Chernihiv businessman who wanted UAH 200 thousand from "Cheline" loses in first instance court

Judge Volodymyr Pavlov of the Novozavodsk District Court of Chernihiv City announcing the ruling on June 21, 2024. Screenshot from "Cheline" report by the IMI

The Novozavodsk District Court of Chernihiv City completely dismissed the lawsuit filed by Chernihiv oblast businessman Leonid Yakovyshyn against the online media outlet "Cheline" and ordered him to pay the editors 10,000 hryvnias in court fees.

The judgement was passed on June 21, 2024, the editor Pavlo Solodovnyk reports to the IMI representative in Chernihiv oblast.

In March 2024, Leonid Yakovyshyn's "Zemlya i Volya" LLC sued the "Cheline" team, demanding a retraction of false information and a compensation of moral damages in the amount of 200,000 hryvnias.

The report in question was "The Bobrovytsia Syndrome: a millionaire latifundist wants to sue a combat officer." Yakovyshyn insisted that the media outltet refute the wording: "a local millionaire latifundist who is suspected of treason and accused of collaborating with the occupiers..."

The team reported that Leonid Yakovyshyn was suing the Chernihiv oblast serviceman Oleh Oleshko, who had asked the LLC "Zemlya i Volya" for equipment to defend Chernihiv oblast at the onset of the full-scale invasion. Yakovyshyn provided the equipment, but filed a lawsuit following the de-occupation of the oblast, alleging that the equipment taken in February 2022 to defend the Bobrovytsia community was seized illegally.

On October 19, 2023, the Bobrovytsia District Court held a multi-hour session and ruled to close the proceedings in the case against the UAF lieutenant colonel Oleh Oleshko.

"We were very surprised to learn about the lawsuit from LLC 'Zemlya i Volya', which is run by the millionaire Leonid Yakovyshyn. After all, there was no misleading or false information in our report. On the contrary, the comments we took were supported by documents, photo and video evidence," Pavlo Solodovnyk told the IMI representative.

The lawsuit against the "Cheline" team was filed over half a year after the report was published.

Leonid Yakovyshyn's lawyer Andriy Danishevsky told the IMI representative that they disagreed with the judgement and would file an appeal.

"The Novozavodsk District Court of Chernihiv viewed the unreliable information spread by the media outlet 'Cheline' as the author's assessment, not as a statement of fact. The court also noted in the ruling that since the plaintiff is a public figure according to the current law, the he may face more intense criticism. We disagree with these conclusions by the court. We believe that the media outlet 'Cheline' spread false and manipulative information, encroached on the honor and dignity of Leonid Yakovyshyn and should bear responsibility for it. We will defend our violated rights in the court of appeal," the lawyer said.

In turn, the "Cheline" editor Pavlo Solodovnyk said that he considers the lawsuit against the media outlet as pressure on the freedom of speech and an attempt to intimidate the outlet's journalists.