The police have opened an investigation against the Bihus.info investigative journalism project, Denys Bihus, head of the project, said on Facebook on Feb. 20.
Bihus said he sees the investigation as pressure linked to the exposure of police corruption by the project.
He said that Yevhen Koval, a deputy chief of the National Police, had taken issue with Maria Zemlyanska from the Bihus.info project.
“She told him who she was and for whom she is working. For some unknown reason he opened our car, snatched our camera, took issue with the driver and demanded our documents,” Bihus added.
Police spokeswoman Oksana Blyshchyk told the Kyiv Post the investigation had been opened into an alleged violation of Koval’s privacy and interference with a state official. She claimed that Koval had received threats.
Blyshchyk said she could not comment on Koval’s wealth. He could not be reached.
Yevhen Koval, a deputy chief of the National Police.
Bihus also said that Zemlyanska had been questioned for three hours. The police investigators asked about her sources, where the journalists keep their video footage and where they get their topics, he added.
“So they asked editorial stuff that has nothing to do with the meeting with Koval,” Bihus said, adding that he was next in line to be interrogated.
He linked the pressure to Bihus.info’s investigation against Koval and said that his parents own property worth about $1 million.
“When the main investigative department is asking about editorial issues using the excuse that we allegedly scared their boss, it’s not funny,” Bihus said. “I have all the grounds to interpret this as pressure on the journalist and our editorial staff.”
Meanwhile, Vitaly Shabunin, head of the Anti-Corruption Action Center’s executive board, said on Feb. 18 that the police had opened an embezzlement case against him and Dmytro Sherembei, head of the All-Ukrainian HIV/AIDS Network, a charity.
Shabunin commented on the case by saying that Interior Minister Arsen Avakov is “nervous” about the Anti-Corruption Action Center’s exposure of his alleged corruption.
“This is so stupid and dull and not creative at all,” Sherembei said, commenting on the case. “(Law enforcers) have opened 12 cases against us, apparently they got this virus from (former Prosecutor General Yuriy) Lutsenko.”
The case was opened at the request of Andriy Derkach, a controversial pro-Russian lawmaker and an ex-member of former President Viktor Yanukovych’s Party of Regions.
Derckach accused Shabunin and Sherembei of embezzling $142.9 million through the All-Ukrainian HIV/AIDS Network in 2015 to 2017. He claimed that some of the money came from the U.S. government.
Derkach also said that Sherembei and Shabunin face prison terms of seven to 12 years in jail.
