Khmelnytskyi deputy mayor loses Supreme Court lawsuit to vsim.ua

The Supreme Court dismissed the cassation appeal by the Khmelnytskyi deputy mayor Vasyl Novachok and upheld the August 27, 2024 resolution by the Khmelnytskyi Court of Appeal in the official's defamation lawsuit against the local media outlet Vsim.ua. The official disagreed with the information featured in the news article on budget distribution. The resolution of the cassation instance is not subject to appeal, as stated in the court's judgement dated November 27, 2024.

“Having established that the disputed article is presented as the journalists reporting the information posted on the website NGP, data from the Unified State Register of Court Rulings, and comments made by the plaintiff as the Khmelnytskyi deputy mayor, the Court of Appeal reached a well-founded conclusion regarding the absence of legal grounds to retract it,” the Supreme Court’s ruling states.

The judges also noted that the Court of Appeal correctly took into account that the plaintiff is a public figure and that the information reported in the article concerns the use of local budget funds and is of significant public interest at the local level.

The Court of Cassation also mentioned the plaintiff's own comment quoted in the article. In the court's opinion, featuring it constitutes reporting the different positions and views on a controversial topic.

In general, the panel of judges concluded that there were no grounds for overturning the contested court ruling, dismissed the cassation appeal of the Khmelnytskyi deputy mayor, and upheld the August 27, 2024 judgement by the Khmelnytskyi Court of Appeal.

“When we received the Supreme Court's resolution, we were delighted, but not particularly surprised by such a verdict. Just as we were not surprised by the Court of Appeal ruling in our favor. These institutions turned out to be more professional and responsible when trying the case. Unlike the city district court, which passed an unlawful ruling,” Vsim.ua editor Maksym Faryna told the Institute of Mass Information representative in Khmelnytskyi oblast, Alyona Bereza.

The editor said that the ruling in their favor in this case does not mean that the official is actually involved in the budget embezzlement, as some readers understood it.

“Time will tell whether he is involved or not, as will the investigation by the police and the court ruling, if there is any,” added Maksym Faryna.

Previously

As reported earlier, Khmelnytskyi deputy mayor Vasyl Novachok sued the media outlet Vsim.ua over the July 2023 news article "Novachok and a million hryvnias: the details of the budget embezzlement case" The journalists reported on the court proceedings against Khmelnytskyi City Council officials, listing the officials' (including the deputy mayor's) full names and adding their photos