Journalists from the ТVі Channel have demanded the creation of an independent parliamentary commission to investigate alleged abuse of office by Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) chief and member of the Higher Council of Justice Valeriy Khoroshkovsky, as well as his suspension from duty for the period of the investigation.
"We demand the creation of an independent parliamentary commission to investigate the abuse of office by the chief of the Security Service and a member of the Higher Council of Justice, Valeriy Khoroshkovsky, in the interests of his own business, and Khoroshkovsky’s suspension during the investigation [from] these two posts," the TVi staff said in a statement posted on the channel’s Web site.
The journalists said that Khoroshkovsky faced "a clear conflict of interest, which is leading to the use of his official position in the interests of one media group, which is trying to monopolize the market illegally, by deceiving the courts."
The channel’s representatives also demanded public control over the formation of the National Council on Television and Radio Broadcasting in order to prevent "the lobbyists of clan interests" from joining its staff and stop the use of the judicial system as a means of "the destruction of the independent media space" in Ukraine.
Earlier, Kyiv’s District Administrative Court satisfied a claim by the Inter group of TV channels, which protested against a January 27, 2010 decision of the National Council for Television and Radio Broadcasting to assign additional frequencies to TVi Channel and Channel 5.
According to the results of a competition held by the National Council for Television and Radio Broadcasting, 33 frequencies were assigned to the TVi Channel, 26 frequencies to Channel 5, and 20 frequencies to the Kyiv-based U.A. Inter Media Group.
The U.A. Inter Media Group refused to take up the frequencies in April, as according to it, the competition had been unfair.
The TVi Channel and Channel 5 retain their current broadcasting frequencies.
