Journalists call police over denial of access to hearing in Carthage case 

Journalists called the police after being denied access to the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) hearing on a measure of restraing against SBU general Serhiy Duka, a suspect in the “Carthage case”.

Channel 5 correspondent Sofia Fesik told Institute of Mass Information journalist Valentyna Troyan that reporters were directed to the wrong courtroom, while the hearing was being broadcast from a different room.

According to Fesik, the journalists arrived at the court, where they were told which courtroom to go to. The hearing was due to begin at 1pm, but the media workers never saw it start. Instead, a live broadcast of the proceedings from another courtroom appeared on a screen.

“We had all gathered, quite a lot of our colleagues. And the hearing was supposed to start at one. We waited. And then, at that moment, a livestream of the hearing from another courtroom, probably even in the same building on Khreshchatyk St., started playing on the screen. We didn’t understand why this had happened, why all the journalists were sitting here as the hearing was happening without us, somewhere in another room. We went to court security. They said it was the press service’s business. Various colleagues texted and called the HACC press service. My call, for example, went unanswered, the line was busy,” Sofia said.

Fesik added that some colleagues were told via messaging apps that there were a lot of people attending the hearing.

However, the correspondent remarked that the day before, on 5 November, the HACC had chosen a measure of restraint for another suspect in the case. There were at least as many journalists present then, but all of them were able to fit in one courtroom.

“And everyone sat in that same courtroom, everything was fine. There were no situations where they couldn’t fit someone in,” the media professional remarked.

In the end, the journalists called the police. The officers explained that if media workers saw the court’s actions as obstruction of their reporting, they could file a corresponding report. One of the journalists went to write one.

While the media workers were waiting for the police, Mykola Karas, a prosecutor at the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO), came out to speak to them. He said he had been unaware of the court’s intention to hold the hearing in camera.

The prosecutor added that the question of whether the hearing would be open had not been raised at the start of the proceedings.

“The question of an open or in camera hearing wasn’t raised at the very beginning. The investigating judge was recused by the prosecutor, and that issue was reviewed. Then I saw the journalists gathered on the ground floor who could not get in,” the prosecutor said.

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He added that he had raised the matter of ensuring open access before the hearing, because the material the prosecution planned to present contained no secrets.

“To which they responded by pointing out, so to speak, that there was a relevant Security Service of Ukraine letter marked for official use only. Supposedly concerning a potential Article 258 charge, terrorism. I asked to see it, since it is marked for official use only, and given that it has been included in the case file and it concerned the trial in our motion, I, as the prosecution, have the right to know why the principles of publicity and openness were being restricted in the court proceedings. In this case I was not given an answer, and my right to review the letter was restricted,” Karas said.

On 6 November 2026, journalists were denied access to a High Anti-Corruption Court hearing choosing a measure of restraint for Serhiy Duka, SBU’s former first deputy chief of National Statehood Protection who is a suspect in the “Carthage case”.

Previously

On 4 November, NABU and SAPO announced they had exposed a crime group named “U420” whose members had consistently shared their illegal profit with senior law enforcement officials in exchange for unhindered operation of scam call centres, drug trafficking, financial crimes, and crimes against people’s lives and health.

Intercepted conversations between group members, released by NABU and SAPO, showed that U420 members had planned to douse Denys Bihus in acid over his investigation.

In April 2026, Bihus.Info journalist Svitlana Stetsenko, who faced online harassment following the release of her investigation “The Truth About U420 ‘Souvenirs’: Expertise Findings”, contacted the police over the dangerous psychotropic substances her investigation revealed, but did not report the harassment and verbal threats targeting her.

Denys Bihus responded to the tapes on 5 November, saying he was surprised to hear about the planned attack on him.

Blogger Ihor “Lachen” Lachenkov said he would not contact the police over the tapes released in the “operation Carthage” case, which discussed attacking him.

Verkhovna Rada Committee on Freedom of Speech chair Yaroslav Yurchyshyn addressed the Prosecutor General’s Office, the National Police, and the State Bureau of Investigation, asking them to look into death threats by members of a crime group recently exposed by “operation Carthage” against journalists Denys Bihus, blogger Ihor “Lachen” Lachenkov, and Pro Kyiv team.