Court rules to recover about UAH 300,000 more from Medvedchuk in case on banning 'Vasyl Stus Case' book
Kyiv's Court of Appeal has decided to enforce another UAH 300,000 from MP (Opposition Platform - For Life faction) Viktor Medvedchuk in favor of the Vivat publishing house, which Medvedchuk previously tried to force to remove all references to him from Vakhtang Kipiani's book "Vasyl Stus Case."
"It's always pleasant to look at three things - the birds singing, the Dnipro river flowing and how Medvedchuk is losing cases. The Court of Appeal decided that the former lawyer and current pro-Russian politician should compensate about UAH 300,000 to the Vivat publishing house for the costs of the trial to ban the book 'Vasyl Stus Case,' initiated by himself," the author of the book Vakhtang Kipiani wrote on Facebook.
Earlier, the court ruled to recover from Medvedchuk UAH 139,500, spent by the publishing house on legal assistance in the appellate instance.
As reported, on March 19, Kyiv's Court of Appeal overturned the decision of Darnytsky District Court of Kyiv, which, at the suit of head of the Opposition Platform - For Life party Viktor Medvedchuk, ordered author of the "Vasyl Stus Case" book Vakhtang Kipiani and the Vivat publishing house to remove information from the book about him and prohibited the distribution of the printed edition of the book until the violation is eliminated.
On October 19, Darnytsky District Court of Kyiv ordered author of the book "Vasyl Stus Case" Vakhtang Kipiani and the Vivat publishing house to remove from the work information about chairman of the political council of the Opposition Platform – For Life party Viktor Medvedchuk and ban the distribution of print circulation until the violation of Medvedchuk's moral rights is eliminated.
The authors of the book appealed against the decision to ban the distribution of the publication in the appellate instance.
Medvedchuk filed a lawsuit to protect honor, dignity and business reputation and asked the court to ban the publication and distribution of the book "Vasyl Stus Case" and the dissemination of any information about the book in the media and on the Internet. He also asked to recover from Kipiani and the Vivat publishing house the costs of paying the court fee. The authors of the book about poet Stus intend to appeal against the decision to ban the distribution of the publication. In addition, Medvedchuk asked to recognize some of the information in the book as unreliable, in particular, nine phrases.
The book "Vasyl Stus Case" was published in May 2019. On November 2, 2020, a new circulation of the book was issued with the publication in the publishing house of the decision of Darnytsky District Court of Kyiv on the ban of the book in the first instance.