This is reported by Kyiv24
The National Police of Ukraine has initiated a pre-trial investigation into the possible illegal dissemination of personal data of journalists involved in the ‘Midas’ case. The announcement of the criminal proceedings was made by MP from the ‘Voice’ party and head of the parliamentary committee on freedom of speech, Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, who published the police’s response to his parliamentary inquiry.
Suspicions Regarding Surveillance of Media Representatives
The letter from the National Police indicates that investigators considered Yurchyshyn’s inquiry regarding a potential violation of the law concerning the illegal distribution of journalists’ personal data. According to the official response, this pertains to the activities of members of a criminal organization being investigated by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine within the framework of Operation ‘Midas’.
The investigation has been initiated by the investigative department of the Solomyanskyi police in Kyiv as a separate proceeding. The preliminary qualification of the case is a possible violation of the right to privacy. At the same time, the police response does not specify the names of the journalists who were allegedly surveilled.
Scope of Information Gathering and Public Reaction
“Law enforcement will investigate the surveillance of media professionals. I remind you that the subjects were gathering information on: Marina Ansiforova, Yuriy Butusov, Stanislav Rechynskyi, Volodymyr Fedorin, Olha Chayka, Yuriy Nikolov, Andriy Kulikov, and even the late Volodymyr Mostovyi and Oleksiy Shalaisky,” Yurchyshyn clarified.
Earlier, in November, the head of the NABU detective unit, Oleksandr Abakumov, reported the discovery of over 500 documents in the back office related to the ‘Midas’ case. Among the individuals whose information was collected were high-ranking officials, NABU detectives, MPs, and journalists. This indicates the significant scale of the criminal organization’s activities, which are under the scrutiny of law enforcement.