Supreme Court Overturns Decision in Portnov vs. Hromadske Case

The Supreme Court of Ukraine overturned the decisions of the first and appellate courts in the case brought by former Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of Viktor Yanukovych, Andriy Portnov, against Hromadske. The relevant decision was made by the panel of judges of the Second Judicial Chamber of the Cassation Civil Court on May 20, as reported by Hromadske.

Andriy Portnov filed a lawsuit against the media outlet due to the investigation "How Crimea Was Seized: Exclusive Recordings," in which journalists claimed that Portnov was allegedly the curator of the occupation of the Ukrainian peninsula. The former politician sought to have this information declared false and damaging to his "honor, dignity, and business reputation."

In August 2024, the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv ruled in favor of Portnov against Hromadske. At that time, the court ordered the media outlet to refute the information presented in the investigation, remove the material from YouTube, and delete all related content from its website and social media.

Hromadske was also ordered to pay Portnov over 170,000 hryvnias for legal assistance and over 14,000 hryvnias in court fees. In December of the same year, the Kyiv Court of Appeals upheld this decision but reduced the amount of court costs.

During the cassation proceedings, the Supreme Court concluded that the decisions of the first and appellate courts were not in accordance with the law. The previous instances did not take into account the practice of distinguishing between factual statements and evaluative judgments, as well as the broader limits of permissible criticism of public figures.

"The requirement to prove the veracity of evaluative judgments is impossible to fulfill; it violates freedom of thought as such. The limit of permissible criticism of a public figure is broader than that of a private individual. Unlike the latter, the former inevitably and consciously allows all their words and actions to be the subject of close attention from journalists and the public, and therefore must exhibit greater tolerance," stated the Supreme Court's decision.

The court also ruled that Hromadske's materials pertained to issues of significant public interest. Thus, the Supreme Court annulled all decisions that required the media to refute and remove the investigation.

However, during the cassation review, the court established that Andriy Portnov had passed away. Since the dispute concerned the protection of honor, dignity, and business reputation—personal non-property rights that cannot be inherited—the proceedings in the case were closed.

The representative of the investigation's author, Yaroslava Volvach, Anastasia Burkovska, stated that this case raised the question of whether journalists can investigate events of public interest without fearing a defamation lawsuit as a tool of pressure.

"The Supreme Court answered this question unequivocally. We are pleased that our legal arguments—about the distinction between facts and evaluative judgments, about the limits of permissible criticism of public figures—became part of this answer," said the journalist's representative.

It is worth noting that Andriy Portnov was shot dead in Spain on May 21, 2025. According to local media, this occurred while he was driving his children to the American School in Madrid. Preliminary information indicates that he was shot four times in the chest and once in the head.

The Spanish court has sealed the case regarding Portnov's murder. According to law enforcement, it was committed by a shooter and two accomplices. According to "UP," Spanish law enforcement refused to create a joint working group to investigate Portnov's murder, as initiated by the Ukrainian side. The Office of the Prosecutor General reported that Ukraine is also investigating this murder.

In early 2026, it became known that Spanish and German law enforcement had detained a suspect in Portnov's murder in the city of Heinsberg, Germany. The police did not provide details about him. Meanwhile, local television channel Antena 3 reported that he is a citizen of Ukraine. The German authorities are considering the issue of extraditing the suspect, but it is unclear to which country.

Andriy Portnov was a member of the Ukrainian parliament of the V-VI convocations, served as an advisor to President Yanukovych, and later as Deputy Head of his administration. He was under sanctions from various countries from 2014 to 2025.

Until 2010, Portnov oversaw legal support for the BYuT, served as Deputy Head of the election headquarters for presidential candidate Yulia Tymoshenko in the 2010 elections, and then became Deputy Head of Yanukovych's administration and head of the Main Department for Judicial Reform and Judicial System. Portnov was regularly accused of pressuring judges.

In 2014, he left Ukraine for abroad. According to media reports, he was in Russia, later moved to Vienna, and most recently lived in Spain. From August 27 to October 5, 2018, he headed the pro-Russian television channel NewsOne, acquiring 100% of the channel's shares from Volodymyr Murayev (father of Yevhen Murayev). In 2019, Portnov returned to Ukraine and resumed his position as a professor at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv in the Department of Constitutional Law of the Faculty of Law.

He repeatedly clashed with journalists and civil society organizations. In addition to Hromadske, he filed and won lawsuits against the "Chesno" Movement, against the editor of "Censor.NET" Yuriy Butusov, and the Anti-Corruption Center, against media outlets LB, Kyiv Independent, the analytical center StateWatch, and others. According to media reports, Portnov continued to influence the work of the judiciary in Ukraine.

According to "Schemes," on June 3, 2022, Portnov fled Ukraine and has since been in Europe.

Photo: UNIAN