UP journalist Mykhailo Tkach was detained in Vienna on "espionage" charges

Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner has stated that Mykhailo Tkach, head of Ukrainska Pravda's investigative journalism department, has been released following his detention in Vienna, but cameraman Yaroslav Bondarenko remains in custody. The minister said the Ukrainians were detained on suspicion of espionage.

Source: Kleine Zeitung

Details: During a press conference, Karner said Tkach and Bondarenko were detained on Thursday. Bondarenko is still being held, and Tkach has since been released.

Tkach was released at 04:00 on Friday after spending 12 hours in custody. Cameraman Yaroslav Bondarenko, who was detained alongside Tkach, sustained injuries during the detention and was "in hospital". The questioning of Bondarenko only began at night.

A spokesperson for the Ukrainian Embassy in Vienna stated that Ukraine "expects a prompt official comment from the relevant Austrian authorities regarding the circumstances and legal grounds for his detention".

Commenting on the matter, Nina Bussek, a spokesperson for the Vienna public prosecutor's office, said that suspicions of espionage had also arisen against two other people during separate investigations, but were not substantiated.

Specifically, two Ukrainian citizens were detained in Austria earlier this week on suspicion of espionage.

According to Bussek, one of the two has been released, while the other is still being questioned. However, the suspicions against the latter also appear to be unsubstantiated so far.

Background:

• On 8 October, it was reported that Tkach had been detained in Vienna while carrying out an assignment from the editorial team involving tracking down the fugitive former prosecutor general Ruslan Kravchenko.
• Tkach was in Austria with his colleague Yaroslav Bondarenko.
• The Ukrainian Embassy in Austria said it had asked the Austrian authorities to explain the circumstances surrounding Tkach's detention in Vienna.
• It later emerged that the Ukrainian consul had been granted access to Tkach and had spoken with him.
• In the morning, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry reported that Tkach had been released.
• Ukrainska Pravda Editor-in-Chief Sevğil Musaieva reported that Tkach had been released after being detained in Vienna, but the editorial team is still unable to contact him, and that cameraman Yaroslav Bondarenko was injured during the detention.

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