Journalists of investigative journalism outlet Slidstvo.Info, in particular journalist Yevheny Shulgat (27) has long been working on an investigation into the activities of Ilya Vityuk, Head of the Cyber Security Department of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). The article of Slidstvo.Info about Vityuk was released on 4 April. According to this investigative material, in December 2023, Vityuk’s wife purchased an apartment for more than 20 million hryvnias (US$512,000), however, the official’s declaration states that only 12.8 million hryvnias (US$328,000) was paid for it.
1 April – three days before the release of the article -, in Kyiv, military enlistment officers visited the journalist and tried to serve him an enlistment notice which Shulgat refused to do. The officers recorded his refusal and left. The same evening, in a shopping centre, the journalist was approached by two military guys who were earlier instructed by a man in civilan clothes who later was identified by journalists as colleague of Ilya Vityuk at the SBU’s Cyber Security Department Olexy Volodymyrovich Bilenko.
The video of the incident can be watched here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sxs85OCGWQo
After the scandal came to light, Ukrainian media association Mediarukh demanded that criminal proceedings be opened against employees of the SBU and the military enlistment office in question. A statement by the association was sent not only to SBU head Malyuk but also to Defence Minister Umierov, Commander-in-Chief Syrsky, Prosecutor General Kostin and President Zelensky as well.
’As Ukrainian journalists and media organisations who are members of Mediarukh, we are appealing to you to see that justice is done and to protect the rights of journalists in Ukraine. The current situation around the harassment of Slidstvo.info investigative journalist Yevhen Shulgat raises serious concerns about a possible abuse of office and obstruction of journalistic activity on the part of the SSU, as well as the use of the military as a tool to curtail journalistic investigations’, the statement says.
Later on, the SBU Press Service said that, in line with the decision of the head of the Service, for the duration of the investigation, Vityuk will serve in the combat unit of the same cyber security department, which performs defence missions directly in the combat zone.
I may be wrong or I may have missed it, but I have not heard of any protests by international journalist organisations to the Ukrainian authorities on this incident…
Interestingly, this story did not get any coverage in Europe – how is it possible? I do not think that this topic is of no interest outside Ukraine, on the contrary, I believe that for the EU which stands for the freedom of press and the rights of journalists, this issue is very interesting and very important. However, for some unknown to me reason, this disgusting story had no news value in European countries…
I think that the main problem is that though the SBU operates on funds granted by the European Union, the service has not been reformed. It would be worth explaining to SBU chief Maliuk that in 2024, when Ukraine dreams about an EU membership such practice is totally unacceptable.
Sources:
https://www.slidstvo.info/news/povistka-iak-pomsta-sbu-vykorystala-viyskkomat-dlia-peresliduvannia-zhurnalista-slidstva-info-za-yoho-vykryttia/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sxs85OCGWQo
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