Court in Lviv dismisses journalist's claim against Volynska Oblast Council

Lviv Administrative Court of Appeals dismissed the claim of the journalist of the informational and analytical portal «Chetverta Vlada» ("The Fourth Power") Yuriy Horbach against Volynska Oblast Council related to refusal to provide information about attendance of workplace by the chair of the council Ihor Palytsia and about his vacations, business trips and sick leaves since he was elected for this position. The judgement to this effect was mad on July 11 by the collegium of judges – Yaroslav Popko, Roman Khobor, and Roman Senyk. During the court session, the lawyer of Volynska oblast council Svitlana Khorosha said that the requested information is internal and does not fall under the definition provided by the law of Ukraine  «On Access to Public Information». In the end, the collegium of the judges from Lviv was persuaded by the argument that the information requested by the journalist is not a ready product, but something that emerged from labor relations between the governmental body and its official, while public information should be a ready product created or received by a governmental body in the process of its functioning. The media lawyer of NGO "Human Rights Platform" Liudmyla Oprushko says she was disappointed by this judgment and that her organization will be filing an appeal against it.