A group of unknown men dressed in black interfered with Slidstvo.Info journalist Oleh Kotiuzhanskyi’s attempts to film State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) director Oleksiy Sukhachov and ask him questions.
The incident took place at a sports ground in Kyiv’s Solomianskyi district early on 8 October. One of the men identified himself as an SBI officer, reports Slidstvo.Info.
Kotiuzhanskyi said he had approached Sukhachov to ask how his brother had come to own 143 real estate properties in Kharkiv.
“It was a public place. I went up to Mr Oleksiy and asked how his brother managed to acquire 143 properties in Kharkiv. He was surrounded by several men in black. One of them immediately started covering the phone I was using to film with his hand. I was shoved back. Then I approached again, introduced myself, and asked the question, and a different man in black blocked my way, also started interfering with the filming, ordered me to put the phone away, said he was an employee of a law enforcement body, and pushed me back, too,” Oleh Kotiuzhanskyi recounted.
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Slidstvo.Info and the Anti-Corruption Action Centre had investigated the SBI director’s brother earlier.
Previously
On 6 July, the Pecherskyi District Court of Kyiv granted a motion by Parkovyi-2 and temporarily banned Slidstvo.Info, the Anti-Corruption Action Center, and journalist Alina Stryzhak from releasing and distributing the investigation into the assets of the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) director’s brother, Oleksandr Sukhachov. In the lawsuit, the company claimed that banning the distribution of this information was not censorship since the law allowed such restrictions in certain cases.
Both Slidstvo.Info and the Anti-Corruption Action Center said that they viewed this as pressure on journalists and an attack on freedom of speech. The journalists will appeal the court’s ruling and seek to release the investigation.
IMI lawyer Volodymyr Zelenchuk has said that the court ban on publishing the unreleased investigation had the characteristics of a SLAPP.
On 7 July, the Media Movement along with several media and human rights organisations expressed concern about possible systemic pressure on investigative journalism by law enforcement agencies.
The Pecherskyi District Court of Kyiv has stated that the ban on publishing the investigation was temporary.
On 13 July, Parkovyi-2 sued Slidstvo.Info, ANTAC, and journalist Alina Stryzhak after they requested comments for an investigation into real estate owned by Oleksandr Sukhachov, the brother of the State Bureau of Investigations director.
On 17 July, eight Ukrainian news outlets published the investigation into the 143 real estate objects found by Slidstvo.Info to be owned by the SBI director’s brother. The released investigation got nearly 4 million views in three days.
The Kyiv Court of Appeal overturned the ruling on 23 September.