Region: Ukraine site forced to give police web access

By Svitlana Tuchynska

For the Kyiv Post

Authorities have demanded that two of the country's leading online news sites reveal information from their servers, raising concerns among journalists and media experts of increased pressure from the authorities on the country's already-embattled news outlets.

Police opened a criminal investigation June 25 after pro-presidential lawmaker Inna Bohoslovska submitted a complaint about threats to her life that allegedly appeared in a readers' comments section of the websites Ukrainska Pravda and Korrespondent.net.

Bohoslovska is an outspoken critic of opposition leader and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko who often accuses Tymoshenko of treason in gas deals she made while prime minister in 2009. She heads a provisional parliamentary investigative commission into the deal with Russia, for which Tymoshenko is currently on trial for abuse of power.

According to Bohoslovska, threats against her were published online on many websites in the comments section under articles where readers can offer their views.

One of the comments allegedly contained the suggestion to "soak [Bohoslovska] in gasoline and set [her] on fire."

Journalists said both Bohoslovska and police are overreacting.

"Knowing the nature of Internet comments, we think that comments like that are rather an expression of emotions and not a real threat," said Yulia McGuffie, editor of Korrespondent.net. "Unfortunately, the level of Internet comments, like the level of communication in politics, is far from perfect in Ukraine."

Korrespondent.net is one of the country's leading sources of news, and Ukrainska Pravda is one of Ukraine's top websites for investigative journalism.

Since President Viktor Yanukovych entered office in February 2010, journalists from both outlets, as well as several others, have reported increased pressure to toe the official line.

Serhiy Leshchenko, a writer with Ukrainska Pravda who was questioned by prosecutors June 30, said he is surprised the online comments were treated so seriously.

"There are many offensive comments online, including to my stories. Some comments contain threats to different people, including politicians," he said. "But the police don't open criminal investigations into all those cases, and nobody really takes it so seriously."

Leshchenko said he is concerned police might use the case to justify the removal of Ukrainska Pravda's servers, or to get an inside glimpse into who is reading the site, which regularly in its investigative reporting reveals corruption by top officials.

Vitaliy Moroz, an expert at media watchdog Internews Ukraine, noted that all recent server actions focused on Ukraine's most critical and popular online media.

"It is hard to say how serious these actions are yet and how far will the police go. But the fact is that if the media speak up about pressure, it means they are under more pressure than usual," he said.

Volodymyr Polishchuk, a spokesman for Ukraine's Internal Affairs Ministry, said police have the right to remove servers in order to access information about people leaving comments.

"But I do not know if this will be considered necessary. Of course, nobody wants a scandal," he added.

Another news website that had criticized the current authorities - Donetsk-based Ostrov - said police are also accessing its server.

According to editor Serhiy Harmash, Ostrov's provider confirmed they received a request from police regarding their servers.

Donetsk police refused to reveal details, but said the actions are being taken in connection with a criminal investigation.

"We don't know anything about any criminal cases, and we still have no idea what is being done to our servers," Harmash said.

Svitlana Tuchynska can be reached at news@praguepost.com