Kyiv's Pechersky District Court has awarded about US$300,000 in compensation of damage to Andriy Portnov, the ex-deputy head of the presidential administration under Viktor Yanukovych, over Canadian sanctions.
"Today, the court has satisfied my claim for damages caused to me by officials of the PGO [the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine], the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy of Ukraine in Canada for initiating Canadian sanctions and falsifying criminal cases. The award is about US$300,000," Portnov said on Facebook on August 2.
Under the law, such claims are filed against the Justice Ministry and the Treasury, and they in turn should recover damage from officials who were found guilty," he explained.
Portnov says he is not going to recover funds from the Ukrainian budget, but will wait until the State Treasury "enforces all the money" from Deputy Prosecutor General Anzhela Stryzhevska, Foreign Ministry officials, and Ukrainian Ambassador to Canada Andriy Shevchenko.
According to Portnov, on Monday, August 5, he will send a letter to the State Treasury, proposing the coordination of legal work and pledging not to recover the funds from the national budget.
In addition, Portnov shared the copy of the claim. According to the document, a motion to recover UAH 6,805,006 was filed against the state of Ukraine represented by the State Treasury Service and the Ministry of Justice. The Foreign Ministry, the PGO, the Ambassador of Ukraine to Canada, acting director general of the Foreign Ministry's Directorate General for the Americas Oleksandr Shevchenko, and two deputes of the prosecutor general, Anzhela Stryzhevska and Yevhen Enin, are indicated as third parties.
In his lawsuit, Portnov asks the court to recover UAH 1.8 million in moral damages "caused by illegal actions of state authorities represented by the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and their officials;" UAH 5.005 million in compensation for financial damage "caused by illegal actions of state authorities represented by the Prosecutor General's Office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and their officials," as well as UAH 19,210 in court fees.
Simultaneous litigation against the Federal Government of Canada is under way in a Canadian court, Portnov added in a comment under his Facebook post.