Asters has successfully defended Dr. Anders Aslund, a well-known Swedish-American economist, diplomat and leading international expert on Ukraine's economy issues, in a defamation dispute with Igor Kolomoisky, former co-owner of PrivatBank, in the Kyiv Court of Appeal.
The claimant asked Court to compel Dr. Anders Aslund to retract public statements reported by him, on alleged fraudulent actions of Igor Kolomoisky leading to billions in losses for PrivatBank. Based on the position in defense developed by Asters' lawyers, on 21 January 2021 the Kyiv Court of Appeal passed a resolution allowing Dr. Aslund's appeal in its entirety and setting aside the Pechersk District Court decision made in favor of Igor Kolomoisky. According to the court's decision, Dr. Anders Aslund's statements are value judgements, and cannot be retracted. The judges highlighted that Kolomoisky's claims "interfere with the defendant's exercise of the freedom of expression."
The legal team that worked on the project included Asters' litigation lawyers: Partner Andriy Pozhidayev, and Senior Associates Oleksiy Ukolov and Nataliia Mysnyk.
Asters is the largest law firm in Ukraine with offices in Kyiv, Washington D.C., Brussels and London. Chambers Europe 2020 recognizes 21 lawyers of Asters – the largest number of the renowned practitioners in a single Ukrainian law firm.
