Karner defends arrest of Ukrainian journalists as questions remain

Austria’s interior minister has defended police conduct after Ukrainian investigative journalist Mykhailo Tkach and his cameraman were detained in Vienna, while questions remain about the operation, ORF reports.

Gerhard Karner said on Monday that he had no reason to doubt police had acted proportionately. The Vienna public prosecutor’s office is continuing to investigate four people, including Tkach, head of the investigative unit at the Ukrainian online newspaper Ukrainska Pravda, and cameraman Yaroslav Bondarenko.

The two journalists were detained on Thursday in connection with a case involving two other Ukrainians, who had been arrested earlier the previous week on suspicion of secret intelligence activity to Austria’s detriment. They remain in pre-trial detention in Vienna. The suspicion against Tkach and Bondarenko was not substantiated, according to the prosecutor’s office. They were held at a police station on Rossauer Lände for several hours and released on Friday. Bondarenko was injured during the arrest.

Ukraine’s embassy said it had formally contacted the relevant Austrian authorities and was waiting for a response. The Association of European Journalists called for a prompt, independent and impartial investigation, and said authorities should explain the legal and factual basis for the operation, the use of force and the journalists’ treatment in custody. It also said journalists are not immune from legitimate prosecution, but must be able to report in the public interest without intimidation or disproportionate force.

The case also drew criticism from the Freedom Party of Austria. Its secretary-general, Christian Hafenecker, called on Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger to summon Ukraine’s ambassador and asked Karner to disclose whether information from Kyiv had led to the arrests. Hafenecker said the journalists had been investigating a corruption case involving Ukraine’s leadership.

Video from the scene on the busy Margaretengürtel, obtained by the Austrian Press Agency, shows masked men and at least three black police vehicles blocking two traffic lanes. The journalists’ white car is stopped at a red light, and a vehicle from MA 48, Vienna’s street-cleaning service, is seen clearing up after the operation. Tkach said the windows on both sides of the rental car were smashed during the arrest.