Journalist Liubov Velychko says ex-attorney suing her tried to take her phone by force

Journalist Liubov Velychko says that ex-attorney Oleh Horetskyi tried to interfere with her filming on a phone during a court hearing.

The journalist reported this to the Institute of Mass Information.

The incident occurred in the courtroom of the Brovary District Court of Kyiv Oblast on June 3.

According to the journalist, Horetskyi tried to take her mobile phone from her by force when she started filming on it.

The court is now trying Horetskyi's lawsuit against Velychko. The journalist says that the former attorney demands the removal of a Facebook post from Liubov Velychko's profile. The May 18, 2023 post details the NACB's special operation to record a bribe in Horetskyi's office: namely, a NACB agent installing covert listening devices in the office.

Oleh Horetskyi to the left. Photo by Liubov Velychko

Horetskyi sued, claiming that the information was false and defamatory. He believes Liubov Velichko is guilty of causing damage to his business reputation, demands a compensation of 20 thousand hryvnias and the retraction of the information posted on Facebook by her.

The journalist says that Horetskyi was recording the June 3 hearing on his mobile phone camera. When she started filming on her own phone in the courtroom, he tried to take the phone from her hands by force.

“The judge did not reprimand Horetskyi; he only stopped trying to snatch the phone from my hands after the lawyer Oksana Maksymeniuk reminded him that the hearing was open and the law allowed filming open hearings without the court's approval,” Liubov Velichko said.

As Suspilne reported, on October 12, 2023, the Supreme Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine convicted attorney Oleh Horetskyi, the accomplice of the former Supreme Court Chairman Vsevolod Knyazev, of receiving a bribe of $2.7 million. Horetsky was sentenced to five years in prison without confiscation of property. He was later released on parole with a probation period of three years.

Horetskyi is now an associate professor at the Vadym Hetman National University of Kyiv at the Department of Public and International Law.