“Yermak Tapes”: Supreme Court overturned decision favoring the head of the Presidential Office’s brother in dispute against Heorhii Leros

“Yermak Tapes”: Supreme Court overturned decision favoring the head of the Presidential Office’s brother in dispute against Heorhii Leros

The Supreme Court, composed of the panel of judges of the Third Judicial Chamber of the Cassation Civil Court 05 August 2026 year, annulled the Kyiv Court of Appeals’ ruling of 30 November 2023 year in the case brought by Denys Borysovych Yermak against People’s Deputy Heorhii Bagratovych Leros and sent the case back for a new appeal review.

This was reported by the Telegram channel “Sudom po skhemakh” citing case No. 757/61570/21-c.

The essence of the conflict and previous court decisions

In November 2021 year Denys Yermak (brother of the head of the Office of the President Andrii Yermak) filed a lawsuit seeking protection of honor, dignity, and business reputation against People’s Deputy Heorhii Leros.

The trigger was a video by Heorhii Leros on YouTube from 27 October 2021 year (“Yermak Tapes”), in which the deputy alleged Denys Yermak’s involvement in the “sale” of state positions in 2019–2020 years.

Two-instance courts sided with the plaintiff:

Pecherskyi District Court of Kyiv (01.12.2022) satisfied the claim: it found the information to be unreliable, ordered Heorhii Leros to post a video with a retraction on his YouTube channel, and awarded 1 UAH in moral damages.

Kyiv Court of Appeals (30.11.2023) left that decision unchanged, agreeing that the deputy had disseminated factual assertions about the commission of a crime without a corresponding court verdict.

Why did the Supreme Court annul the decision?

In his cassation appeal, Heorhii Leros’ defense emphasized that the courts failed to take into account an important procedural conclusion by the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court: a civil court cannot assess circumstances and evidence that are the subject of proof in criminal proceedings.

In particular, the lawyer pointed out that several criminal proceedings had been opened in response to the deputy’s statements about Denys Yermak’s actions and the “trading of positions”:

No. 42020000000000646 (SAC/SBU/National Police);

No. 42020000000000642 (DBR);

No. 52020000000000372 and No. 52020000000000373 (NABU/HCAS under part 2 art. 369-2 and part 3 art. 368 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

Findings of the Supreme Court panel:

Neglecting arguments about criminal cases: the Kyiv Court of Appeals completely ignored Heorhii Leros’ arguments that the truthfulness of the facts presented in the video was being verified by law enforcement authorities within the framework of pre-trial investigations.

Violation of procedural norms: the Appeals Court, in breach of subparagraph “v” of part 3 of article 382 of the Civil Procedure Code of Ukraine, did not provide any reasons in its ruling for accepting or rejecting the defendant’s arguments regarding the existence of parallel criminal proceedings.

Presumption of innocence is within the competence of a criminal court: the Supreme Court applied the legal position of the United Chamber of the Commercial and Civil Cassation Court of the Supreme Court from 22.06.2026 (case No. 761/1004/20), which clearly states: “Arguments by a person about their innocence regarding the commission of a crime must be examined by a court during consideration of the corresponding criminal proceedings, not by a civil court when hearing a case on protection of honor and dignity.”

Final verdict of the cassation court

The Supreme Court, chaired by reporting judge Karpenko S. O., ruled:

Partially satisfy the cassation appeal of Heorhii Leros’ representative.

Annul the Kyiv Court of Appeals’ ruling of 30 November 2023 year.

Send the case for a new review to an appellate court, which is obliged to properly investigate the circumstances regarding the existence of criminal proceedings and evaluate the statements in that context