UP's Tkach: Kravchenko associates may be behind Vienna detention tip-off
Mykhailo Tkach, head of the investigative journalism department at Ukrainska Pravda, has said information from people linked to former Ukrainian prosecutor general Ruslan Kravchenko may have been the reason Ukrainian journalists were detained in Vienna.
Source: Tkach, commenting on the detention in Vienna and the stance of the local prosecutor's office
Quote: "We will work to investigate every step taken by law enforcement regarding our film crew. We are already requesting all the materials held by Austrian law enforcement agencies that could establish who provided information that may have misled the Austrian authorities.
At this stage, we can already say that the people who provided this information may be linked to the subject of our investigation in Vienna, Ruslan Kravchenko, and his inner circle."
Details: Tkach said Austrian investigators were aware that the people they had detained were Ukrainian journalists when they questioned them.
Background:
- The Vienna Prosecutor's Office said "eyewitness accounts" were the grounds for the arrest of Ukrainska Pravda journalists Mykhailo Tkach and Yaroslav Bondarenko. Ukrainska Pravda believes the law enforcement officers exceeded their powers and there are many questions that the prosecutors have declined to answer, including how they verified the accuracy of information provided by third parties.
- 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. According to the Austrian Ministry of the Interior, Tkach was detained on suspicion of espionage, which was subsequently not substantiated.
- On 9 October, Ukrainska Pravda Editor-in-Chief Sevğil Musaieva reported that Tkach had been released after being detained in Vienna, but the editorial team was unable to contact him, and that cameraman Yaroslav Bondarenko had been injured during the detention.
- The journalist also said that following their detention in Vienna, they were accused of three offences: espionage on behalf of Ukrainian military intelligence, involvement in a criminal organisation, and causing harm to Austria.
- Tkach also stated that during the detention, armed men wearing masks smashed the windows of his car and dragged him and Bondarenko out onto the road, and one of the men then knelt on Tkach's neck whilst he kept repeating he was a journalist.
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