Yatsenyuk wins two court cases on "Wall" with Russia

The court of the Desnyanskyi district of the city of Kyiv and the Vinnytsya City Court has sustained the cases of former Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk on protection of honor, dignity and business reputation in regard to the publications about his alleged involvement in corruption in construction of the "Wall" at the Russian-Ukrainian border.

On October 23, 2019, the court of the Desnyanskyi district of the city of Kyiv has sustained the case of Mr. Yatsenyuk to the citizen Mykhailo Shnaider, who has this summer disseminated in social media supposedly a photo of the "Wall" together with the critics of this project. The photo had nothing to do with the real "Wall" on the border with Russia, the claim has stated.

The author has added the image of unknown origin that illustrates some barbed wire columns as well as the plate with the inscription "Attention! The state border of Ukraine. No entry." This message was also published at the web-sites of some media.

The court held the information published to be false. The court ordered to disprove the information the same way as it had been disseminated.

The media resembles that in December 2018 the court has already ordered Mr. Shnaider to disprove the message that "Yatsenyuk lives on the territory of foreign state, has accounts in foreign banks and money there, is involved in the speculations with the public procurement, gas schemes and the start of the 'Wall' project for financial benefit."

In addition, on September 27, 2019, the Vinnytsia City Court, based on the case of Mr. Yatsenyuk, has also held unreliable the information disseminated by Mrs. Iryna Uhriumova stated that the former Prime Minister, his wife and daughters live outside of Ukraine. The blogger has written on her Facebook page that the information she has posted was unreliable and contradicts the reality. "I apologize to Arseniy Petrovych and his family for publishing the unreliable information," said Iryna Uhriumova.

The "Wall" is a defensive structure on the border with the Russian Federation. The construction has started in autumn of 2014. Initially, it was planned to spend $8 billion for it and to complete the construction by 2018. The Government chaired by Arseniy Yatsenyuk has reduced the costs for the "Wall" by half. The State Border Service complains about the underfunding of the project, and the deadline for the construction has been postponed to 2020.

According to the State Border Service, in 2015-2019, 397.2 km of anti-vehicle ditches, 66.5 km of drag roads, 295.9 km of lateral communications and 94 km of mine-laying fence have already been completed in Kharkiv, Chernihiv and Luhansk regions.