Journalist Taisia Kutuzova loses appeal over attack by policeman

Taisia Kutuzova in the Sviatoshyno Court of Kyiv. November 10, 2023. Photo by Okeksiy Arunyan, Graty

The Kyiv Court of Appeals upheld the ruling by the Sviatoshyno District Court of Kyiv, which acquitted the policeman accused of attacking KyivPost journalist and documentarist Taisia ​​Kutuzova.

The judgement was passed on October 15, 2024.

The first instance court's ruling was contested by a Kyiv oblast prosecutor and the journalist's lawyer. They asked the court to convict the police officer of obstructing the journalist's reporting and to sentence him to 4 years in prison. However, the appeals court dismissed their requests.

The court of appeal agreed with the findings of the first instance court, who claimed that the case failed to properly prove that:

• the defendant was aware that Kutuzova was a journalist and was deliberately interfering with her work;
• the victim was performing the legal work of a journalist and is a professional journalist.

The court concluded that the first instance court "made a legal and well-founded decision, therefore there are no grounds for granting the appeal."

In a comment to the Institute of Mass Information, Taisia Kutuzova said that she would appeal this judgement in the Supreme Court.

"The court rejected the request by my lawyer and the prosecutor to review the case and convict my attacker. The court upheld the first instance judgement and effectively did not recognize me as a professional journalist. They just left everything as it was, dismissed the appeal," she said.

The first instance court's ruling

On March 4, 2024, the Sviatoshyno District Court of Kyiv acquitted the policeman accused of assaulting KyivPost journalist and documentarist Taisia Kutuzova. He was acquitted "due to the lack of a corpus delicti in his actions." Although the attack was committed by a group, the judgement only mentioned one policeman.

The police officer was charged under Part 3 of Article 171 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine ("Preclusion to the legal professional activity of journalists").

The prosecutor asked for the defendant's imprisonment for four years and to revoke his right to office or to perform certain work for three years.

The defendant's attorney believed that Kutuzova forged her KyivPost ID, pointing out an error in it, and claimed it was inadmissible evidence. Kutuzova's representative noted that her KyivPost certificate contains a technical error: the publisher's name is spelled incorrectly, "Business Group LLC" with one "p" instead of the correct two. According to the defense, this in no way affects the legal status of his client as a journalist.

In the comment to the IMI, Taisia Kutuzova said that she considered the ruling unfair and would appeal against it.

The attack on Taisia Kutuzova

In 2020, KyivPost freelance journalist and documentarist Taisia Kutuzova faced obstruction of her work three times while filming the documentary "Shut Up!" about the local activist Serhiy Chaharov.

All three incidents occurred in Hatne village (Kyiv oblast). On June 1, the village council security guards physically restricted her access to the village council hall, citing the quarantine. On August 14, the guards barred Kutuzova from entering the village council.

On October 6, the police used force against Taisia Kutuzova. They twisted her arms, took her camera away and damaged the microphone.

Later, the Kyiv oblast police started proceedings over a group of police officers using force against a journalist under Article 171 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine ("Preclusion of the legal professional activities of journalists"). The attackers were suspended from work.

On October 15, the State Bureau of Investigation opened a case following Taisia Kutuzova's statement on obstruction by police officers.