Criminal Proceedings Against Blogger Olena Mandziuk Closed; Expertise Confirms No Signs of Incitement

The criminal proceedings concerning blogger Olena Mandziuk, initiated by People's Deputy Oleksiy Honcharenko, have been officially closed. Mandziuk announced this on her Instagram page, where she highlighted the considerable pressure she endured from the MP throughout the investigation.

Olena Mandziuk claims that Oleksiy Honcharenko personally exerted political, financial, and social pressure on her, leading to severe consequences for her life and work. According to her, the MP provoked a wave of bullying against her, resulting in her losing access to her social media accounts and receiving 'horrific death threats' directed at her and her children.

The blogger also accused Honcharenko of contacting her advertisers, urging them to cease collaboration with her, which led to a staggering 90% loss of her income. This, in turn, complicated her ability to finance operations for soldiers who have lost their hearing and jeopardized her family's financial stability.

To support her claims, Olena Mandziuk published the findings of a linguistic examination conducted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which stated that her remarks, 'my children can be punished for speaking Russian,' did not contain signs of inciting national, regional, racial, or religious hatred. She emphasized that this case was a 'pure manipulation' aimed at destroying her name, reputation, and public activity.

As of now, Oleksiy Honcharenko has not commented on the closure of the case. In August of this year, a criminal case was opened against Olena Mandziuk under Part 1 of Article 161 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, which pertains to violations of citizens' equality. This occurred after she made a statement suggesting that her children 'could be punished for speaking Russian.' The initiator of the police complaint was MP Oleksiy Honcharenko.

The reason for such a complaint stemmed from a comment made by the blogger on social media, where she expressed her emotions regarding the Russian language. Mandziuk noted that her remarks were an 'emotional hyperbole' used to explain her attitude toward everything Russian.

Furthermore, Olena Mandziuk has been actively criticizing another blogger, Anna Alkhim, for her attitude towards the Ukrainian language and her open promotion of Russian music. Following an escalation of the conflict between them, Mandziuk reported that she began receiving threats. She provided screenshots that corroborate her claims.

On March 24, the blogger reported that her dog had been poisoned, which she viewed as further evidence of the pressure she was facing. This situation sparked widespread public resonance and drew attention to the issue of bullying on social media.

Thus, the closure of the criminal proceedings marks an important step in the case of Olena Mandziuk, who continues to fight for her reputation and rights amidst pressure from politicians and society.