The Court of Appeals authorized the publication of an investigative report on the brother of the head of the State Bureau of Investigation

The Kyiv Court of Appeals has lifted the ban on publishing an investigation into 143 properties linked to the brother of State Bureau of Investigation Director Oleksandr Sukhachov. Previously, the Pechersk Court had prohibited the publication of these materials by “Slidstvo.Info” and the Anti-Corruption Action Center.

 

Oksana Maksymenyuk, a media lawyer and attorney for “Slidstvo.Info” in this case, emphasized that the overturning of this court ruling is an important step, as it restricted freedom of speech.

“This should put a stop to further attempts to ban journalistic materials, especially high-profile investigations,” she stressed.

On July 7, the Pecherskyi District Court of Kyiv banned “Slidstvo.Info” from publishing an investigation into the assets of Oleksandr Sukhachov—a Kharkiv businessman and brother of State Bureau of Investigation Director Oleksiy Sukhachov.

The publication claims to have information that Oleksandr Sukhachov owns 143 properties.

“We worked on the story about Oleksandr Sukhachov together with the Anti-Corruption Action Center for several months. We found a lot of interesting details—in particular, 143 apartments and office spaces that belonged to or are owned by Sukhachov Sr., and we also uncovered connections leading to the State Bureau of Investigations, which is headed by his brother, Oleksiy Sukhachov,” said Maksym Savchuk, a journalist for “Sledstvo.info.”

They believe the case has all the hallmarks of a SLAPP lawsuit (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation)—a strategic lawsuit filed by those under investigation to block journalistic work before a story is published. “Slidstvo.info” notes that Ukraine has committed to introducing anti-SLAPP legislation in line with European Union standards by 2027.

On the same day, the State Bureau of Investigation (DBR) told Suspilne that the agency “is not a party to the legal proceedings, and since this does not involve a Bureau employee, we cannot comment on this situation.”

The international organization “Reporters Without Borders” expressed concern over the court’s decision and emphasized that “the justice system cannot be used as a tool to censor journalistic materials that are in the public interest.”

This was reported by “Slidstvo.Info” and the Anti-Corruption Center.

As a reminder, the court banned the publication of an investigation into the real estate holdings of the SBI chairman’s brother.

The State Bureau of Investigation (DBR) subsequently denied any involvement in the ban on the investigation into Sukhachov’s brother.

Following this, Zheleznyak called for the resignation of DBR Director Sukhachov.