The Civil Court of Cassation as part of the Supreme Court of Ukraine put an end to the case of the widow of the liquidator of the Chernobyl accident Lyudmila Ignatenko against the creators of the series " The court recognized the violation of her personal non-property rights and increased the amount of moral compensation to 500 thousand hryvnia. The decision is final and not subject to appeal, writes “Suspilne Kultura”.

Lyudmila Ignatenko went to court in April 2020. She stated that the authors of the series, without her consent, used her name and the name of her deceased husband Vasily Ignatenko for the characters in the HBO project.

The plaintiff noted that such use of names violated her personal non-property rights and led to a deterioration in her emotional state. In the lawsuit, the woman noted that she was forced to change her place of residence due to pressure and bullying. According to her, persecution by journalists and acquaintances concerned not only her, but also her son.

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Lyudmila Ignatenko demanded 2.5 million UAH of moral compensation. She also asked to remove certain scenes from the series and prohibit its further distribution.. Irish actress Jessie Buckley played Lyudmila Ignatenko in the film..

The creators of the series denied the claim and insisted on the documentary nature of the project. At the same time, the court of cassation came to a different conclusion, noting: “Home Box Office, Inc.. did not provide the court with evidence that would indicate that the series contains documentary episodes. The presence of real footage in the series, evidence that would unconditionally indicate its documentary nature, has not been established."

The courts of previous instances partially satisfied the plaintiff’s demands. The Kiev Court of Appeal awarded 144 thousand hryvnia in compensation, but refused to remove scenes and prohibit the distribution of the series.

The Court of Cassation confirmed the fact of illegal use of the name without Ignatenko’s consent. At the same time, the court recognized the requirement to remove scenes from the series as “not objectively justified and proportionate”. At the same time, the court increased the amount of compensation for moral damage to 500 thousand hryvnia.

Chernobyl is a five-part British-American miniseries created by Craig Mezin and directed by Eugan Rank.. The project, released on May 6, 2019 on HBO, is a co-production between HBO Entertainment and Sky UK with the participation of several production studios. The plot of the series takes place after the explosion of a reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.. A significant part of the story is based on the testimonies of Pripyat residents, collected in Svetlana Alexievich’s book “Chernobyl Prayer”.