Austria detains Ukrainians on spying fears

Filed 37m ago · Via Courthouse News · The Buffoon Desk

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Amazing Plan

Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: Rijksmuseum · CC0 · via Wikimedia Commons

Austrian authorities are holding two Ukrainians on suspicion of espionage, allegedly linked to Ukrainian military intelligence, Interior Minister Gerhard Karner confirmed Friday without elaborating. Two Ukrainian journalists from Ukrainska Pravda arrested in the same case, including investigative reporter Mykhailo Tkach and cameraman Yaroslav Bondarenko, are being released, with the prosecutor's office saying the suspicions against them were unconfirmed.

Bondarenko was injured during his arrest and hospitalized, and police reportedly did not begin questioning him until late at night, according to editor-in-chief Sevgil Musaieva. Tkach had been in Vienna on assignment related to the search for fugitive former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko, who denies bribery allegations and was fired by President Zelenskyy last month.

Reporters Without Borders said the journalists were subjected to a violent police arrest and called on Austrian authorities to clarify the circumstances. Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said it is working to clarify the situation and is in contact with Austria's Foreign Ministry.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

Arresting two journalists on suspicions that turn out to be unconfirmed, then releasing them a day later with one headed to a hospital, is not a great look for a country explaining itself to a press watchdog. The newspaper wants explanations, and so would anyone whose cameraman came out of police custody worse than he went in. Espionage cases against actual intelligence officers can be real; this is a reminder that the net sometimes catches people who were just doing their jobs.

Source: Read the original at Courthouse News → Scored: Amazing Plan · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0