CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS BROUGHT AGAINST PEOPLE’S DEPUTY PAVLO KOSTENKO IN ICU LIBEL CASE

On 12 March, the Desnyansky District Court in Kyiv authorized the National Police of Ukraine to begin criminal proceedings against Pavlo Kostenko, the People’s Deputy of Ukraine, for failing to publicly refute false accusations he made about ICU, as he was required to do by court order.

The last year, the collegium of the High Specialized Court of Ukraine for the civil and criminal cases declined Kostenko’s  appeal, leaving in force the Desnyansky District Court decision in ICU’s favour, which had been upheld by the Kyiv Court of Appeals. Under these decisions, Kostenko was obliged to publicly refute his false statements about ICU regarding “speculative BISL (Bonds of the Internal State Loan) transactions.”

Despite three court rulings, Pavlo Kostenko defied court orders, which resulted in a fine of 1700 UAH, which was then doubled on 28 of January for continued non-compliance.

Previously, ICU formally demanded that Ukrainian Deputy Sergii Leshchenko refute the libelous information he published about ICU in January 2018. ICU also demanded that 1+1 TV channel refute the slanderous accusations made in Ukrainian Sensations, a TV program aired by 1+1 on 10 February 2018. These demands were made by ICU in accordance with a pre-trial settlement of the dispute. Should these individuals and entities continue to fail to comply with due process and disavow the defamatory information they have disseminated, ICU will move to defend its interests in court.

ICU is also preparing an action against The Institute of Law and Society led by Yuriy Karmazin, demanding a refutation of libelous claims against ICU spread by representatives of the Institute.