Communicated on 10 March 2016

FIFTH SECTION

Application no. 42058/08 Mykola Vasylyovych NEDILENKO and Ivan Volodymyrovych KOGUT against Ukraine lodged on 12 August 2008

STATEMENT OF FACTS

The applicants, Mr Mykola Vasylyovych Nedilenko and Mr Ivan Volodymyrovych Kogut , are Ukrainian nationals who were born in 1956 and 1968 respectively, and live in the city of Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine.

The circumstances of the case

The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicants, may be summarised as follows.

At the material time, the first applicant was the head of a local branch of a private bank and the second applicant was a businessman.

In November and December 2006 three Internet sites published two articles about the applicants, accusing them of abuse of position and of bribing judges. The articles were signed by people who called themselves A. and B. , however, it is unclear whether those names are real.

In November 2007 the applicants instituted two sets of defamation proceedings in court against the Internet sites. They also applied to the court for help to find the addresses of the defendants.

On 26 November 2007 the Ivano-Frankivsk City Court gave the applicants a deadline of 10 December 2007 to correct shortcomings in their claims. Among other things, the court told them to say who were the owners of the Internet sites in question, give the authors of the articles and their addresses, and say who should be responsible for correcting the allegedly false information.

In December 2007 the second applicant asked the prosecutor ’ s office to find out the registered address of the sites ’ owners and the addresses of any individuals involved. In February 2009 the Ivano-Frankivsk prosecutor ’ s office transferred the applicants ’ request to the city police. There is no further information about that request.

On 18 and 19 December 2007 the court returned the applicants ’ claims. While the applicants had corrected some of the shortcomings in their claims, they had failed to say who were the owners of the Internet sites in question, had not given the authors of the articles and their addresses, nor said who should be responsible for correcting the allegedly false information.

The applicants appealed, stating that they had informed the court that it had not been possible to provide the information requested.

On 13 and 18 February 2008 the Ivano-Frankivsk Court of Appeal upheld the decisions of the first-instance court.

On 6 May 2008 the Supreme Court of Ukraine rejected requests by the applicants for leave to appeal in cassation.

COMPLAINT

The applicants complain that the court failed to examine their claim on the merits.

QUESTION TO THE PARTIES

Given the applicants ’ inability to challenge effectively in court articles written about them and published on two Internet sites, has the State complied with its positive obligations under Article 8 of the Convention? In particular, was there a system in place allowing to be able to bring defamation proceedings in respect of Internet publications?