Eight major Ukrainian media outlets today published information from an investigation into alleged property purchases by the brother of a high-ranking Ukrainian government official, Agence France-Presse reported, BTA reported.
The publications appeared in violation of a judge's order, which had banned the authors from publishing their information, AFP notes.
On July 6, a Kiev judge banned the investigative media site Slidstvo.info and the Center for Anti-Corruption Action from publishing "in any way" information gathered in an investigation into the purchase of 143 apartments by the brother of Oleksiy Sukhachev, the current director of the State Investigation Service, an important judicial body in Ukraine.
According to the decision published by the Anti-Corruption Action Center, the judge considered that the publication of this information could cause irreparable harm to the buyer, Oleksandr Sukhachev, and to the company that sold the properties. It was the latter that brought the case to court.
In a sign of journalistic "solidarity" eight major Ukrainian media outlets simultaneously published information from the investigation today.
"Since such a ban constitutes a clear act of censorship, we, together with the other participants in the initiative, believe it is necessary to publish information from the investigation," the introduction to the publication says.
The Committee to Protect Journalists called the judge's decision an unprecedented legal move that could have serious consequences for press freedom in Ukraine.
In recent years, including after the start of the full-scale Russian invasion, Ukraine has been rocked by a number of corruption scandals uncovered by investigative media or through investigations by anti-corruption agencies. The fight against corruption is one of the conditions for the country's progress on its path to joining the European Union, AFP points out.