Ukraine: RSF condemns attempted SLAPP proceedings against investigative media Slidstvo.info
Following the publication of an investigation revealing links between a Ukrainian businessman and Russia, the Ukrainian investigative media Slidstvo.info is the target of a defamation complaint and is facing manipulation of the judicial process. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls for these unjustified charges to be dropped and condemns this judicial pressure.
Since 5 September, legal proceedings have been underway against the newspaper Slidstvo.info for defamation following the publication of an investigation last May. The complaint was filed by Ukrainian businessman Serhiy Semeniuk for "protection of honour, dignity and commercial reputation" against the media outlet and journalist Yanina Kornienko, who wrote the article. The court's decision is expected to be announced any day now.
Published in collaboration with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) under the headline, “From the Kremlin Palace to Ukrenergo: who cleans Ukraine’s strategic facilities,” the article reveals that cleaning companies owned by Serhiy Semeniuk, who is closely linked to Russian businessman Eduard Apsit, have for years been cleaning strategic railway, banking and energy facilities in Ukraine, and that these cleaning services have continued since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
“This case is clearly a SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) attempt to intimidate Slidstvo.info and dissuade journalists from doing investigative reporting. Serhiy Semeniuk’s staff have even manipulated the Ukrainian court system in a bid to ensure the lawsuit’s success. Such outrageous practices undermine independent investigative journalism. We call for the case to be dismissed.
Slidstvo.info has demonstrated that Serhiy Semeniuk’s legal team manipulated the electronic selection system that determines which judge is assigned to the case. The aim of this random electronic selection method is to combat judicial corruption in Ukraine. Slidstvo.info says Semeniuk’s lawyer, Anna Haponets, manipulated it by filing and withdrawing the suit several times until she got the judge she wanted.
Slidstvo.info says Serhiy Semeniuk’s legal team also manipulated the court system by naming an additional person in the suit. It is Vladyslav Hrindak, someone with no relationship with Slidstvo.info, who was included solely on the grounds that he shared the article on his Instagram page. Not affiliated to the Slidstvo.info editorial team, this man is registered in a district of Dnipro where the Zhovteniy court is located, where Serhiy Semeniuk's defence team wanted to have the case tried. Thanks to this new defendant, the case is being tried in this court. He is the target of the complaint, but without any claim for damages, unlike the complaint against Slidstvo.info, which proves, according to the editorial team, that his case serves only to have the whole matter tried in the court chosen by Serhiy Semeniuk's lawyers.
The suit is seeking 200,000 Hryvnias (5,170 euros) in damages from Slidstvo.info, whose staff have so far only been in written communication with the court.
