Kolo chief editor loses appeal in lawsuit against former Poltava City Council secretary

Tetiana Tsirulnik, chief of the Poltava-based news outlet Kolo, lost the appeal in a lawsuit against the former Poltava City Council secretary Andriy Karpov, whom she had sued for cyberbullying.

Tetyana Tsyrulnyk reproted this to Nadia Kucher, the Institute of Mass Information representative in Poltava oblast.

On 30 September 2025, the Poltava Court of Appeal dismissed Tsirulnik’s motion to cancel a ruling by the Oktyabrskyi District Court of Poltava, which rejected her defamation claim against Karpov.

“My appeal was dismissed, that is, the 18 April 2025 verdict by the Oktyabrsky District Court was upheld. The appeal court believes that the first instance court failed to prove that the defendant’s (i.e. Karpov’s. – Ed.) actions had been unlawful,” said Tsirulnik.

The journalist added that, according to the Poltava Court of Appeal ruling, the plaintiff (i.e. Tsirulnik) failed to prove that the contested information was supposed to be a statement of fact and not a value judgment that concerned the Kolo.News journalist and editor personally.

“While resolving the dispute, the first instance court reasonably pointed out that some of the statements that the plaintiff associates with her reporting and considers unlawful are value judgments, which, among other things, contain ironic statements that border on sarcastic ones and are not directed at an individual,” the journalist quoted the appeal court’s ruling.

“’A person who is not stating a fact but expresses their own views, criticisms, assumptions, cannot be forced to prove their truthfulness, since this is a violation of the freedom to hold one’s own point of view, which is recognised as a fundamental part of the right protected by Article 10 of the Convention.’ That is, Andriy Karpov alleging that I wrote that he had penis surgery is his personal point of view which he is entitled to,” Tsirulnik said.

The appeal court ruling also states that Tsirulnik did not exercise her right to a re-examination to correct perceived irregularities.

“Even though the expert who conducted the examination has since quit and it will be difficult to find her now,” Tsirulnik said.

The journalist added that the court ruling stated that witness testimonies could not refute the experts’ conclusion.

“That is, the expert whose examination findings can be interpreted either way (in particular, in the part where she decided not to analyse the comments), quit and will be difficult to find now, and the objectivity of my three witnesses has been found questionable. I will go to the Supreme Court with the support of the Zmina Human Rights Center,” says Tetyana Tsirulnik.

Previously

In February 2023 the editor-in-chief of the Poltava website “Kolo”, Tetiana Tsirulnik, has filed a lawsuit against Poltava City Council secretary Andriy Karpov after facing cyber bullying over her article about Karpov.

In her defamation lawsuit, the journalist demanded that Karpov’s post be recognized as degrading to her honor and dignity, that the part of the official’s post where he claims that journalists are lying about his salary by alleging it exceeds 100 thousand hryvnias, be recognized as misleading, and that she be compensated for moral damage, which she estimated at 100 thousand hryvnias.

An October 26 news report titled “The price for 8 years of Vata Show: Poltava City Council secretary Andriy Karpov is raising money for an operation,” had a reference to the official’s Telegram channel, where he wrote about his treatment and the fundraising campaign. Karpov posted this article on his social media, having taken screenshots from the “Kolo” website. The official accused the journalist of distorting the truth, claiming that she had written a news article with the headline “Karpov is raising money for penis enlargement/reduction surgery.” After that, Karpov’s supporters started humiliating and insulting the journalist in the comments under his Facebook post.