The Ukrainian Security Service, the SBU, -- the Ukrainian government's secret police -- has arrested a 30-year-old man who reported on the unfolding pandemic in the country, specifically on 170 people being hospitalised, trains travelling through Tarnopol without stopping, planes carrying out disinfection missions at night time and the death of students at Tarnopol and Lviv.
The case has gone to court. If found guilty, the blogger can be sentenced to one month of forced labor, have a 20% salary deduction or be fined 15 times the minimum income.
The blogger was arrested for spreading "rumours and fearmongering" under special emergency laws the Ukrainian government is implementing under the pretext of fighting a pandemic.
According to Ukraine's presidential decree and a decision by the Ukrainian National Security and Defence Board of 30 October 2009, the Ukrainian Security Service is to "provide national security during an outbreak of a flu pandemic in Ukraine in case of urgent actions