Court dismisses sabotage convict's lawsuit against Prestupnosti.NET

Illustration by the IMI

The Central District Court of Mykolaiv dismissed a lawsuit by local Mykhailo Zmiyevskyi against the online media outlet Prestupnosti.NET (LLC “Ukrainian Media Group Company”), who demanded the journalists retract the reported information about his detention and involvement in leaking data on the location of Ukrainian army positions in Mykolaiv oblast.

The court ruling was issued on April 11, 2025, as reported by the media outlet's chief editor Anatoliy Chubachenko in a comment to Kateryna Sereda, the Institute of Mass Information representative in Mykolaiv oblast.

On July 15, 2022, the media outlet reported in a Telegram post that the Security Service of Ukraine had detained a man on suspicion of helping the Russian troops aim their strikes on Mykolaiv and Bashtanka. The media outlet disclosed the man's full name and posted an unblurred photo of him. This post prompted Mykhailo Zmiyevskyi to file a lawsuit demanding that the information about his detention and involvement in the crime be retracted.

“This trial lasted several years. The man who was detained on suspicion of aiding Russian troops in aiming strikes on Bashtanka and Mykolaiv sued us because he believed that the information we had reported was misleading. Having tried the case a few months ago, the first instance court found him guilty of the crimes he had been charged with and sentenced him to 11 years in prison. The court ruling in the case over which he was detained confirmed the information we reported: that he was detained precisely because of what he was charged with,” said Anatoliy Chubachenko.

The journalist believes that the man will file an appeal.

“We are satisfied with the court’s ruling, we believe that society should know such information, it is important for today,” said Anatoliy Chubachenko.

He also added that the court had found the use of the photo lawful, since the plaintiff had posted it on social media himself. The court pointed out that the post concerned a socially important event: ​​the detention of a person who, according to official data, could have been aiding the Russian troops. In such a context, under martial law, the provisions of the laws of Ukraine “On Information” and “On Media” allowing the reporting of socially significant information from official sources are applicable.

Bashtanka resident Mykhailo Zmiyevskyi actively leaked data on the location of Ukraine's army units on pro-Russian Telegram channels in 2022, which put the soldiers' lives at a real risk, says the court’s verdict, quoted by Prestupnosti.NET.

On July 15, 2022, the Security Service of Ukraine reported that a Mykolaiv oblast resident had been detained on suspicion of leaking location data to the Russian troops. On December 20, 2024, the court sentenced the man to 11 years in prison, finding him guilty under several articles of the Criminal Code, such as dissemination of information about the transportation of weapons and denial of Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine.

Earlier, the Administrative Court of Appeal No. 5 ordered the Mykolaiv TPP to provide MykVisti with the requested information on the salaries and bonuses received by the company’s management.