KYIV, Ukraine: A senior official with Ukraine’s intelligence agency has been fired after revelations that investigative journalists had been wiretapped, a source at the agency told AFP on Monday.
The move comes after several instances of intimidation of Ukrainian investigative journalists surfaced in January, leading Paris-based press freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) to call on authorities to investigate the alleged infractions.
RSF listed three cases that took place or were exposed within a week.
In one, staff at Bihus.info, an outlet specialized in investigating corruption, discovered from a video that was posted on social media on January 16 that they had been subjected to surreptitious filming and eavesdropping for months.
Another case involved Odesa-based journalist Iryna Hryb, who reported on grain exports in the region and found a device in her car that could be used to listen to her phone calls or conversations with passengers and to track her movements.
The third case involved Yuriy Nikolov, an investigative reporter for the anti-corruption media outlet Nashy Hroshy.
On January 14, masked individuals tried to force their way into his Kyiv apartment while at the same time threatening him with being forcibly enlisted to fight in the Ukrainian army against the Russian invasion.
On Monday, a source within Ukraine’s SBU intelligence agency told AFP that “the head of the SBU state protection department, Roman Semenchenko, was fired as a result of the surveillance of Bihus Info staff.”
The decision was taken by the head of the SBU and approved by President Volodymyr Zelensky, the official said on condition of anonymity.
Earlier on Monday, the SBU said in a statement that it had “taken appropriate personnel decisions,” but defended the surveillance because “some Bihus Info employees were clients of drug traffickers.”
In January, Bihus Info, which has called the surveillance “shameful,” said that some of its staff had consumed “illegal substances” during New Year, after recordings surfaced online.
Numerous investigative outlets operate in Ukraine, which for years has enjoyed a far more vibrant media landscape than in Russia.
Senior Ukraine official fired over media wiretapping
https://arab.news/yfjw3
Senior Ukraine official fired over media wiretapping
- Numerous investigative outlets operate in Ukraine, which for years has enjoyed a far more vibrant media landscape than in Russia
Philippine lawmakers start VP Duterte impeachment hearings
- The revived impeachment bid leans heavily on allegations that the younger Duterte misused public funds
MANILA: A Philippine congressional committee began impeachment hearings Monday that could dash Vice President Sara Duterte’s run for the country’s top job.
The daughter of former president Rodrigo Duterte, who recently announced her candidacy for the 2028 presidential election, was impeached by the country’s House of Representatives last year only to see the Supreme Court toss the case out over procedural issues.
The revived impeachment bid leans heavily on allegations that the younger Duterte misused public funds while in office and will see the House justice committee debate three such complaints.
A fourth case was dropped by complainants who hoped to speed up the process.
Duterte also stands accused of making a death threat against her former ally and current President Ferdinand Marcos, with whom she is engaged in an explosive political feud.
Under the Philippine constitution, an impeachment triggers a Senate trial. A guilty verdict would result in Duterte being barred from politics and sidelined from the 2028 presidential race.
The latest impeachment bid faces a changed environment with the vice president ahead in recent polls, analysts told AFP.
“The political context will be very different, especially now that Sara declared her candidacy,” University of the Philippines political science professor Jean Franco said.
“It’s definitely going to weigh on the minds of the members of the House of Representatives,” Franco said, adding that a vote for impeachment would effectively see a lawmaker’s career “marked for death.”
Anthony Lawrence Borja, an associate professor of political science at De La Salle University agreed saying: “It is ultimately a question of whether the patronage of the current administration outweighs their fear of Duterte’s condemnation.”
The same committee hearing the case against Duterte last month tossed out a pair of impeachment complaints against Marcos, ruling that allegations of corruption over a scandal involving bogus flood control projects lacked substance.
Michael Wesley Poa, spokesman for Duterte’s defense team, told AFP they were closely monitoring deliberations and trusted “the same standards” used in the Marcos hearing would be applied.
