The appeals court rejected Olena Honcharuk’s complaint to Derzhkino

Olena Honcharuk

Andrii Lobov

On Thursday, February 29, the Kyiv Court of Appeal rejected the appeal of the two-time winner of the competition for the position of head of the Dovzhenko Center Olena Honcharuk to the State Agency for Cinema.

“On February 29, 2024, the Kyiv Court of Appeals in case No. 754/13969/23 issued a decision rejecting the appeal of Honcharuk O.Yu. to State Cinema regarding the conclusion of the contract in the version proposed by the plaintiff, Honcharuk O.Yu“, State Cinema reported in its Facebook.

The agency also added that at the beginning of January, the Northern Commercial Court of Appeals rejected another appeal by Honcharuk. In it, she appeals against the order of State Cinema to dismiss her from the duties of the head of the Dovzhenko Center.

As she confirmed in a conversation with UP. Culture a lawyer Nadia Denysiukaccording to Honcharuk’s lawsuit, there are two cases in court, and so far both are not in favor of the plaintiff.

“The main motives of the court of both instances – such a decision is discretionary (the right of a state body to decide at its own discretion – UP. Culture) Derzhkino. The decisions, to put it mildly, are not motivated and not substantiated, because the courts did not indicate which norm generally provides State Cinema with such a right, and why Article 19 of the Constitution of Ukraine, which states that a state body must act within the limits, in the manner and on the grounds determined by law, is an exception only for Derzhkino“, Denisyuk explained.

The lawyer added that Honcharuk was forced to go to court, because after her second victory at the competition, months of negotiations with State Cinema did not lead to the signing of a contract with the head of the Dovzhenko Center.

“We were forced to go to court, because Derzhkino included two critical conditions in its version of the contract: to impose on Olena Honcharuk the obligation to register the new statute in the editorial office, which is not approved by the Center’s labor team and actually involves its reorganization and, most importantly, endangers the entire collection. Derzhkino also ascribed to itself many additional powers and rights that are not provided for by law, in particular, the right to issue instructions and orders. And the right to dismiss the head of the Dovzhenko Center for failure to comply with any instruction, regardless of whether it is legitimate or not“, Denisyuk said.

According to her, a cassation complaint has already been filed in the case regarding the illegal dismissal of Honcharuk, and such a complaint is being prepared in the case of the demand to conclude a contract.

What is happening around the Dovzhenko Center?

In August 2022, Derzhkino issued an order to reorganize the Dovzhenko Center, which the institution called an attempt at raiding. In November, the winner of the competition, Olena Honcharuk, was suspended from performing the duties of acting head of state. general director, and Yuliya Kazhdan, the founder of the canine center, was appointed instead.

After her resignation due to the protests of the film community, Derzhkino tried to appoint a film critic Andriy Alfiorov, but he also did not start performing his duties.

On December 21, a new competition was announced for the position of head of the Dovzhenko Center. The second stage of the meeting of the tender committee was to take place on February 3. It became clear to him that a case had been opened against one of the candidates, Olena Honcharuk, the night before. However, despite this, Honcharuk won the competition for the second time.

In parallel with this, the judicial review of the appeal of the reorganization of the Dovzhenko Center, which was initiated by Derzhkino, continues. The last meeting in this case was held on February 28.