HBO to pay Vasily Ignatenko's Belarusian widow 500 thousand hryvnias for the «Chernobyl» series
The Cassation Civil Court, as part of the Supreme Court of Ukraine, has issued a final verdict in the case of Lyudmila Ignatenko, the widow of Vasily Ignatenko, a deceased liquidator of the Chernobyl accident, against the HBO television company. The court recognized the violation of rights to use her name and awarded the victim 500 thousand hryvnias (about 11.5 thousand dollars) in moral compensation. This decision is final.
Still from the film
Lyudmila Ignatenko first filed a lawsuit in 2020, claiming that the creators of the world-famous series «Chernobyl» used her name and the name of her deceased husband as character names without her consent. According to the woman, after the film's release, she faced immense pressure, including from the media, which forced her to even change her place of residence.
Initially, she demanded 2.5 million hryvnias in compensation and the removal of scenes with her name from the series.
The Supreme Court confirmed the violation of the personal right to a name but refused the demand to cut the footage. The court's decision states: «The demand to protect the right to a name by removing individual scenes from an already published and widely distributed series is not an effective and proportionate means of protection. Such interference could lead to a distortion of the complete artistic work and a violation of the rights of other persons.»
Representatives of HBO insisted during the process that the use of names of real liquidators only emphasized the documentary basis of the project and denied moral damage. Nevertheless, the court sided with the widow of the hero-firefighter.
Hero of Ukraine Vasily Ignatenko was born on March 13, 1961, in the village of Spyarizhzhya, Brahin district, Belarus. A monument stands to him in Brahin as one of the first liquidators of the Chernobyl accident.
On April 26, 1986, Ignatenko, as part of the first group of firefighters, was at the fourth power unit, where he received a lethal dose of radiation. He died two weeks later and was buried in Moscow at Mitino Cemetery. Posthumously, Vasily Ignatenko was awarded the title Hero of Ukraine.
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