The Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv ruled to dismiss MP Maksym Buzhanskyi’s claim for defamation and information takedown on 31 December 2025, reports Sudovyi Reporter.
Buzhanskyi demanded that his profile be removed from the Traitors Register by the NGO Chesno Movement and that Detector Media delete their 2019 article “Maidan’s Nazis and the USSR’s heroes. Maksym Buzhanskyi’s views”, which the Chesno Movement cited. The MP objected to the following excerpt from the article: “Overall, the newfangled ‘servant of the people’ has the nearly full set of a typical pro-Russian blogger/politician[‘s beliefs].”
Buzhanskyi demanded a retraction and takedown of this information, saying that he has not been convicted or suspected of high treason.
The Chesno Movement created the Traitors Register in March 2022 amidst a genocide of the Ukrainian people and Russia’s full-scale war. The Register includes politicians, media professionals, law enforcers who have sided with the enemy, spread pro-Russian propaganda, have worked in Russia-installed bodies in the occupied territories, etc.
In its response to the lawsuit, the Chesno Movement explained that their interpretation of the concepts of “treason” and “traitor” is not identical to the definition in the Criminal Code and is their subjective assessment of actions by politicians, media workers, judges, and law enforcers, which treats issues of significant importance to the public with an awareness of public morality.
The court examined Buzhanskyi’s profile in the Traitors Register and ruled that the disputed information is a value judgment and does not contain factual data. No one can be held liable for value judgments.
“The context of the website makes it clear that it doesn’t aim to declare a person a traitor in criminal proceedings, but to assess their public activities,” the court said.
The court dismissed Buzhansky’s demand to retract some general phrases that refer to no specific persons as well.
In September 2024, the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv ruled in favor of ex-MP Andriy Portnov, who was suing the Chesno Movement, demanding his profile be removed from the Traitors Register on the Movement’s website. Portnov also demanded that some reported information about him be declared inaccurate and defamatory and the Chesno Movement pay him 250 thousand hryvnias. Back then, Chesno Movement said they would not delete Portnov’s profile from the Register.
In 2024, the Kyiv Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal by non-factional MP Oleksandr Dubinskyi against the Chesno Movement. Dubinskyi demanded the Movement remove his name from the Traitors Register.
