Lviv investigative journalist Taras Zozulinsky said he discovered an electronic listening device in his apartment on Jan. 6. He thinks it was planted because of his investigation into whether high-ranking police officers in Lviv Oblast are involved in the illicit drug trade.
Police
say they have launched criminal proceedings regarding intentional
obstruction of journalistic activities, but complain that the
newspaper is obstructing their work.
Oleksandr Rudiak, chief of
police in Lviv Oblast, dismisses any allegations of wrongdoing
against the police in the case brought by the Lviv-based Expres
newspaper, which employs Zozulinsky.
Rudiak told the Kyiv
Post that the police want to formally include the device as material
evidence, but said the newspaper has refused to give it to them. “And
no one except their editorial staff has seen the device yet,”
Rudiak said. “There was not cooperation,
but obstruction” of the investigation.
Zozulinsky said he did not
trust the police, so the newspaper decided to give the device to a
reliable and independent expert in Europe. The newspaper’s website
also ran a story, saying that the device has already been sent to
Europe through “diplomatic channels.” The reporter said that one
investigator demanded that he surrender the device and threatened to
search the newspaper’s office if he does not comply.
Zozulinsky said he found
the device sewn to the label of a towel on a shelf and made a
complaint to police the same day. Police interviewed him and searched
the apartment at his request, but did not find any other bugs.
But
he said those officers weren’t looking hard and thinks that they
aren’t interested in solving the case. His lawyer, Petro Kravchuk,
who was present during the search, supports his client’s suspicion.
“After such a search in the apartment by the police I cannot say
that the place does not have devices for covert interception,”
Kravchuk said.
Zozulinsky
has given local police and authorities reason to dislike him. He has
been uncovering alleged wrongdoing by authorities for five years,
including his current reporting into an illicit drug trade. He is
backed by his employers. On Jan. 8, Expres issued a statement saying
that the newspaper does not trust law enforcement and stopped
cooperating with the police.
Zozulinsky, in a telephone
interview, told the Kyiv Post he believes that he is still under
surveillance. He says he is more worried for his wife’s safety than
his own.
“I will continue doing
my work as I do it legally and according to proper journalistic
standards,” he said, promising the investigation in illicit drug
trade in Lviv Oblast will come out soon exposing names of some senior
officials and their wrongdoings.
Kyiv Post staff writer
Yuriy Onyshkiv can be reached at [email protected]
