On January 10, the Security Service of Ukraine reported the suspicion to the former Kherson journalist Yevhen Belom, who became the editor-in-chief of the occupation newspaper.
This is reported on the website of the Prosecutor General's Office.
According to investigators, in the summer of 2022, Bely voluntarily took the position of editor-in-chief of the illegally created joint editorial office of “Naddnipryans'ka Pravda” in Kherson.
In this position, Bely was looking for journalists, layout designers and proofreaders to ensure the creation and printing of occupation newspapers. He also coordinated articles and layouts for the newspapers “Naddnipryans'ka Pravda”, “Nova Kakhovka”, “Kahovska Zorya”, “Zolota Niva”, “Holoprystansky Visnyk” and “Chornomorets”.
The content of the articles to be printed was agreed with the so-called VCA of the Kherson region.
In December 2022, Bely created a legal entity – the so-called State Unitary Enterprise “Editorial Office of the Newspaper “Naddnipryanska Pravda”, which continues its activities on the temporarily occupied left bank of the Kherson region.
Yevhen Bely also distributed materials that denied the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine and justified the Russian occupation.
In addition, he participated in the creation of a propaganda video in which he called on residents of the temporarily occupied left-bank Kherson region to participate in the illegal presidential elections of the Russian Federation.
For this, he is suspected of Part 6 of Art. 111-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine — collaborative activities, which involve information cooperation with the aggressor state and its occupation administration, aimed at supporting the aggressor; Part 5 of Art. 111-1 CCU — collaborative activity in the form of public calls for holding illegal elections in the temporarily occupied territory; part 3 art. 436-2 CCU — production and distribution of materials that contain denial of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine; part 1 art. 110 CCU — intentional actions aimed at changing the boundaries of the territory or state border of Ukraine.
It is known that Bely started working as a journalist in the newspaper “Citizen and Citizen”, which belonged to Volodymyr Saldo. Later, he was deputy editor-in-chief of the municipal newspaper “Khersonsky Visnyk”.
After 2014, he left Kherson, after which he worked as editor-in-chief of the website “Industrialka” and lived in Odessa.