A Kyiv court has ruled that award-winning Ukrainian writer Oksana Zabuzhko spread “lies and insults” about Viktor Medvedchuk, the leader of a pro-Russian civil society group that announced the ruling.
However, the Kyiv Post couldn’t find the respective lawsuit in the
government’s online registry of judicial
rulings. When contacted by the Kyiv
Post, Zabuzhko said she was unaware of the lawsuit’s existence. The number for
Ukrainsky Vybir’s press service, the pro-Kremlin group that Medvechuk heads and
which announced the alleged court ruling, wasn’t answered.
According to Ukrainsky
Vybir, the Kyiv City Pechersk
District court on Jan. 8 ruled that Zabuzko must pay Medvedchuk 25 kopecks in
“moral damages.”
“Given the moral insignificance of the defendant and (her) doubtful
intellectual adequacy, the amount of compensation that Medvedchuk asked for was
25 kopecks,” reads the group’s statement.
In a text message sent to the Kyiv Post, Zabuzko, 53, said: “I have no
idea whether it (the lawsuit) is real or not; I didn’t know anything about a
lawsuit until today.”
A once powerful political figure as the former chief of staff of
ex-President Leonid Kuchma’s administration, as well as a former member of
parliament, Medvedchuk allegedly filed a lawsuit against her on Dec. 9 for
spreading “false, insulting, and blatantly untrue information” about him.
It was in reference to an interview she gave to Radio Liberty during
which she allegedly accused Medvedchuk of involvement in acts of provocation
against EuroMaidan protesters on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1.
On Nov. 30, police used excessive force to clear Independence Square of
demonstrators consisting mostly of university students. The next day hundreds
of thousands took to the streets in protest during which scuffles broke out
with police. Also on Dec. 1, police were captured on video beating some 40
journalists near the presidential headquarters.
Human rights groups say four EuroMaidan protesters remain in custody
despite an amnesty bill in force drafted to free them.
Opposition leaders have accused Medvedchuk and Andriy Kluyev, the secretary
of the nation’s national security and defense council, of involvement in the
Nov. 30-Dec. 1 events.
Both have denied the allegations.
Medvedchuk has a track record of suing people and media outlets for libel
or defamation of character.
As recently as Dec. 20, the Pechersk District Court
ruled in favor of Medvedchuk in a similar lawsuit against leading opposition lawmaker Arseniy
Yatseniuk. He was ordered to pay Hr 1 in moral damages.
Zabuzhko on Oct. 19 was awarded
the prestigious Angelus Polish book prize for he best-selling novel “Museum of
Abandoned Secrets.”
Kyiv Post
editor Mark Rachkevych can be reached at [email protected].
