“Unprecedented case”: court rejects Channel 5’s lawsuit to shut down broadcast

The Kyiv District Administrative Court did not satisfy the claim of Channel 5 to declare the inaction of the Cabinet of Ministers, the State Service for Special Communications and Information Protection, and the Concern for Radio Broadcasting, Radio Communications and Television (RRT) unlawful.

This was reported by Channel 5.

It is known that the lawsuit concerned the disconnection of “Pryamoy”, “Channel 5” and “Espresso” from digital broadcasting of the T2 standard. Currently, the “Rada” TV channel is broadcasting in their places.

According to Director General Volodymyr Mzhelsky, the court hearings lasted almost four years and were postponed repeatedly.

“We believe that an illegal decision was made today regarding Channel 5, since initially the case itself was delayed for almost four years, and I did not hear a single argument today in the speeches of others who would like to prove us wrong and take us off the air,” he said.

Channel 5 plans to appeal the court’s verdict in the appellate court. However, Mzhelsky says that first they need to receive the full text of the decision, which they promised to provide in just two weeks.

“I believe this is an unprecedented case, because at a time when the state’s information security is critically important, we are essentially receiving a slap in the face from the state.”

We will remind, earlier journalists of “Pryamoy” and “Pyatoy” published an open letter to the RRT Concern due to the illegal shutdown of both channels. In it, the journalists emphasized that they strictly adhere to the principle of a unified state information policy, and the lion’s share of airtime was transferred to a joint nationwide marathon, fulfilling the relevant Presidential Decree.

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