Blogger Karpov sues to be reinstated as Poltava City Council secretary

Blogger and Poltava City Council deputy Andriy Karpov is suing to be reinstated as secretary of the Poltava City Council.

He filed a corresponding lawsuit to the court on August 17, the deputy announced on Facebook.

"I demand to cancel the Poltava City Council's unlawful decision to dismiss me from the position of the City Council secretary and to appoint Kateryna Yamshchykova instead," Karpov wrote.

According to Kolo, the Poltava City Council secretary became the acting mayor after Oleksandr Mamai was found guilty of embezzling funds from the city budget to pay the housewives who cleaned his apartment. This happened on March 2.

In a few months, a coalition willing to remove Karpov from his post started to form in the Council, but the deputies could not decide on a successor.

After the coalition formed a majority in the department, the ex-secretary kept finding excuses to postpone the session or to prevent the necessary number of deputies from attending it.

On July 28, deputies voted to dismiss Andriy Karpov. Kateryna Yamshchykova, a representative of the "Servant of the People" party, was elected in his stead.

As IMI reported, in February 2023 the editor-in-chief of the Poltava website "Kolo", Tetiana Tsirulnik, has filed a lawsuit against Poltava City Council secretary Andriy Karpov after facing cyber bullying over her article about Karpov.

An October 26 news report titled "The price for 8 years of Vata Show: Poltava City Council secretary Andriy Karpov is raising money for an operation," had a reference to the official's Telegram channel, where he wrote about his treatment and the fundraising campaign. Karpov posted this article on his social media, having taken screenshots from the "Kolo" website. The official accused the journalist of distorting the truth, claiming that she had written a news article with the headline "Karpov is raising money for penis enlargement/reduction surgery." After that, Karpov's supporters started humiliating and insulting the journalist in the comments under his Facebook post.

On August 10 it was reported that the editor-in-chief of the Poltava media outlet "Kolo", Tetyana Tsirulnik, refused a settlement with the ex-secretary of the Poltava City Council, Andriy Karpov, whom she is suing for cyberbullying.