A car that was used for investigations done by Schemes, an investigative journalism project belonging to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, was burned on Aug. 16 amid an increase of attacks on Ukraine’s free press during the past few months.
The incident follows a number of other attacks on journalists of the award-winning investigative project that has consistently targeted the corruption of top officials and oligarchs.
The police opened an arson investigation regarding the incident. The driver, Borys Mazur, has worked most often with Mykhailo Tkach, an investigative journalist who frequently uses vehicles to track down shady visits of top officials and their suspicious meetings.
“This car is well-known among the broad circle of those who we are investigating,” Natalia Sedletska, chief editor of Schemes, said on Facebook. “This car was our working tool that we used to film a lot of journalist investigations. That’s why it’s clear to me that the arson is linked to our professional journalist activities, which someone dislikes a lot.”
Tkach said on Facebook that this vehicle had been used to film investigations into President Volodymyr Zelensky and businessmen Igor Surkis and Grigory Surkis.
“Either crimes against journalists will start to be solved under Zelensky’s presidency or Zelensky will become just another president under whom another journalist is killed,” Tkach said on Facebook.
Zelensky condemned the attack in a statement.
“The freedom of speech is the foundation of any democratic country,” he said. “Journalism can never be a reason for persecution. I will never allow any criticism of the government to lead to persecution or intimidation during my presidency.”
Commenting on possible reasons for the attack, Sedletska mentioned statements by Andriy Portnov, the ex-deputy chief of staff of Ukraine’s former President Viktor Yanukovych. He did not respond to a request for comment.
Portnov has published on his Telegram channel the license plates of the cars used by Schemes drivers, their passport data and addresses. He also said he would give free legal aid to those who would physically assault Schemes employees.
Sedetska also mentioned that Tkach had been followed by oligarch Rinat Akhmetov’s security guards in 2019 and that security guards of pro-Russian politician Viktor Medvedchuk assaulted Tkach in 2017.
In July 2020 Tkach also published a photo of a Zelensky security guard taking a photo of their car while they were working on a story about Zelensky.
Tkach said on Aug. 8 he had found possible evidence of a listening device in his apartment, and a criminal case was opened into it. He said that he had received warnings that his work was irritating top officials and that they were actively working to track him down.
Tkach said he had found a 60-centimeter hole through the ceiling of his apartment leading to the attic.
He also said that the SBU and police had been sabotaging the investigation into the illegal surveillance. The police and the SBU did not respond to requests for comment.
Back in 2018 the Prosecutor General’s Office obtained court warrants to access the cell phone data of Sedletska. The ruling triggered strong criticism by Ukrainian civic activists, journalists and Western officials.
