Why do the State Bureau of Investigation and National Council of TV and Radio Broadcasting want to shut down the leading news broadcast – Pryamiy channel?

On July 8, 2020, in an exclusive interview with PRIAMYI TV channel, Oleh Koretskyi, head of the investigative team of the State Bureau of Investigation, stated that he had been pressured in the so-called “Priamyi Channel case” and had been tasked with arresting the TV channel.

Koretskyi emphasized that such instructions had been given by the first deputy director of the State Bureau of Investigation, a former lawyer for the fugitive President Yanukovych, Oleksandr Babikov.

In particular, during an interview with the PRIAMYI TV channel, the head of the investigative group of the State Bureau of Investigation Oleh Koretskyi said, further quoting him, “When I was on vacation, but investigators told me, “Listen, Oleh Pavlovych, there is a situation – we are being called for meetings and told that PRIAMYI must be quickly approved as material evidence and arrested.” I will not tell the names of the investigators, but they said that it was from DBR (State Bureau of Investigation) management. And this can be directly given by and deserves all these proceedings – it’s Babikov.”

Based on such statements by the head of the investigative group of the State Bureau of Investigation Oleh Koretskyi, we can talk about pressure on the PRIAMYI TV channel. Such actions by the State Bureau of Investigation violate the right to freedom of speech guaranteed by the Constitution of Ukraine. In particular, we are talking about Article 34 of the Constitution of Ukraine, “Everyone is guaranteed the right to freedom of thought and speech, and to the free expression of his or her views and beliefs. Everyone has the right to freely collect, store, use and disseminate information by oral, written or other means of his or her choice.”

Also, the right to freedom of expression, dissemination of information and ideas, free expression of views and beliefs, along with the right to information is one of the fundamental human rights, which is enshrined, especially in Article 10 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

It is worth noting that part of the political persecution of the PRIAMYI TV channel by public authorities is the pressure from the National Council of Ukraine on Television and Radio Broadcasting, which during the first half of the year appointed three inspections of the PRIAMYI TV channel, and never finding time to consider applications for renewal of the license submitted by the company in December 2019. We believe that the purpose of these inspections is to deprive the PRIAMYI TV channel, which pursues an independent editorial policy and which broadcasts criticism towards the current government, of the opportunity to convey information to a multimillion audience by revoking the TV channel’s digital license. We believe that the appointment of inspections by the National Council on Television and Radio Broadcasting, which is literally fabricating violations of the TV channel, is a part of the political persecution of the PRIAMYI TV channel by public authorities.

However, some members of the National Council on Television and Radio Broadcasting, for example, when appointing an inspection on 04.09.2020 (April 9), emphasized that they would not support the appointment of an inspection, as this issue is political and directly stated that the National Council on Television and Radio Broadcasting has never appointed inspections in such cases, so we can talk about it as a new precedent in the practice.

To date, given the actions of the State Bureau of Investigation, which have been carried out since last summer, and the actions of the National Council on Television and Radio Broadcasting in January-June 2020, in our opinion, there is a thoroughly planned attack on the PRIAMYI TV channel, the purpose of which is to close this TV channel, which is a leader in the niche of information TV channels.

In this context, it can also be noted that with cases against the PRIAMYI TV channel, the State Bureau of Investigation attempts to censor information and news covered by the media. Thus, the Article 24 of the Law of Ukraine On Information states: “Interference is prohibited in the professional activities of journalists, control over the content of disseminated information, in particular for the purpose of disseminating or not disseminating certain information, withholding socially necessary information, imposing a ban on coverage of certain topics, showing individuals or disseminating information about them, prohibition to criticize the subjects of power.”

According to Art. 5 of the Law of Ukraine of 21.12.1993 On Television and Radio Broadcasting, “1. Censorship of information work of broadcasting organizations is forbidden. 2. Broadcasting organization is independent in the definition of contents programs and broadcasts. 3. Not motivated by the legislation of Ukraine interference of the government organs or institutions of local self-government, public religious associations, their officials or workers, and also proprietors in the sphere of professional work of the broadcasting organizations is forbidden.”

For almost three years, the PRIAMYI TV channel has been covering all the main events taking place both in our country and abroad. The hosts of the PRIAMYI TV channel have repeatedly invited representatives of various political forces to the studio to cover their opinions.

The PRIAMYI TV channel impartially covered all the events both near the walls of the State Bureau of Investigation, as well as at rallies and in the Verkhovna Rada. At the same time realizing the risks that the channel may become inconvenient for the new government.

Please assess the above and take measures to respond to the outright pressure and political persecution of the broadcaster, in particular, urge the State Bureau of Investigation and the National Council on Television and Radio Broadcasting to stop illegal actions aimed at restricting the dissemination of objective information in the Ukrainian information space.