Halych district department of police in Lviv has opened criminal proceedings in connection with the obstruction of the legal activities of Taras Zozulinsky, a journalist of the Express newspaper, the media liaisons department of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry's main office in Lviv region has reported.

According to the report, on January 6, the journalist gave the police a statement that he had found a listening device in his apartment. He said he had found the device in his clothes.

At the same time, the journalist did not allow police officers to inspect the detected device and the scene, citing the absence of a court order.

After that, the police asked him to personally come to the police department to provide information.

A statement posted on the Web site of the Express newspaper says that on January 7, journalist Zozulinsky spent a few hours in the Halych district department of police, and then the police received a court order to conduct investigative measures in his apartment.

These actions also lasted several hours. According to the report, the search for new "bugs" was held without proper equipment, but with flashlights and screwdrivers.

The journalists decided to send the device found in the apartment to international experts, according to a statement made by the Express newspaper.

"We see that the authorities are only imitating the investigation. Moreover, we are not sure that by meeting the police halfway, we will help return the listening device to those who illegally installed it. At the moment, everything is obvious: there was unauthorized interference with the private and professional life of our journalist. The motifs are also obvious – there's an attempt to take control of an investigative journalist, the author of high-profile articles on abuse by senior officials, police officers, etc. This cannot be interpreted only as the pressure on the journalist and the newspaper. Therefore, we have no trust in the law enforcement agencies," reads the statement.