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The Tribunal for Putin (T4P) global initiative was set up in response to the all-out war launched by Russia against Ukraine in February 2022.

Bugged journalist’s newspaper wants international analysis

09.01.2013   

Taras Zozulinsky (newspaper photo)

Two days after a listening device was found in the home of Taras Zozulinsky who has exposed corrupt dealings linked with both Yanukovych and Azarov, the Express newspaper has stated it is suspending any cooperation with the police

The newspaper Express has issued a statement saying that the listening device found in the flat of investigative journalist Taras Zozulinsky will be handed to international experts for their assessment. Following a specially called meeting, the journalists passed a decision to suspend any cooperation with the police over the matter. This step was taken following the police investigation which lasted six hours (until midnight) at the journalist's flat. The journalists accuse the police of “mere imitation of an investigation”. “We are also not sure that by cooperating with the police we will not in the end help them to simply return the listening device to the people who illegally planted it”/

For us at this time everything is clear: there has been an invasion into the private and professional life of our journalist. The motives are also clear: this is an attempt to establish control over an investigative journalist and author of a number of high-profile articles concerning irregularities by the most high-ranking public figures in the country, police officials and others. This cannot be viewed in any other way but as pressure on the journalist and on the newspaper”.

Taras Zozulinsky himself says that he doesn’t understand why the police took so long to inspect his flat. . “You got the impression that the investigators deliberately dragged things out so that those present stopped paying attention”.  He stresses that with the proper equipment, it would have taken just minutes to check for bugs.  His lawyer, Petro Kravchuk, who was present throughout says that after such “investigative activities” it’s impossible to assert that there are no bugs planted.

The statement says that the newspaper has other grounds for distrusting the police, including the fact that a repeat examination of the newspaper’s windows which were shot at with rubber bullets has still not been completed after over a year.  The police have supposedly been carrying out an investigation into other cases of pressure on the newspaper for several years now.  The statement also asserts that the newspaper has irrefutable proof that the Security Service and law enforcement bodies have been interfering in the newspaper’s work.

Express thanks all the journalists who have supported them in this difficult situation.

Taras Zozulinsky is the author of several investigations for his newspaper in December 2012, for example regarding alleged involved by Prime Minister Azarov’s family in taking over assets on the Crimean Coast; on setups linked with the President’s dacha at Maharach; misuse of public funds by a police enterprise.

The journalist is convinced that the bug was planted in connection with a number of high-profile investigations. 

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