the purchase of drugs and use them, and reported unlawful surveillance and wiretapping. He also announced staff changes.

The director of the Institute of Mass Information, Oksana Romaniuk, demands that the authorities address systematic pressure on journalists. She said this while commenting on the pressure on journalist Yuriy Nikolov, whose apartment suffered a break-in attempt by unknown men, and the Bihus.Info team.

The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Freedom of Speech, Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, has also said that expects the police to respond to the attacks on the Bihus.Info team and the journalist Yuriy Nikolov.