January 2009 started with an allegedly conspicuous progress in the Gongadze case, which, however, did not reveal any new facts to solve the most notorious crime of independent Ukraine. Statements, made by the Interior Ministry and Prosecutor General Office of Ukraine as a reaction to PACE resolution calling for action to finish the investigation, were more of a bad imitation than actual activities. The number of journalists who lost their jobs dropped as compared to the previous months. It is still too early to say the situation has stabilized – the first results will manifest only at the end of the first quarter.

Georgiy Gongadze - 5

26.01.2009 Three European experts have been appointed to hold examination of the tape recordings, provided by ex-president Kuchma’s former bodyguard Major Mykola Melnychenko, said Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Oleksandr Medvedko.

“Melnychenko is not that simple, he, let’s say, has his own opinion about this case and is rather hard to cooperate with. But despite his numerous demands, we managed to conduct all investigative actions on the premises of the Embassy of Ukraine in the United States”, Mr. Medvedko said.

“Our investigation group arrived there in December 2008 and in the presence of three experts representing two European countries received the original tape recordings from him [Melnychenko] and a device which had reportedly been used to make the recordings”, the Prosecutor General said.

“The investigator signed a resolution to appoint these persons as experts in the case. A complex forensic phonoscopiс audio examination is to be conducted by them in January or February, providing us with highlights to direct further progress within the case”, the Prosecutor General said.

“It is a challenging job to investigate a case without main witnesses – Oleksiy Pukach [the fugitive ex-chief of the Surveillance Department of the Interior Ministry of Ukraine], Yuri Kravchenko [the former Interior Minister of Ukraine, charged with organizing the abduction of Georgiy Gongadze, reported to have killed himself in 2005]”, he said.

27.01.2009 The investigation has failed to establish the role Ukrainian ex-president Leonid Kuchma and his former aide Volodymyr Lytvyn played in the murder of journalist Georgiy Gongadze, said leader of the Socialist party of Ukraine Oleksandr Moroz in a statement, posted on the official website of the party on January 27.

Below you will find the original text of the statement:

The official statement of Oleksandr Moroz.

The meeting of the Council of Europe on the investigation into the killing of Georgiy Gongadze caused another round of ritual statements of leaders of Ukrainian law-enforcement bodies. Prosecutor General Oleksandr Medvedko said again the investigation was in progress. In fact, investigators have been trying, rather awkwardly too, to conceal the lack of any progress in the investigation.

There are still no answers to a number of simple questions.

Who ordered to move the body of the killed journalist to another location at Tarashcha?

Who ordered to remove the journalist’s body from the Tarashcha hospital morgue and bring it to Kyiv?

Why did the prosecutor’s office choose to follow the false versions and impede unbiased forensic examination?

Who is responsible for the release from police custody of Oleksiy Pukach, accused of killing the journalist, on his recognizance?

Who is responsible for the mysterious death of detainee I. Honcharov, a member of the gang of ‘police killers’, who died in a detention facility and whose body, contrary to all regulations, was cremated without prior examination?

Why wasn’t an additional examination conducted in the case of the mysterious suicide committed by the interior minister Yuri Kravchenko, who had reportedly killed himself with two (!) shots in the head? It is to be noted this version was challenged by a number of leading Ukrainian forensic experts.

Three police officers were convicted of killing Georgiy Gongadze. But could the police officers, members of the gang, have killed the journalist – not a businessman, a politician or a prosecutor, a person who had no financial debts, i.e. not arousing the slightest interest of criminals, on their own accord? Gongadze was an outspoken oppositional journalist, and the criminals in police uniform could have attacked him only in the case of the political order to kill the journalist.

Ukrainian law-enforcement bodies, however, don’t even dare wonder what officials in this country are authorized to give orders to criminal generals wearing police uniforms. No investigation has been done to answer this question, though obviously, at that time only Ukrainian highest-ranking politicians could have ordered the police officers to kill the oppositional journalist. Why haven’t the facts, recorded by Major Melnychenko and authenticated by several experts, been included in the case?

Today, it is quite obvious that the present Ukrainian authorities are impeding deliberately the investigation into the Gongadze case. In March 2005, four years ago, President Viktor Yushchenko said the crime was solved, but the investigation is still far from that.

The investigation has not established the role ex-president Leonid Kuchma, his former aide Volodymyr Lytvyn and other top-ranking officials played in the killing of Georgiy Gongadze.

Today, it is international organizations that urge Ukrainian authorities to continue the investigation into the assassination. Unfortunately, regardless of the pledges made by the Yulia Tymoshenko bloc, Our Ukraine – People’s Self-Defense bloc and other Ukrainian parties, the only political force which has been consistently urging the authorities to solve this crime remains the Socialist party. The Socialists are convinced the Georgiy Gongadze case is an efficiency test not only for the Ukrainian judicial system, but also for the entire Ukrainian democracy.

28.01.2009 Ukrainian authorities have been covering up for Oleksiy Pukach accused of killing the journalist Georgiy Gongadze, said Gongadze’s widow Myroslava after the session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of on “the investigation into the crimes allegedly committed by top-ranking officials during the Leonid Kuchma regime”.

“The problem is that despite Viktor Yushchenko saying that the last two years Ukraine has made every effort to find “this person” and succeed in the investigation, it has never happened”, Mrs. Gongadze said.

“As for “this person” – General Pukach – not only have they failed to start looking for him, but also have been covering up for him, including top-ranking politicians and the Interior Ministry, headed by the way by Mr. Lutsenko, the former leader of the Ukraine Without Kuchma campaign”, the widow said.

She said she had an official statement of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry confirming that “the policemen, who were convicted of the crime and are doing their sentence today, must have committed it on their own accord, and the Interior Ministry had nothing to do with it”.

“That is why Viktor Yushchenko and all Ukrainian authorities, unfortunately, remind me of two-faced Janus today – they tell the western community they are working hard on the case and have made a great progress in it, but they have a totally different face in Ukraine”, Mrs. Gongadze said.

“There had not been any progress made in the investigation by June 2008”, she said.

“Officials of the Prosecutor’s General Office say they “are working hard” trying to investigate the case, but being a victim I am afraid I haven’t received any information on the investigation. The last inquiry we made to the Prosecutor’s General Office on December 24 concerned the examination of Major Melnychenko’s tape recordings, but we have never heard from the officials since then”, said Myroslava Gongadze.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe calls on Ukrainian authorities for action to ensure effective investigation into the killing of journalist Georgiy Gongadze.

As part of the general monitoring of Ukraine, PACE is to monitor the progress in the investigation into the criminal case on the assassination of oppositional journalist Georgiy Gongadze and other high-profile cases.

28.01.2009 The Ukrainian Ministry has little connection to the Gongadze case fulfilling only particular orders of the Prosecutor General, say spokespeople for the Interior Ministry of Ukraine as they comment on the allegations made by the journalist’s widow Myroslava Gongadze, who said the ministry has been covering up for the fugitive ex-chief of the Interior Ministry Surveillance Department Oleksiy Pukach.

The ministry’s spokespeople say: “It was police officers who found police criminals charged with and convicted of the killing of Georgiy Gongadze”.

“It is also thanks to the efforts of the present police authorities and personally Interior Minister Yuri Lutsenko that all evidence have been collected and examined to ensure further progress in this case”, the ministry’s representatives say.

“The Security Service of Ukraine has been authorized by the Prosecutor General to search for Pukach”, spokespeople for the Interior Ministry of Ukraine say.

“The Interior Ministry of Ukraine fulfills only certain orders of the Prosecutor’s General Office for the investigation into the case and search of Pukach. Unfortunately, being a highly qualified professional, he has been lucky enough to avoid detention all this time”, the police officials say.

30.01.2009 Mykola Melnychenko says the investigation into the Georgiy Gongadze case is being impeded despite the fact that the investigation has officially been finished and the so-called Melnychenko tape recordings examined.

“Speaking of the masterminds. The official investigation was finished long ago. And even commission led by Omelchenko and his deputy Yuri Lutsenko investigated the case and voted unanimously for the resolution saying Kuchma had ordered the murder and Lytvyn had instigated him to do so”, he said.

“By the way, I’ve got a question to the ‘orange’ leaders about Lytvyn and Kuchma. They have made their conclusions based on the fact of the investigation”, Mr. Melnychenko said.

“There was only one examination of the recordings I had provided, done by the US-based Back Tech lab. But the investigation is, unfortunately, being impeded”, he stressed.

“It has been taking too long because the Gongadze case is a very long chain of criminal cases to be initiated by Ukrainian law-enforcement bodies not only against Kuchma, but also against a number of other top-ranking officials. That’s because the Gongadze case is a little puzzle combining all criminal cases to be investigated. And they are afraid to fit its pieces together”, Major Melnychenko said.

“It is just a formal question for the Prosecutor’s General Office – to hold an examination of the recordings in accordance with Ukrainian legislation”, he said. “The Ukrainian Prosecutor’s General Office does not recognize the examination done by the Back Tech lab as it was not ordered by the Ukrainian Prosecutor General. That’s the formal excuse”, said Mykola Melnychenko.

The delegation of the Ukrainian Prosecutor’s General Office, led by Deputy Prosecutor General Mykola Holomsha, arrived in the USA in December 2008 to pass the recordings to the American side. “Following the PACE resolution, the Prosecutor’s General Office permitted international experts to do the examination. That’s what I had insisted on”, the major said.

“They finally selected international experts who came to the USA… These are experts from Germany and another European country… These phonoscopy experts are engaged to examine the recordings and authenticate them. Take it or leave it”, said Mr. Melnychenko.

“I passed the original recordings and recording devices to the experts in December so that they could perform the authentication of the recordings”, he said.

He stressed the original recordings and recording devices “are not in the hands of the Ukrainian Prosecutor’s Office. They have been passed to the foreign experts”, who are to pass the examination results to the Ukrainian side.

“The examination was ordered by the Prosecutor’s General Office of Ukraine. And it is bound to accept and recognize the examination results. Take it or leave it. We expect, as Mykola Holomsha said upon his return from Washington, the experts to work for several months. I hope the process won’t take years”, said Mykola Melnychenko. The Back Tech lab needs “a month and a half” to complete the examination of the original recordings.

Journalists arrested, detained – 0

New data on journalists arrested, detained – 0

Journalists beaten, attacked, intimidated - 1

4.01.2009 The door of the flat of the former owner of the Lviv-based newspaper Subotnia Poshta Rustam Kurbanov has been set on fire.

The incident took place on January 4 night. Mr. Kurbanov says unknown persons collected several doormats, put them at the door, soaked them with some firelighter and set ablaze. 

It was the third incident in three weeks connected to Mr. Kurbanov’s place, he said. Rustam Kurbanov was attacked and beaten on December 10, later a girl was attacked too. The victims say they were beaten by three young men aged 20-25.

In the case of proving the January 4 incident was arson, police is to institute criminal proceedings against the offenders.

Mr. Kurbanov says he sold Subotnia Poshta in 2008. Now a 90-percent stake in Profesiyna Liga LLC, the publisher of the newspaper Subotnia Poshta, belongs to Synot Ukrainy LLC, the rest 10 percent to the Lviv city council deputy Anatoliy Zabarylo (PORA). A 50-% package of Synot Ukrainy shares belong to the Czech-born citizen of Monaco Ivo Valenta, 25% to Ukrainian Ruslan Pechenok, and another 25% to Ukrainian Yuri Dzeminsky.

Impediment to practice journalistic profession, censorship - 1

27.01.2009 Judge Sergiy Nestorenko of the Avtozavodsky district court (Kremenchuk) banned journalist Mykola Feldman to attend an open trial and ordered to throw him out of the court room. The incident took place on January 27 when the journalist arrived at the court to record the hearing in the administrative case of the Avtotechexport Kremenchuk company against the Kremenchuk city council. The journalist had appeared in the court at the request of the company lawyer. 

“… Judge Sergiy Nestorenko forced me out of the court room. I filed a complaint to the chair of the Avtozavodsky district court describing the situation in detail and requesting adequate reaction to the incident”, Mr. Feldman said.

The judge has to be made responsible for having impeded the journalist to practice his profession, Mr. Feldman said. “I plan to file a complaint with the prosecutor’s office and to urge the prosecutor to institute criminal proceedings against Judge Nesterenko for the impediment to practice journalistic profession… Judges have no right to break the law, and journalists should take actions when their rights are violated…”, he said.

New data on impediment to practice journalistic profession – 0

Economic, political, indirect pressure – 6

13.01.2009 The Kyiv city administration is trying to evict the publishing house Dnipro from its office in downtown Kyiv. Volodymyr Voytovych, the Dnipro director, says representatives of the city administration have replaced the entrance door. As a result, five Dnipro employees and director barricaded the office door and plan to stay in the office for the night.

Kyiv city officials say the publishing house has not signed a rental agreement with the Kyiv leasing company. However, Mr. Voytovych says the publishing house has drafted the agreement, but the leasing company has refused to sign it. The conflict has been caused by the attempts of the Kyiv city administration to evict the publishing house from the office in downtown Kyiv to later privatize it, says Mr. Voytovych.

The publishing house Dnipro is not considered a lessee of the office at 42, Volodymyrska Str., and has been ordered by a court to leave it, spokespeople for the Kyiv city state administration said as they commented on the reported eviction of the publishing house.

“The office the publishing house Dnipro claims with the total area of 300 m² (42, Volodymyrska Str.) is leased by the Kyiv leasing company and belongs to the city. It was rented by the publishing house Dnipro, but it was ordered by a court to leave the premises upon the expiry date of June 2008. The Kyiv council has passed a resolution to transfer the premises to the Central Department of regulatory policies and enterprises of the Kyiv city state administration, which is to establish a Unified office so that all businessman could apply for permits and licenses there”, the Kyiv state administration said in its statement.

Trials around the office of the publishing house started in 2000. The mayor does not offer any alternative office for the publishing house to rent.

15.01.2009 The property of the newspaper Khreshchatyk has not been attached. The inventory was to have been conducted by the Shevchenko district state executive department of Kyiv following the ruling of the Shevchenko district court of Kyiv as of November 26. 2007 (which came into force on May 30, 2008) ordering to collect the salary arrears of 11 750 hryvnias. State executors entered the office where they were shown a copy of a billing document on the transfer of the abovementioned amount to the accounts of the State executive department. With no grounds to seize the property, the state executives left the office without making an inventory of the property attached.

The State executive department is to receive the confirmation of the transfer tomorrow, January 16.

The legal proceedings were initiated by one of the newspaper’s former employees (asking not to site their name), who had been sacked as a result of communal mass media restructuring policies of the new mayor of Kyiv. The hearings in the case began on July 18, 2008.

19.01.2009 The Volyn oblast council deputy, journalist Valentyna Blinova (the Yulia Tymoshenko bloc) has filed an official request to the oblast state administration head Mykola Romaniuk demanding to put an end to persecution of the editor-in-chief of the regional newspaper Silski Novyny Natalia Feshchuk, started by the Stara Vyzhivka regional state administration head Mykola Bashchuk.

According to Valentyna Blinova, Mykola Bashchuk, also an oblast council deputy (the Our Ukraine – People’s Self-Defense faction), demands that prior to publishing the Silski Novyny editor-in-chief show all the materials to him. Valentyna Blinova, a journalist of the newspaper Volya-Nova, says it is statements and comments of the Stara Vyzhivka regional council that are mostly censored.

Volyn-Nova has published an article by Andriy Bondarchuk, a public activist and Members of the first Ukrainian Parliament, criticizing methods of work of the Stara Vyzhivka state administration head Mykola Bashchuk, Valentyna Blinova says.

22.01.2009 A conflict in the magazine Ukrainsky Tyzhden has been resolved. Spokespeople for magazine say Ukrainsky Tyzhden editor-in-chief Roman Kulchynsky and deputy editor-in-chief Pavlo Solodko on the one side and Ukrainski Tyzhden top-management have managed to meet halfway and the journalists have decided to resign. Mr. Kulchynsky and Mr. Solodko have no claims against their employer, the statement says.

It was reported on January 16 that the chair of the editorial board representing the investor of Ukrainsky Tyzhden – ECEM Media Ukraine – Roman Tsupryk had asked Kulchynsky and Solodko to resign. Telekritika quotes its source as saying: “The sales volumes of the last several issues have been rather poor, the potential of the media has not been used to the full. The magazine lacks clear opinions about state building processes and development of the nation. Some topics are either ignored or covered too late. The activities of the departments are not controlled. The magazine demonstrates rather biased political views”.

Ukrainsky Tyzhden editor-in-chief Yuri Makarov supports Roman Tsupryk’s actions. “I am afraid the investor is right. I am personally really sorry, but I understand and accept the investor’s logics, who demands efficiency from the project. Especially taking into account the current crisis”, said Mr. Makarov. As he later commented on the resignation of Kulchynsky and Solodko, Mr. Tsupryk said they “had failed to cope with the management of the magazine”.

“Unfortunately, inadequate information was sometimes leaked due to emotional outbursts, which could have harmed the image of both, the project and the publisher”, journalist Andriy Lavryk, a representative of the negotiation group of the magazine team and the Independent Media Union of Ukraine, has reportedly said. “You have to hand it to Mr. Tsupryk. He was among the authors of the concept of such a magazine as Ukrainsky Tyzhden, his efforts made the project possible. Ukrainsky Tyzhden still has a fantastic, highly professional team, and despite serious personnel losses, we hope for further success of the project”, he said.

The chair of the Ukrainsky Tyzhden editorial council, who is also a project manager of the ECEM Media GmbH in Ukraine, Roman Tsupryk said about the situation: “We highly appreciate the contribution Roman and Pavlo have made to the project. We are still on good terms. They are undoubtedly very talented journalists, and we hope to cooperate with them in future”.

Roman Tsupryk also said the editor-in-chief and deputy editor-in-chief of the magazine are to be followed by the head of the politics department Anatoliy Bondarenko, head of the economy department Sergiy Lukyanchuk and journalist Oleksiy Prosekin, who have already agreed to resign. “We regret their decision, but we hope to continue our cooperation in a different format”, said the ECEM Media Ukraine project manager.

26.01.2009 ICTV reduces the information service staff. Six journalists, several administrators, a music editor, a photo artist and assistants have been fired since the beginning of the year.

The TV channel plans to sack journalists Oksana Yarmak, Viktor Dereniuk and former chief editor of the information service Oleksandr Belov, who stepped down in 2008 for Olena Froliak.

Viktor Dereniuk confirmed the information. “The reduction has been under way in the company since last year. We have already had two ways. Now our people are getting ready for the third one”, he said. He also said the journalists will have a chance to resign on their own accord.

27.01.2009 The newspaper Selianska Pravda Vid Ivana Bokogo says Ukrprombank is putting pressure on it. The temporary administration, imposed by the National Bank of Ukraine on Ukrprombank, has blocked its transactions, which makes it impossible to publish the newspaper. Representatives of the newspaper call it  “revenge” and demand that the president “put an end to this practice”, says Selianska Pravda Vid Ivana Bokogo team in the telegram to Ukraine’s President Viktor Yushchenko, spokespeople for the Socialist party of Ukraine report. 

“The temporary administration, imposed by the National Bank of Ukraine on Ukrprombank, has blocked all transactions of the newspaper Selianska Pravda Vid Ivana Bokogo, making it impossible to publish the newspaper with a circulation of over 200 thousand copies. The administration is cynically using the funds of the newspaper, received from our subscribers, deposits and pensions to cover the debts of the banks”, the newspaper team says in the statement.

“We, Selianska Pravda journalists, consider these actions of the temporary administration of the bank, appointed with the knowledge of the president of Ukraine, to be aimed at ruining the newspaper and limiting freedom of expression”, the telegram says.

Selianska Pravda editor-in-chief, Member of three Parliaments, Ivan Bokyi has sent President Yushchenko the following telegram:

“The temporary administration of Ukrprombank, loyal to you, has blocked all transactions of the newspaper Selianska Pravda Vid Ivana Bokogo, which makes it impossible to publish it. The newspaper team considers it to be your revenge for a strong position of the newspaper and an attempt to limit press freedom”.

“We demand that this free will practice is stopped. We address international community. If you have honor and conscience, stop this deal humiliating yourself”, he says in his telegram to the president.

New data on economic, political and indirect pressure – 0

Legal actions against mass media and journalists - 5

06.01.2009 The Video International Advertising Group intends to sue Central European Media Enterprises, the owner of 1+1 channel if the latter fails to fulfill its financial obligations connected to terminating relations with Video International, says Vyacheslav Bulavin, director general of the sales house Video International – Prioritet.

“I have always hoped Central European Media will fulfill its obligations to the Video International Group, while the termination of our business relations, initiated by Central European Media will be more of a “peaceful divorce”. I still do. At the same time, it seems my hopes are not going to come true. The Video International Group, on its part, has fulfilled all obligations under the agreement with Central European Media. But in return Central European Media ignores our rights and interests”, Mr. Bulavin said. Prioritet looks forward to the last data for December 2008, Mr. Bulavin said, tally all total figures to make conclusions on December and the entire year.

“We believe Central European Media can resolved the problem in a civilized way, under the agreements it has concluded with Video International, and fulfill all financial obligations under such agreements, at least as a mark of respect for more than 10 years of cooperation with our group and the results both of us can be proud of”, Vyacheslav Bulavin said. In the case Central European Media refuses to resolve the conflict by mutual agreement of the parties by the end of Christmas holidays, Video International is ready to take the company to an international court, he said.

Video International Prioritet and 1+1 have signed an agreement to terminate only in 2011. Central European Media has recently announced intent to terminate the agreement with the Video International Group on January 1. Central European Media expects the losses of $10mln caused by the change of advertising schemes. But Vyacheslav Bulavin says the amount of Central European Media’s financial obligations to Prioritet is much bigger.

“The Central European Media Group is perfectly aware that the amount of their financial obligations to the Video International Group is to be much higher than mentioned should they decide to terminate our relations. I cannot specify the amount right now, it has to be calculated taking into account the results of December 2008”, said Mr. Bulavin. He is there are at least four agreements concluded by Video International, Prioritet, Central European Media and 1+1, some of them mentioning the amount much bigger than $10mln.

Mr. Bulavin says Video International – Prioritet has not signed an agreement with the TV channel for 2009 as it did not seem beneficial: a small channel requires the same resources as a big one while the incomes are definitely lower. The company plans to deal with television market research for a while, probably reducing the staff and other expenditures. “A lot might change. The crisis might change the TV market a lot”, Vyacheslav Bulavin said. Prioritet may return to its business of a sales house, he said. 

08.01.2009 An appellate court of Odessa oblast has released Igor Yakovlev, a journalist with the Odessa-based TV channel STV, who was sentenced to six years in jail in November 2008.

The journalist was released in the court room on December 25, 2008, during the appeal hearing. The court found the previous verdict illegal. The Igor Yakovlev case was remanded, said the journalist’s lawyer Viktor Ageyev. The court also passed a ruling confirming numerous violations committed by the investigator and the Prymorsky district court which heard the case.

As previously reported, Igor Yakovlev was convicted on the lawsuit of the Odessa National Legal Academy. He was charged based on Article 190 (parts 1 and 3), Article 15 (part2) and Article 386 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (i.e. the forgery of documents, fraud, impeding witnesses, victims, experts to arrive before court, forcing them to refuse to give evidence). Representatives of the defendant said the verdict was the revenge of MP Sergiy Kivalov, which the latter strongly denied.

14.01.2009 The Pechersk district court of Kyiv started hearing the case of Igor Urbansky vs. newspaper Kommersant. The deputy transport and communication minister of Ukraine Igor Urbansky has filed a lawsuit against Kommersant-Ukraina LLC and Kommersant journalists Kostiantyn Usov and Marta Bondarenko.

The lawsuit followed the article ‘Greek cargo ship Faina could be Ukrainian’, published in the October 15, 2008 issue of Kommersant. The newspaper claimed referring to the data provided by the International Maritime Bureau and the Fifth Fleet of the US Naval Forces that the cargo ship Faina, hijacked by pirates, could belong to the Kaalbye Group (a.k.a. Kaalbye Shipping International Ltd.) allegedly connected to Igor Urbansky.

Mr. Urbansky’s lawyer, Viktor Petrynenko, said the abovementioned information was damaging for the plaintiff’s honor, dignity and business reputation. The deputy minister seeks moral damages as he was suspected in corruption and examined by Ukrainian law-enforcement bodies over the article. Kommersant-Ukraina denies the article mentions any allegedly corrupt connections of Mr. Urbansky. No non-property rights of the plaintiff were violated by the article, say representatives of the media.

The court heard the plaintiff and defendants – representatives of Kommersant-Ukraine and Kostiantyn Usov. The next court sitting was scheduled for January 19.

19.01.2009 The Primorski district court of Odessa has issued a verdict in the case of Nashe Delo editor Igor Volin-Danilov and gave him an 18-month conditional sentence for incitement of ethnic hatred.

Volin-Danilo pled guilty under part 2 of Article 161 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. He said he would not “use the printed edition Nashe Delo for the benefit of any political force or to publish provocative materials”.

The prosecutor of Odessa oblast instigated criminal proceedings on November 22, 2007 on the facts of incitement of ethnic hatred and xenophobia through the article Kill the Best of the Goy signed by the pseudonym Yuri Streicher (the Jewish community of Odessa sees it as a hint to Julius Streicher, the editor-in-chief of the German anti-Semitic newspaper Der Sturmer, convicted of crimes against humanity and executed after the war). The article was published by Nashe Delo in spring 2007. The author of the article with charged with incitement of ethnic hatred on January 15.   

Nashe Delo was founded by the regional charity foundation East-West, headed by Mr. Volin-Danilov. The biweekly normally has a circulation of around 1500, while in the election campaign the newspaper was published three times a month with a circulation of some 60-100 thousand.

27.01.2009 The Ukrainian Media Holding plans to sue Ekonomika.

The Ukrainian Media Holding sent four claims to the publishing house on September 12, 2008, for the total of over 2mln hryvnias. The holding company protests against “the inadequate information on the corporate structure of the holding, some agreements and market positions of the companies within UMH”, published by the editions of the Ekonomika publishing house (including the newspaper Delo and the magazine Marketing Media Review). Representatives of Ekonomika said on October 3, 2008 the publishing house was ready to resolve the conflict without taking it to court. The publishing house however has not taken any action since then, Borys Lozhkin said.

Mr. Lozhkin says the lawsuit was filed for the sake of professionalism. “I wouldn’t bother if some tabloids had published this information, but it is a business media with the audience having full trust in it. It is the triumph of professionalism that I’m fighting for. They should revise their approach to work”, he said.

Ekonomika President Igor Liashenko does not deny Mr. Lozhkin’s words. “Yes, we had a conversation and agreed the issue was to be resolved, but there were no further contacts. I didn’t contact him, neither did he call me. There was no development of the events, probably, because we had not decided on the procedures to resolve the conflict. There was no initiator, which is it happened so. That could have been my fault, I guess. But in general, I believe the conflict can be resolved without being taken to court”, said Mr. Liashenko.

New data on legal actions against mass media and journalists - 1

19.01.2009 The Pechersk district court of Kyiv had another hearing in the case of the deputy minister of transport and connection of Ukraine Igor Urbansky vs. Kommersant-Ukraina LLC and Kommersant journalists Kostiantyn Usov and Marta Bondarenko.

The lawsuit followed the article ‘Greek cargo ship Faina could be Ukrainian’, published in the October 15, 2008 issue of Kommersant. The plaintiff claims the article arose suspicion and caused numerous inspections of law-enforcement bodies of Ukraine, damaging his honor, dignity and business reputation.

Viktor Petrunenko, representative of the plaintiff, said the following phrase inflicted damage on Mr. Urbansky’s business reputation:

“The press has previously reported that the hijacked ship is owned by the citizen of Israel Vadim Alperin. A source in the Ministry of Transport and Communications has said that Mr. Urbansky and Mr. Alperin “have known each other for quite a long time, they have a joint company”. “There is an agreement, under which Alperin acts as a public owner of the ship”, said our source”.

Mr. Petrunenko says the phrases, used in the material, imply that Mr. Urbansky is the actual owner of the ship and is thus guilty in having corruption relations and tax evasion. Oleksandr Voytov, representative of Kommersant-Ukraina (at the previous sitting), defendant Kostiantyn Usov and Usov’s lawyer Oleksandr Burmagin said the material did not mention any of such facts.

The court heard explanations of defendant Kostiantyn Usov and Usov’s representative Oleksandr Burmagin. The next court session is scheduled for February 11, 2008.

After the hearing, Mr. Petrunenko said before the litigants and the press that the plaintiff planned to request law-enforcement bodies to institute criminal proceedings against Kostiantyn Usov (the author of the article) for “defamation” (Article 383 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). He later said he would recommend his client “studying the materials and take decision on such actions”.

Lawsuits filed by mass media and journalists – 0

New data on lawsuits filed by mass media and journalists - 0

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