Grunt Media says that the Kyiv City Council failed to publish a petition submitted by their leading political columnist Oleksandr Notevskyi within the timeframe prescribed by law. The petition proposes to dismiss the Kyiv Mayor, Vitaliy Klitschko, Grunt Media reports on Telegram.
The news outlet explained that the Kyiv City Council was supposed to either make the petition public on their website or give an official reply with reasons for refusal within two business days. However, this never happened.
“Instead they published a parody petition in support of the mayor, which was submitted by Notevskyi’s colleague as an experiment,” the media outlet adds.
Grunt Media says they plan to sue the Kyiv City Council. The news outlet is also preparing a draft resolution demanding Klitschko’s dismissal, which they want to submit to the Kyiv City Council with signatures by Kyiv residents.
Oleksandr Notevskyi wrote in a Telegram post that the idea that all critics of the city government are “bots” needs to be debunked.
“We need to break the myth that everyone dissatisfied with the city government is someone’s bot. No, these are real people who deserve to have their views seen, heard, and felt,” he wrote.
He added that the petition hotline advised him to contact the City Council directly.
“This is a violation of my rights as a resident of Kyiv and a complete mockery of the digital democracy tools. What good are petitions if you only let through the convenient nonsense, even if doesn’t meet the requirements?” wrote Notevskyi.
The Institute of Mass Information has reached out to both Oleksandr Notevskyi and the Kyiv City Council for comment.
