Lawyers for 19-year-old Karyna Kolb, whose photo was published by “monobank” co-founder Oleh Horohovskyi, are demanding compensation and a personal apology. Otherwise, they are ready to go to court.
This is stated in the lawyersʼ statement on Facebook.
Lawyers claim that Horokhovskyʼs actions violated the right to banking secrecy, confidentiality of personal data, and the presumption of innocence. According to them, after a wave of hate, the girl went to the hospital. She had an "acute reaction to prolonged stress, insomnia", and the doctor prescribed treatment.
The lawyers plan to send pre-trial demands to “Universal Bank” and Oleh Horohovskyi. Among them:
- public personal apologies from Horokhovskyi on all pages and refutation of the disseminated information;
- monetary compensation for moral damage;
- unblocking the clientʼs bank account.
The lawyers said they have already gathered evidence and conducted a media screening. They will also send the bank a request for information about a chat room where bank employees share photos and videos of their customers going through the identification procedure with each other and mock them.
If the pre-trial settlement is not successful, the lawyers will file a lawsuit in court.
What preceded
On March 9, Oleh Horohovskyi posted a photo of a client on Threads against a background of a flag that resembles the Russian flag. He said that the client had requested video verification to ask why her account had been blocked.
"We answered thatʼs because her head was unwashed..." commented Horokhovskyi.
The client Karyna Kolb later responded to the post. She explained that she was abroad and that the flag she was standing against was the flag of Slovenia (it differs from the Russian flag only in the presence of the coat of arms on the left side).
After the girlʼs reaction, Horokhovskyi published a new post in which he stated that "supporters of Russian peace in Ukraine will not have any protection of personal data". He continues to insist that the flag in the girlʼs photo is Russian.
Later, he wrote another post, where he stated that he would filter his thoughts better, would not forget about responsibility, and that everything was fine with the personal data of customers.
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