Court of Appeal: Vsim.ua was criticising the deputy mayor as a public figure

The Khmelnytskyi Court of Appeals ruled that the Khmelnytskyi deputy mayor Vasyl Novachok, who was suing the media outlet Vsim.ua, is a public figure, and therefore the limit of permissible criticism towards him is broader than in the case of a private person, according to the published full text of the Khmelnytskyi Court of Appeal judgement.

The IMI has reported on the adoption of the appellate body's ruling after the resolution part of it was announced on August 27, 2024.

Earlier, the Court of Apeal granted the complaint filed by the local media Vsim.ua (Vsim Media Holding LLP), overruling the first instance court's judgement and the supplemental ruling in the defamation lawsuit by the Khmelnytskyi deputy mayor Vasyl Novachok. The court also rejected the plaintiff's claim and charged hem nearly 2.5 thousand hryvnias in court fees.

The Court of Appeal also noted that the information reported by Vsim.ua in their article "Novachok and a million hryvnias: the details of the budget embezzlement case" cannot be declared unreliable, because the main facts covered in it were sourced from the proceedings and the ruling by the investigative judge of the Khmelnytskyi District ​Court (court case No. 686/703/22).

According to the court, the published information has a legal basis which cannot be considered groundless allegations against Vasyl Novachk about the crimes commited, therefore the defendant could not defame the official.

Moreover, the court noted that the Vsim.ua article, which reported on the details that are being checked by the police as part of a proceedings, is essentially public criticism of Novachak's work as a public figure.

Therefore, the dissemination of this information did not lead to a violation of the plaintiff's personal non-property rights. Furthermore, the court's judgement states that a significant part of the disputed article contains quotations from the comments and statements about the case made by Vasyl Novachok himself.

The Court of Appeal also noted that the first instance court had failed to properly assess the evidence in the case when it granted the plaintiff's claim. That court ordered the media outlet to declare as unreliable and retract an article that was not even in the case file. The case file only contained excerpts and certain quotations from this article, as well as phrases and statements from it.

In addition, the appellate court noted that the court has no right to order the defendant to apologize to the plaintiff in one form or another, since the current law does not mandate a forced apology for spreading false information. We will remind you that the court of first instance ordered the media outlet to officially apologize.

The appellate court believes that the information reported in the article is not defamatory to Vasyl Novachok, therefore recovering moral damages in the case is out of the question.

In addition, the court pointed out that the first instance court mistakenly cited a law that is no longer in effect and does not regulate the disputed legal relations. The law in queston is the Part 3 of Article 277 of the Civil Code of Ukraine "Presumption of decency", which has been invalid since 2014.

In late May, the Khmelnytsky District Court satisfied part of the lawsuit filed by the Khmelnytsky Deputy Mayor Vasyl Novachok against the local media outlet Vsim.ua. The court ruled that the information in the outlet's article was unreliable and violated the plaintiff's non-property rights to respect for honor, dignity and inviolability of business reputation. The court also ordered the publication to delete the article and retract the information reported in it in the same way in which it was distributed, and to formally apologize. The media outlet must also pay the plaintiff 5 thousand hryvnias in moral damages.

On June 13, 2024 the first instance court passed a supplemental judgement in the case, satisfying the plaintiff's claim for moral damages compensation in part and ruled to charge the media outlet 20,000 hryvnias in legal fees and over 2,200 hryvnias for trial expenses.

The Court of Appeal's judgement enters into force on the day it was passed (August 27, 2024) and can be appealed in the cassation procedure within 30 days after the full court ruing is drawn up (August 29, 2024).