Bihus.Info wins appeal case against Hladkovsky Sr., who demanded UAH 2 million of moral redress
The Vinnytsia Court of Appeal rejected Oleh Hladkovsky's claim against Denys Bihus, Lesya Ivanova and the NGO "TOM-14", where Hladkovsky demanded that the information published in the journalistic investigation "Army. Friends. Cash" be declared misleading and refuted. Accordingly, the court dismissed Hladkovsky's claim for 2 million hryvnias of "moral redress", reports Bihus.Info.
As Bihus.Info reminds, the disputed investigation was published back in 2019, and Hladkovsky Sr. filed a lawsuit in August 2020, missing the legal deadline. Despite this, the first instance court considered the case for three years, until the Vinnytsia City Court ruled in favor of Hladkovsky in March 2023.
The journalists' lawyers appealed this ruling, and as soon as June 19, 2023, the panel of judges completely canceled it. The Bihus.Info editors note that they will provide a more extensive comment on the appeal court's decision as soon as they receive the full text of the ruling, which is not yet ready.
We remind that in 2019, Bihus.Info published an investigation "Army. Friends. Cash" about corruption schemes in the defense sector. The story was, in particular, about the participation in these schemes of Ihor Gladkovsky, the son of the then Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleh Hladkovsky.
The investigation alleged that Oleh Hladkovsky, who used to be a business partner of former president Petro Poroshenko, the former director of Ukrspecexport and the head of the Ukroboronprom state concern, Pavlo Bukin, as well as directors of several enterprises and other officials of the state concern, were involved in the embezzling operations.
After the publication, Ihor Gladkovsky filed a libel lawsuit in the Podilsky District Court of Kyiv against the journalistsfor “Our money” Denys Bihus and Lesya Ivanova. He demanded that the investigation be declared untruthful and refuted full and complete.
On July 3, the Podilsky District Court of Kyiv ordered the Bihus.Info journalistic investigation project to refute their report about Igor Hladkovsky's involvement in embezzlement schemes in Ukraine's defense industry.
However, the journalists won the lawsuit initiated by Ihor Hladkovsky in the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.
After the publication of the investigation, Petro Poroshenko dismissed Hladkovsky from the post of first deputy secretary of the NSDC. In March 2019, NABU and SAP reported on the searches in Oleh and Igor Hladkovskys' houses.
In April 2021, Ihor Hladkovsky received an indictment to send the case to court. NABU noted that the suspect's actions were classified as Part 2 of Art. 369-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine ("Abuse of power").
Help us be even more cool!
