Court orders the State Transport Safety Service to provide requested information to "Syla Pravdy" journalist

The Rivne District Administrative Court ordered the State Transport Safety Service of Ukraine (STSS) to provide "Syla Pravdy" journalist Olha Yuskovets with the requested information about the men who illegally left the country through the Shlyakh system.

The judgement was made on June 3, 2024, reports "Syla Pravdy".

Olha Yuskovets told the IMI representative in Volyn oblast that she had sent the request for access to public information on April 8, 2024. She was asking for copies of letters from the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine to the STSS regarding the draft-eligible citizens in the "Shlyakh" system who did not return to Ukraine within the prescribed deadline.

The journalist received the refusal on April 12. The service argued that the information includes the personal data of the drivers whose actions are currently being investigated by the police.

"This was my first time filing a lawsuit to obtain information. So, this is the first lawsuit against the information administrator and the first win," said Olha Yuskovets.

The court fully satisfied the journalist's lawsuit and declared the STSS's refusal to be unlawful.

"To order the State Transport Safety Service of Ukraine to provide copies of letters from the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine or its structural divisions to the State Transport Safety Service of Ukraine for the period from 24.02.2022 to 31.03.2024 regarding reports of Ukraine's citizens who were entered into the Shlyakh system based on submissions by legal entities or private entrepreneurs licensed for various types of freight transportation, overstaying abroad," the court's decision reads.

The journalist was assisted by the lawyers of the NGO Human Rights Platform, who provided legal support in the case.

On March 13, 2024 the Volyn District Administrative Court satisfied the claim by Oksana Petruk, editor of the Investigative Journalism Center "Syla Pravdy", against the state-owned company "Lisy Ukrainy". The court ruled that the company unlawfully withheld information about the Polissya Forestry Office staff list and the salaries of their officials from the public, refusing to answer a request.