Court orders Volodymyr Petrov to pay UAH 15 thousand to the NMA as co-defendant in the Lyhachova case

The Darnytsia District Court of Kyiv satisfied part of the claim by the NGO "National Media Association" (NMA) and ordered the political consultant, founder and host of the YouTube channel "Islandiya" Volodymyr Petrov to pay them UAH 15,000 in legal fees.

The judgement was passed on June 3, 2024, after a simplified hearing of the NMA's appeal (the NMA being a co-defendant in the defamation lawsuit filed by Petrov against the "Detector Media" editor-in-chief Natalia Lyhachova).

The NMA's appeal reached the court on May 17, 2024. In it, the organization's representative Artem Yuzefovych asked the court to pass an additional judgement in the civil lawsuit based on Petrov's claim against Lyhachova and the Association.

He also asked the court to make Petrov pay the legal fees in the amount of UAH 98,000 on the NMA's behalf.

"After examining the case files and the evidence provided, the court concludes that the specified sum of legal fees is not commensurate with the complexity of the case. Furthermore, the court points out that no lawyer was representing the organzation's interests in court, as the case was considered in the order of simplified legal proceedings without notification (summons) to the parties," the judgement reads.

At the same time, the court dismissed the rest of the requirements in the appeal, refusing to pass an additional judgement. The court noted that the additional ruling "can be appealed in the appeal procedure to the Kyiv Court of Appeals within thirty days from the day the ruling was passed."

Previously

On May 10, 2024, the Darnytsia District Court of Kyiv dismissed the defamation lawsuit filed by Volodymyr Petrov against Natalia Lyhachova.

In October 2023, the political consultant Volodymyr Petrov threatened Natalia Lyhachova, the "Detector Media" chief editor, with "punishment" which he would decide on himself. He said this in response to her critical remarks at the sixth National Media Talk conference, "Detector Media" reports.

In her speech, Lyhachova noted: "The fact that the NCTRB licensed 'Islandiya' is nonsense. They are political consultants working for the President's Office, who have no place in any telethons, on YouTube, or anywhere. Vova Petrov is the one who was once bringing titushkas to the Maidan, who beat up Olya Snitsarchuk from Channel 5, he is the one who promoted a bunch of black technologies, and now he works for the President's Office. I am very surprised why no one is telling Bankova St. that this is just a disgrace."

In the lawsuit, Petrov asked the court to declare unreliable the information from Lyhachova's speech at the "National Media Talk" on October 12, 2023, where she mentioned Petrov's involvement in the deployment of titushkas who beat Channel 5 journalist Olha Snitsarchuk to the Maidan on May 18, 2013. He also asked the court to order Lyhachova to retract this information.

In his lawsuit, Petrov stated that Lyhachova spread false information about him bringing the titushkas to the Maidan, which makes him somewhat complicit in the attack on Olha Snitsarchuk.