'SLAPP:' Russian Businessman's Associate Targets Ukrainian Media Outlet with Lawsuit Over Investigative Report, Finds “Convenient” Judge

Following the release of an investigative report in May in a suspected money laundering case, the Ukrainian citizen Serhiy Semeniuk filed a lawsuit for the protection of honour, dignity, and business reputation against the editorial team of Slidstvo.Info and the story’s author, Ukrainian journalist Yanina Korniienko.

At the same time, his legal team attempted to manipulate the electronic judge distribution system, which automatically assigns a judge who will preside over the case. In order to achieve this, his lawyer repeatedly submitted and withdrew the lawsuit until the system allocated the desired judge.

Serhiy Semeniuk initially approached the court on 17 July 2023. At that time, the system randomly selected judge Oleksandr Antoniuk. Yet, Semeniuk’s lawyer, Anna Haponets, promptly withdrew the lawsuit.

On 8 August 2023, Semeniuk filed the lawsuit once again. Evidently, this time he was also discontented with the composition of the panel and the outcome of the automated allocation. This time, judge Viktoriya Batmanova was the random choice. So, the very next day, Semeniuk’s lawyer withdrew the lawsuit again.

However, just hours later on the same day, Semeniuk’s representatives submitted yet another lawsuit to the same court. This time, the system automatically assigned judge Dina Pokoptseva. It seems this was the judge they had been angling for through all those manipulations, as, notably, Semeniuk’s team did not withdraw the lawsuit this time around. The following month, this judge opened proceedings in a case for the protection of honour, dignity, and business reputation.

Nika Kreidenkova, Advocacy Manager at DEJURE Foundation, comments that such tactics are frequently employed in court proceedings.