KIEV, July 18 – Two Ukrainian independent media outlets, a newspaper and a television channel, have come under increasing pressure from the authorities just months ahead of elections, raising concerns the government is targeting freedom of speech.

The tax authorities raided the office of TVi television, opening an investigation against Mykola Knyazhitsky, the chief executive, alleging he had used the company to dodge tax payments.

At the same time, the Prosecutor General’s Office launched criminal investigation against Liviy Bereh online newspaper, forcing its editor, Sonia Koshkina, to flee Ukraine.

“These obvious actions by the Prosecutor’s Office are caused by political order for reprisal against journalists,” a group of oppsition lawmakers said in a statement on Wednesday. “But besides that the Prosecutor General’s Office by its actions is violating a moratorium on investigations against media that had been established by Parliament.”

The statement was signed by Olena Kondratiuk, Oleksandr Abdullin, Yuriy Stets and Viktor Ukolov, all members of the parliamentary committee on the freedom of speech.

The prosecutors used an earlier an earlier lawsuit from Volodymyr Landik, a Regions Party lawmaker, against the Liviy Bereh newspaper for allegedly pubnishing his text messages that had had received over the phone. Although Landik had later refused to press with the charges, the prosecutors had used the suit to formally begin the investigation, targeting the investigative journalist.

Serhiy Liovochkin, the chief of staff at President Viktor Yanukovych’s administration, on Wednesday denied the allegations that the authorities are using the investigation to punish independent media.

“The freedom of speech has a key importance in protecting democratic values of our country,” Liovochkin said in comments released by Telekrytyka. “That’s why any forms of pressure on media, especially ahead of the elections, is unacceptable.”

The tax police raided the office of TVi television station on July 12, accusing the outlet, which is often critical of the government, of tax evasion.

TVi interrupted its usual programming to show tax inspectors browsing through heaps of financial documents in its Kiev office, Reuters reported.

The State Tax Service said it had launched a criminal case against Knyazhitsky after finding out that the station had evaded more than 3 million hryvnias ($375,000) in VAT payments, the Interfax news agency reported.

TVi has challenged the back tax claim in court, Interfax said.

Batkivshchyna, the main opposition party, accused the government of censorship.

"Batkivshchyna view this cynical move by the authorities as yet another attempt to limit freedom of speech in the country and introduce political censorship at the television station under the cover of a criminal case," it said in a statement.

Opinion polls show that Batkivshchyna, led by jailed former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, is close behind the Regions Party in the run-up to the October elections. (tl/ez)