Ukraine's MPs voted to summon the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) chief, Vasyl Maliuk, to the Verkhovna Rada with a report on wiretapping Bihus.info journalists.
The Verkhovna Rada voted to summon the SSU chief Maliuk
The Verkhovna Rada MPs decided to call the SSU chief to a report amid Bihus.Info's investigation into the wiretapping of journalists by the secret service.
One hundred fifty-nine deputies voted for it.
Before that, the head of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine's Committee on Freedom of Speech, Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, called on the parliament to summon the SSU, the Prosecutor General's Office and the National Police chiefs for a report to discuss the state of affairs in the investigation of attacks on journalists.
The SSU chief, Vasyl Maliuk, reacted to the scandal regarding the wiretapping of Bihus.Info journalists.
He criticised the employees of the department and called their actions unacceptable.
"Unfortunately, the implementation of measures to combat organised drug crime led not only to receiving information about the involvement of one of the newsroom operators in the distribution of narcotic substances but also to the public distribution of video materials," said Maliuk.
Vasyl Malyuk
SSU chief
My position is unequivocal — the actions of individual employees cannot erase all the positive results achieved by the SBU during the war and cast a shadow over every representative of the Service, Malyuk emphasised.
I emphasise that such actions are unacceptable and have already caused a number of personnel decisions. As the SSU chief, I will do everything possible so that every mass media can work freely in Ukraine. Today, we are not just building an updated SSU, but protecting democratic values, including freedom of speech and media independence. For me personally, this is a top priority from now on, — concluded the SSU chief.
What preceded it
On January 16, a video was leaked to the network, where the employees of the Bihus.Info investigative project are probably using narcotic substances. The head of the project, Denys Bigus, recorded a video message with explanations and assured everyone who cooperated with Bihus.Info would pass drug tests.
On February 5, Bihus.Info investigative journalists reported that they had identified those who installed hidden cameras in hotel rooms to monitor the editorial staff. The SSU Department for the Protection of National Statehood (DPNS) was responsible for the operation.
On January 31, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed the head of the DPNS SSU department, Roman Semenchenko.
On February 5, the SSU announced that the management had made personnel decisions regarding its department and that among the clients of drug dealers, "some employees of Bihus.Info were identified."
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