Portnov wins against Hromadske in first instance court. Hromadske appeals

Andriy Portnov vs. Hromadske. Photo by Hromadske

On August 6, the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv city ruled in favour of Andriy Portnov, the ex-deputy chief of Victor Yanukovych's administration, who sued hromadske over the investigation "How they robbed us of Crimea: exclusive records".

Hromadske says they disagree with the ruling and are appealing it.

The court ordered Hromadske to retract the information reported in the investigation and to take the investigation down from their YouTube channel, and all materials related to it from their website and social media.

The court also ruled that Hromadske must pay UAH 170,357 in legal fees and UAH 14,534 in court fees on Portnov's behalf.

Hromadske disagrees with the court's ruling and is filing an appeal. The editors believe that none of the statements that Portnov asked the court to refute were reported by their outlet. According to the author of the investigation, Yaroslava Volvach, all of Portnov's claims were related to remarks taken out of context.

"The unscrupulous judge of the Pechersk District Court, Oleksiy Sokolov, deemed so officially by the Public Council of Integrity, ruled in favor of the ex-deputy chief of the Yanukovych administration, who at that time used to supervise the judiciary, being a member of the High Council of Justice. Unfortunately, this is not a story from 15 years ago, it is still part of our reality today. And Andriy Portnov stays true to himself. This is another lawsuit where he opposes independent journalists. And wins in spite of common sense. And for some reason it is happening in the Pechersk court," the investigator said.

She also emphasized that the grounds for journalists' assumptions about Andriy Portnov's alleged involvement in the processes related to the occupation of Crimea were laid out in the investigation, which was based on records from 2014.

Previously

On February 15, 2024 former deputy head of the presidential administration, Andriy Portnov, sued hromadske for their investigation "How they robbed us of Crimea: exclusive records". The investigation was released on December 27, 2023, and is based on audio recordings from around 2014.

In the lawsuit, Portnov claims that Yaroslava Volvach, head of the outlet's investigative journalism department, called him a "pro-Russian figure, collaborator, traitor, Russia's henchman." Portnov also says the journalists alleged that "the plaintiff oversaw the occupation of Crimea in Russia's interest."

According to the plaintiff, this means that the journalists "reported that A. V. Portnov had committed treason."

The author of the investigation, Yaroslava Volvach, called Portnov's allegations manipulative.

"I did not claim that Portnov was a collaborator, a traitor or a pro-Russian figure, I just asked a question: can he be considered that? My first reason for this was to highlight the absurdity of the Pechersk District Court's judgement, which sided with Portnov in the lawsuit against the 'Anti-Corruption Center' and forbade the use of these words in relation to him. As for the key issue that Portnov avoids in his lawsuit, it is the tapes that testify to his possible involvement in processes related to the occupation of Crimea, and this issue should be examined by the law enforcement," said the journalist.

Portnov's other lawsuits against media

On December 13, 2023, Portnov won the lawsuit against media outlets that listed him in an article on "collaborators" and "traitors" in first instance.

The Pechersk District Court of Kyiv ordered the Anti-Corruption Action Centre and several media outlets to refute the information they previously reported about him.

The article in question was written by the Anti-Corruption Action Centre and titled "Collaborators, traitors, Russia's henchmen: whose assets Ukraine has not seized yet"; it was released by "Ukrainian Pravda" on their website. The article was reposted by "Focus" and shared by the AntAC Telegram channel.

In the lawsuit, Portnov noted that on July 24, 2023, the defendants spread "misinformation" about him by alleging that he was a "pro-Russian figure, a collaborator, a traitor, Russia's henchman who should be subject to target sanctions and have his assets confiscated according to the Law of Ukraine 'On Sanctions'".

In March 2023 the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv judged in favour of Andriy Portnov in his defamation lawsuit against "Skhemy", NV, Hromadske, Pryamiy and Channel 5.

The court called the media outlets' reports about Portnov's alleged involvement in setting fire to the car of the "Skhemy" driver Borys Mazur "unreliable" and ordered the media outlets to refute it. According to the court, these reports "create the impression of Portnov as a criminal."

The court considers that Portnov "has been working in journalism" for many years, therefore sharing such information "negatively affects the public assessment of his person in the eyes of others."

In October 2019, Portnov posted the private data of Borys Mazur, the driver for the "Skhemy" program, in his Telegram channel. The editors regarded this as direct pressure and believed the arson had to do with the fact that Portnov had previously leaked the private data of the driver. On August 17, 2020, unknown persons set Mazur's car on fire.