Olga Voronko, reporter of "Vremya" (“The Time”) newspaper is accused of libel

At the end of March, the newspaper "Vremya" published an article by Olga Voronko "Eternal schoolgirl", which described the scandal at the Bereke village school in Aksu rural zone. Public healh doctors found colibacilli in soup and salad at the school canteen rented by Flyura Magzyumova. As it became known  later, similar incidents had occurred earlier in other school canteens, rented by Magzyumova.

On June 16, journalist Olga Voronko learnt that the hero of her publication filed a private complaint with the criminal court of the city of Pavlodar. She demanded to bring the author of the article to responsibility for libel. The court invited the journalist and the businesslady for preliminary interview in the prospect of pre-trial settlement of the conflict for June 20. Olga Voronko received the invitation and learnt about the complaint on Saturday,  June 16.

"On Saturday, June 16, I received the ruling by the judge Bakenova of court No. 2 Pavlodar that I was admitted the accused person of a private prosecution on the complaint of F.Magzyumova. The ruling says, that a copy of a private complaint was sent to me. However, I did not receive that copy. Today, on June 18, 2018, I called the court No. 2 at the phone number of the judge, indicated in the ruling - 512793, and asked to give me the opportunity to review the private complaint before the preliminary interview, which was scheduled for the noon of June 20, 2018. I got a refusal. The court said that I would review the complaint not earlier then at the preliminary interview. Thus, I am deprived of the opportunity to prepare for the meeting and I think that my rights have been violated. ",- Olga wrote on her Facebook page

COMMENT of Adil Soz:

In accordance with the  Art. 64, 65 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the accused person has the right to know what he/she is accused of, has the right to review the complaint, as well as the evidence that the prosecutor submitted to the court. At the present time, the journalist was deprived of the opportunity to exercise her procedural rights, she has no opportunity to prepare for the preliminary interview scheduled for June 20, 2018.

We recommend that Olga Voronko to write a petition to the court with a request to provide a copy of the complaint and its annexes, i.e. documents by which the applicant tries to prove the guilt of the journalist.