Bihus.Info won an appeal against the “watcher of Kyiv” Komarnytskyi

The Kyiv Court of Appeal dismissed two appeals filed by Denis Komarnytskyi’s lawyers. He was featured in several Bihus.Info investigations and sought compensation for emotional damages over being mentioned in a report about reconstruction and for being called the “watcher.” However, the court sided with the journalists.

Earlier, Bihus.Info journalists found a connection between the co-owner of the company that received over 600 million for restoring the Irpinsky Lypky residential complex and the so‑called “watcher of Kyiv,” Denis Komarnytskyi. This was reported in an investigation by Nataliya Lazarovych.

Komarnytskyi filed the lawsuit against the journalists back in March 2024. Komarnytskyi denied his connection to the company that won the reconstruction tender. He also challenged being called the “watcher” and requested compensation for moral damages. In November last year, the Holosiivskyi court dismissed Komarnytskyi’s suit, and he decided to appeal the decision.

Komarnytskyi’s representatives filed as many as two appeals but did not appear at the hearings. Moreover, at the last hearing the petition in the case was submitted by a new, likely 3-th, representative. He also did not appear at the hearing, but in the petition asked the court to suspend consideration of the defamation case because Komarnytskyi had been indicted by the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) and it was necessary to wait for that court’s decision. The appellate panel denied both the petition and Komarnytskyi’s appeals overall.

Legal support in this case was provided by Bihus.Info lawyer Mariya Muzychka and Platform for Human Rights lawyer Roman Vasylnyak.