Court upholds journalists demanding opening a case against DESS leadership

DESS head Viktor Yelenskyy (left) and his first deputy Viktor Voinalovych. Photo: dess.gov.ua

The Kyiv Court of Appeal has sent the case filed by the journalists of the dialogtut.org website back for reconsideration in the first-instance court. The journalists demand that the State Bureau of Investigation open criminal proceedings against the leadership of the State Ethnopolitics Service under Article 161 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (incitement of religious enmity and hatred, humiliation and insult of the feelings of citizens in connection with their religious beliefs), reports the editor-in-chief of the website, Yulia Kominko, on her Facebook page.

"The Kyiv Court of Appeal ruled in our favour, partially granted our complaint and sent the case for reconsideration in the Pechersk district court," Yulia wrote. “The fight against the incitement of religious hatred by state authorities against UOC believers continues! We will pursue legal action until the State Bureau of Investigations opens a criminal case against the leadership of the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience for their shameful response to the petition to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, signed by 25,000 citizens."

As reported, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal instructed DESS to respond to the electronic petition "Do not ban the UOC", which had gained the required number of signatures. After receiving a response from the Deputy Head of DESS, Viktor Voinalovych, the author of the petition, Yulia Kominko, stated that the letter contained a "gross violation of Ukrainian Law No. 393/96-VR regarding the procedure for responding to an electronic petition and is a manifestation of disregard for the 25,000 citizens of Ukraine who signed the petition." Yulia filed a complaint with the Cabinet Secretariat. In response to her, the head of DESS, Viktor Yelenskyy, claimed that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is allegedly part of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Yulia Kominko and her colleagues addressed the SBI with a statement about the commission of crimes by the leaders of the State Ethnopolitics Service, as provided for in Article 161 of the Criminal Code. The SBI ignored the statement, and then journalists filed a lawsuit with the Pechersk District Court, requesting that law enforcement authorities enter information about the commission of a criminal offence into the Unified Register of Pretrial Investigations and initiate investigative actions. However, the court rejected this lawsuit.

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