Official who sued journalist failed to appear in court

More than fifty journalists and civic activists gathered to support Ruslan Kotsaba at the trial premise today.

As IMI reported earlier, on January 23, 2013, a trial in Ivano-Frankivsk was due to examine a suit against Ruslan Kotsaba, chief editor of "Narodne OKO" Internet-resource, brought on the fact of spreading the information about local official’s previous conviction on Article 194 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, Versii reported. The suit against the journalist was brought by Party of Regions deputy and head of the internal security department of the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast Tax administration Vassyl Stroyich, in order to protect his honor, dignity and business reputation. Journalist Kotsaba insists that Stroyich forged his workbook and military ID record about his service in the army, which was already proved by the court of first instance.