Eight prominent media organizations in Ukraine released an investigation on Friday regarding alleged corruption linked to property purchases by the brother of a senior Ukrainian official. This action was taken in solidarity against a court ruling that prohibited the press from disclosing information related to the case, as reported by AFP.
A Kiev judge had issued a ban on July 6, preventing investigative publications Slidstvo.info and the Anti-Corruption Action Center (AntAC) from publishing “in any form” information from the inquiry involving the acquisition of 143 apartments by Oleksandr Suhacev, the brother of Oleksii Suhacev, the current head of the State Bureau of Investigations, a key judicial body in Ukraine.
According to the order released by AntAC, the judge argued that publishing these details could cause irreparable harm to the buyer, Oleksandr Suhacev, and the company that sold the properties, which had requested the initiation of the judicial investigation.
In a display of journalistic solidarity, eight major media outlets simultaneously published the investigation on Friday. They stated, “Given that such a prohibition is comparable to a blatant manifestation of censorship, we believe, along with other participants in this initiative, that it is necessary to publish the investigation,” in the introductory text of their published materials.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) described the judge’s decision as “an unprecedented legal maneuver” that “could have serious consequences for press freedom in Ukraine.” Daria Kaleniuk, the head of AntAC, criticized the use of a legal instrument that prevents journalists from exposing corruption.
Numerous corruption scandals revealed by investigative media or inquiries by anti-corruption agencies have shaken Ukraine in recent years, especially following the Russian invasion. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has disputed the notion that corruption is an endemic issue in Ukraine, promising to address it after the war.
