Law enforcement officers opened another investigation into the surveillance of the Bihus.Info team. The investigation was launched on the fact of obstruction of professional duties. This was reported to UNN journalist by the Prosecutor General's Office.
Details
The Office of the Prosecutor General provides procedural guidance in criminal proceedings on violations of privacy and the use of special technical means of obtaining information (Article 182, Article 359 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine)
The Office of the Prosecutor General noted that during the pre-trial investigation, facts were established that may indicate obstruction of the legitimate professional activities of journalists.
Illegal collection of information about journalists of the Bihus.Info editorial office was carried out on the territory of the ethnographic complex. The data could be used to further influence them.
In this regard, information was registered in the URPTI and a pre-trial investigation was initiated under Part 3 of Art. 171 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine - influence in any form on a journalist in order to impede the performance of his professional duties committed by an official using his official position
The Prosecutor General's Office also noted that procedural and investigative actions are currently being taken to establish the circle of persons involved in the crime.
The pre-trial investigation is being conducted by the Main Investigation Department of the State Bureau of Investigation.
Addendum
Investigators of the SBI's Main Investigation Department have been instructed by the Prosecutor General to conduct a pre-trial investigation in criminal proceedings initiated at the request of a representative of the Bihus.info journalistic editorial office regarding the illegal installation and use of special technical means of covertly obtaining information in a suburban complex in Kyiv region (Part 1 of Article 359 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
On February 5, Bihus.Info reported that its journalists had identified those who had installed hidden cameras in hotel rooms to monitor the editorial staff. The cameras were filming the team's vacation in a hotel complex in Kyiv region at the end of December 2023.
According to a journalistic investigation, these were employees of the Security Service of Ukraine.
Later, the head of the SBU Department for the Protection of National Statehood, Roman Semenchenko, was fired for surveillance of the editorial office.