Victory for freedom of the press: the appeal sided with the media in the case brought by a tax official from Yanukovych’s era – Holovach

Justice is on the side of the media. The Kyiv Court of Appeal 16 September 2026 annulled the decision of the Pechersky District Court of Kyiv, which had granted the lawsuit of the former head of the tax police from Yanukovych’s era, Andriy Holovach, in proceeding No. 757/23837/19-c concerning protection of honor, dignity, and business reputation. Information about the hearing is available on the court’s official website.

The appellate panel composed of A.M. Stryzheus (reporting judge), O.I. Shkorina, and L.D. Polyvach issued a new ruling – Holovach’s claim was dismissed in full.

Andriy Holovach is the former head of the tax police who, during Yanukovych’s time, was implicated in a criminal case about the embezzlement of more than 3 billion hryvnias of budget funds in VAT reimbursement schemes and was even detained in 2016, but later succeeded in having that case closed, as StopKor and other media repeatedly reported.

According to the investigation by “Stop Corruption TV,” Holovach’s family and inner circle likely control a number of valuable business assets, which may include several floors in the capital’s Arena-City business center and an elite cottage community near Kyiv.

It was precisely media publications and comments about the official’s wealth and past that prompted Holovach’s lawsuit for protection of honor, dignity, and business reputation against well-known journalist Roman Bochkala and other defendants.

How did the court process proceed and what did the first instance decide?

The proceedings were opened back in January 2021 by Pechersky District Court of Kyiv Judge Iryna Hryhorenko. Holovach’s suit concerned statements made during an interview with businessman Oleh Averyanov on one of the TV channels, as well as a comment by journalist Roman Bochkala. The plaintiff claimed he considered these statements false and violating his honor, dignity, and business reputation.

The case, which StopKor covered, lasted many months, and, according to media observations, Holovach himself systematically failed to appear at hearings, which repeatedly led the defense to file motions to have the claim dismissed for lack of prosecution. Nevertheless, the hearings were repeatedly postponed to later dates.

Commenting on the situation in December 2024, journalist Roman Bochkala noted:

“The courts are being used. Thus, the ex-head of the tax police Andriy Holovach, who during the period of the Regionals collected tribute in the form of percentages of business from Ukrainian enterprises, filed a lawsuit against me and several media outlets in the ‘most humane in the world’ Pechersky District Court for protection of his honor, dignity, and business reputation. At the same time, during the four years of this case’s consideration, Holovach himself did not attend a single hearing – evidently understanding the groundlessness and hopelessness of his claims,” he emphasized.

One of the pieces of evidence in the case was a video recording of the interview on a disc. However, according to available information, during the hearing the video file on the disc… did not open – the court was only able to listen to the audio track. How reliably the voice on those terms could be attributed to a particular person is a question that apparently became one of the subjects of the appeal.

Nevertheless, on 9 December 2024 the Pechersky District Court ruled in Holovach’s favor, finding Averyanov’s statements and Bochkala’s comment to be false and to violate his honor and dignity.

Representatives of the defendants filed appeals against that decision – as recorded in the case materials, the appellate proceedings were opened in October 2025, and the case was assigned to a panel of judges of the Kyiv Court of Appeal consisting of reporting judge Andriy Stryzheus, Olga Shkorina, and Lyudmyla Polyvach.

What did the appellate court decide?

The key hearing took place on 16 September 2026, when the appellate court considered the appeals on the merits. The court heard the defendants’ appellate complaints.

The defendants argued that the first-instance court had committed significant procedural violations, that the interview did not contain factual assertions about the plaintiff, and that it fully complied with journalistic ethics.

In addition, the defendants pointed out that Holovach, as a former high-ranking official, is a public figure, and therefore the margin of permissible criticism toward him is broader than for an ordinary citizen – a principle consistently applied by the European Court of Human Rights in freedom of expression cases.

The plaintiff’s representative, Maksym Kolosar, opposed granting the appeals, insisting that, in his view, the first-instance court’s decision was lawful, well-founded, and should not be overturned.

After hearing the parties and examining the case materials, the panel of judges, following deliberation, ruled to grant the appeals of Averyanov and Bochkala, annul the decision of the Pechersky District Court of Kyiv dated 9 December 2024, and issue a new ruling – to dismiss Andriy Holovach’s claim.

What happens next?

The appellate court’s decision takes legal effect immediately after its announcement, but it may be appealed in cassation within 30 days. Whether Andriy Holovach will use this right and whether the case will reach the Supreme Court is currently unknown.

At the same time, this concerns only the first of three of Holovach’s lawsuits against media figures – two similar cases are, according to available information, being heard in the Obolonsky District Court of Kyiv. So it is too early to put a final period on this legal confrontation.

Recall that investigative journalists of the online media “Stop Corruption TV” have already drawn attention to the assets and business ties of former tax official Andriy Holovach’s family: according to preliminary data, he may have unofficially controlled a stake in the capital’s Arena-City business center and the Smilyanska Khlodnya factory in Cherkasy region, and persons close to him may have seized an elite cottage community near Kyiv.