The judge of the Prymorskyi District Court of Odesa refused to open proceedings on the lawsuit of Kherson City Council deputy Illia Karamalikov against the regional organization of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine.
This is stated in the court ruling,
Karamalikov tried in court to annul the decision to exclude him from the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine, which was adopted back in April 2022, and demanded official reinstatement of his membership status with the restoration of all rights.
In addition to returning to the union, Karamalikov planned to recover from the organization more than UAH 12,000 to compensate the court fee and attorney’s fees. However, the judge, having reviewed the case materials, concluded that such disputes should not be heard by courts of general jurisdiction.
The ruling states that the activities of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine as a public organization are based on the principles of self-governance and voluntariness. The question of who can be a member of the union and who cannot falls within the internal competence of the organization itself and is regulated by its charter.
The judge explained that state bodies and courts do not have the right to interfere in the internal activities of associations of citizens, unless it concerns property rights or labor disputes. Thus the opening of proceedings was refused.
Recall that since April 2022 Illia Karamalikov has been in pre-trial detention (SIZO) on charges of treason.
In May 2025 it became known that the Kherson Regional Prosecutor’s Office reduced the scope of charges against Karamalikov. Of the four counts charged against Karamalikov, three were dropped. Since then the Court has reduced his bail amount six times, but, according to the deputy’s lawyer, his client does not have the money to post bail.
Karamalikov even appealed to MPs from Kherson Serhii Kozyr, Pavlo Pavlish and Viktoriia Vagner, asking the three of them to give him money so that he could be released from pre-trial detention (SIZO).
You can read more about the deputy’s case here.