Cherkasy City Council deputy sues local publication "18000"
Cherkasy City Council deputy Oleksiy Melnyk has filed a lawsuit against a local online media "18000". The publication reports this on their website.
The lawsuit has to do with an article posted on September 13, 2022, titled "Cherkasy deputy is on trial for secretly playing poker during curfew hours."
According to the publication, the deputy, who is also the director of CE "CHELUASH", legally demands that the media renounces the following sentence in the article: "Cherkasy City Council deputy and CE 'CHELUASH' director Oleksiy Melnyk was found among the men playing poker in an underground night club." In the lawsuit, Melnyk requests that the information distributed by the media outlet be declared unreliable, insulting to one's honor and dignity, and an infringement of the right to business reputation inviolability, the publication notes.
The editors of "18000" believe that these demands can not be fulfilled, since, as the media notes, the contested information was based on an official document: a police report regarding an administrative offense. In addition, the media notes that on September 13, the report in question was scheduled to be reviewed by the Prydniprovsky District Court of Cherkasy, which "18000" reported, citing "Sudova Vlada".
The editors note that this information is socially significant given the plaintiff's status. The publication also points out that they did report on the case's outcome, which the plaintiff failed to mention. On September 20, "18000" published an article titled "Watching football, playing tennis: Cherkasy court closes Melnyk's case." The article notes, among other things, that the court decided to close the case against Oleksiy Melnyk, as they found no corpus delicti.
Oleksiy Melnyk's lawsuit, seen by IMI's regional representative in Cherkasy oblast, says that the defendant (CSO "Agency 18000") "reported an event that had not occurred" because "the plaintiff was not among the men playing poker in the underground nightclub." The defendant, the statement continues, was not sure of the information's authenticity, and disseminated it to create a negative impression of the plaintiff in the society, a negative public opinion, damaging the plaintiff's positive image and reputation, insulting his honor and dignity, calling into question the plaintiff's compliance with Ukraine's law and his moral character."
The court hearing on the deputy's lawsuit against the editorial team will be held on November 15 in the Prydniprovsky District Court.
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