On November 21, 2017, Kyiv Appellate Court adopted the judgement in favor of Mr. Bohdan, a local activist from the Rivne region, who has been struggling with Akris Agro Ltd. for over two years protecting his right to safe and healthy environment.
The company grows agricultural crops and, in order to achieve the maximum yield, regularly sprays pesticides on the fields leased by it. Due to non-compliance of the company with the requirements of the sanitary legislation that prohibits use of pesticides at a distance less than 300 m from residential buildings, in 2015, residents of the village of Mylostiv had significant losses – dried leaves and flowers on trees and bushes, some of the plants died, others did not give the expected crop, honeybees were killed massively. Mr. Bohdan was among victims as he suffered the loss worth UAH 60,000. The damage was caused not only to gardens but also to health of the residents. For example, in spring of 2016, after Acris Agro Ltd did another spraying with pesticides, the medical station in Mylostiv village was addressed by many parents with children suffering from similar symptoms of poisoning – diarrhea and vomiting. Residents of other villages in the region, including the villages of Velyka Omelyana, were also affected by activities of the agrarian company.
On May 12, 2017, this problem was discussed at the TV show “Community liaison office” on the RTV channel1. In the TV studio, there were also representatives of the State Environmental Inspectorate in Rivne region, the deputy director of Akris Agro Ltd, a resident of Velyka Omelyan village Ms. Lyudmyla and a resident of Mylostiv village Mr. Bohdan.
After broadcasting of the TV program, Akris Agro Ltd. filed a lawsuit against Mr. Bohdan arguing that he supposedly humiliated their business reputation with his statements and caused them the moral damage worth 10,000 UAH. In fact, by filing the lawsuit the company was trying to intimidate the residents to stop them in their efforts to prevent uncontrolled use of pesticides by the company.
The court of the first instance partially satisfied the plaintiff’s claims, in particular found unreliable the information disseminated by Mr. Bogdan and ordered to refute it, as well as to compensate to the company UAH 2,000 of non-pecuniary damage.2
Disagreeing with such a decision, Mr. Bohdan filed an appellate complaint insisting that the statement he made during the program was true, and that the business reputation of the company could deteriorate as a result of harming people through the misuse of pesticides.
The Appellate Court upheld the position of Mr. Bohdan and fully satisfied his claims. The full text of the judgement will be made public in due course.
For further information please contact:
Marta Pankevych, lawyer of International charitable organization “Environment-People-Law”
tel. +38 (032) 225-76-82
