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Tatiana Korobova’s case in the European Court

29.12.2003

According to the words of Zoriana Bortnianska, the representative of the government in the European Court, the first consideration of the case was closed, so the representative of the defendant refused to give the detailed comments.

“This is the case of the newspaper “Den””, told journalist Tatiana Korobova, now a correspondent of the newspaper “Grani+”, in her interview to “Telekritika”. “Two my articles, about Natalya Vitrenko and Petro Simonenko, published in 1999 in “Den”, became the subject of consideration in the Ukrainian court. The essence of the articles consisted in the versions and assessments. Yet, the position of our court is traditional: if a statement is negative, then it is not true”.

According to the court decision, the newspaper “Den” and the journalist were obliged to recompense the moral damage. Dmitry Kutakh, the advocate representing the defendants, prepared the complaint to the European Court of human rights, and the complaint was accepted for consideration.

Dmitry Kutakh, a lawyer, the Russian advocates’ group (RAG):

-- We have not received yet the notification about the consideration of the case. We really prepared the complaint to the European Court, and it was accepted.

The Ministry of Justice is the defendant in this case: it represents Ukraine in the European Court. If the Court directed the materials on this case to the Ministry of Justice, it, most probably, evidences about the preparation of the materials for objections or about the preparation to the peaceful settlement of the conflict. Such procedure is envisaged by proper rules.

-- What is the essence of the complaint?

-- The suit of Tatiana Korobova and the association “Ukrainian press-group” to the European Court consists of two items concerning the violation of the norms of the European Convention on human rights and freedoms. Firstly, the article contained the evaluative judgments, but the Ukrainian court acknowledged these statements to be the untrue information. Secondly, Article 4 of the European Convention on human rights and freedoms, which envisages the right for fair court, was violated.

(Oksana Lysenko, “Telekritika”, 14 November 2003, www.telekritika.kiev.ua)

(“The Poltava oblast media club”, No. 55, 17 November 2003)