Ukrainian Journalist After Arrest in Vienna: "I Thought It Was an Attack"
A Ukrainian investigative journalist was dragged from a rental car in Vienna by armed police officers during an investigation into suspected espionage.
Vienna espionage investigation: Ukrainian journalist describes brutal police operation
A Ukrainian investigative journalist was arrested in Vienna on Thursday afternoon during a police operation. As oe24.at reported, journalist Tkatsch told the APA how he and his cameraman Jaroslaw Bondarenko were travelling in a rental car when suddenly men jumped out of several vehicles and smashed the side windows of the car.
The officers pointed weapons at the two men and shouted instructions in German. "My first thought was that it was an attack or that someone had ordered our abduction," said Tkatsch. He initially did not realise it was a police operation.
Both journalists were dragged from the vehicle and thrown to the ground. Tkatsch reported bruising. Bondarenko fell onto broken glass and sustained facial injuries – according to Tkatsch, he was handcuffed at the hospital whilst being stitched up. After the operation, both men were held facing a wall for around half an hour.
Tkatsch was subsequently taken to the police station on Roßauer Lände and locked in a solitary cell, where his shoes were removed. For a long time, he waited without explanation for his arrest. Later, he was questioned; he refused to sign a German-language document.
Via a trusted contact, news of the arrest reached the Ukrainian newspaper "Ukrajinska Prawda", for which Tkatsch heads the investigative department. He was released at around 4 a.m. His cameraman Bondarenko was not released until Friday afternoon.
Tkatsch was in Vienna conducting research – specifically into Ukrainian Prosecutor General Ruslan Krawtschenko, who is believed to have fled there. According to the authorities, the police operation was in connection with an investigation into suspected espionage. The operation was carried out by the State Security and Intelligence Service (DSN). Earlier in the week, two Ukrainian citizens had been taken into custody in Vienna on the same suspicion.
Tkatsch was questioned about these two men, whose names he said he did not know. He was also puzzled by questions about a possible connection to the Ukrainian armed forces. He was particularly disturbed that the investigators apparently had not been sufficiently informed about his journalistic work. He asked the officers to look up his name on Google or YouTube.
Even Ukrainian authorities would check more carefully before carrying out such an operation on someone, Tkatsch told the APA. Before his release, he was also asked when he intended to leave Austria.
Why the operation proceeded in this manner and what specific grounds for suspicion existed against the two journalists remained unclear. It was also initially unclear whether the Austrian authorities had possibly received incorrect information about Tkatsch.
Source: Google News AT — Crime (de)