(CPJ/IFEX) – In an 18 June 2001 letter to Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, CPJ strongly protested the recent conviction of Oleg Liachko, editor of the independent Kyiv weekly “Svoboda”, on defamation charges. On 7 June, Liachko was found guilty by the Minsk District Court in Kyiv of defaming former prime minister Vasyl Durdynets and General […]
(CPJ/IFEX) – In an 18 June 2001 letter to Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, CPJ strongly protested the recent conviction of Oleg Liachko, editor of the independent Kyiv weekly “Svoboda”, on defamation charges.
On 7 June, Liachko was found guilty by the Minsk District Court in Kyiv of defaming former prime minister Vasyl Durdynets and General Ivan Hryhorenko, the head of the Interior Affairs Administration for the Odessa Region. The verdict came almost four years after charges were first filed and after an earlier trial ended in acquittal. According to CPJ sources in Kyiv, Liachko was given a two-year suspended sentence and barred from all journalistic activities for the length of his two-year sentence.
Based on CPJ’s research into the case, the organization believes that the verdict was a form of retribution for Liachko’s critical reporting on official corruption. It sets a negative precedent for other independent journalists who have endured years of official harassment.
The Prosecutor General’s office had originally filed defamation charges against Liachko in July 1997 following the June publication in the independent weekly “Polityka” of articles in which Liachko criticized the then prime minister, General Vasyl Durdynets, and the Interior Ministry chief for the Odessa Oblast, General Hryhorenko.
Almost a year later, in June 1998, Liachko was formally charged with defamation under Section 2 of Article 125 of the Ukrainian Penal Code. In November, the case was finally submitted to Kyiv’s Pecherskyy District Court. On 23 December, Judge Mykola Zamkovenko acquitted Liachko on the defamation charges, after determining that his articles had not violated Ukraine’s mass media laws.
Liachko’s ordeal did not end there, however. A year later, in November 2000, the Kyiv Municipal Court nullified Judge Zamkovenko’s acquittal and sent the case to the Minsk District Court in Kyiv for a retrial. This trial resulted in the 7 June verdict against Liachko.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to the president:
– expressing concern that the Ukrainian government has deprived a journalist of his right to practice journalism because he published politically controversial views
– recalling that democracies depend on the free exchange of information and ideas
– noting that it is therefore incomprehensible that the peaceful expression of an opinion could ever be classified as a crime
– further noting that in light of the still unresolved investigation into the September 2000 disappearance and murder of Internet journalist Georgy Gongadze, the verdict against Liachko reinforces the pervasive insecurity of journalists who criticize government officials in Ukraine
– calling on His Excellency to ensure that Liachko’s case is reviewed by independent judicial authorities, that the politically motivated criminal prosecutions of journalists cease, and that the criminal defamation law is repealed
Appeals To
APPEALS TO:His Excellency Leonid Kuchma
President of Ukraine
vul. Bankivska 11
Kyiv, Ukraine
Fax: +380 44 293 7364/291 6161/293 1001Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
