On April 8, the Lutsk City and District Court rejected the complaint of Volodymyr Bondar, the authorized representative of oblast council candidate Bohdan Shyba, seeking to annul the oblast election commission's decision of February 28, 2004, on the election and registration of Ivan Dziamulych as a deputy of the Volyn Oblast Council in Turiisk electoral district No. 19. Representatives of the territorial election commission did not acknowledge the complaint. They explained to the court that the Lutsk City Court's decision of February 9, 2004, annulling the territorial election commission's decision by which Ivan Dziamulych was declared the winner of the election, had been annulled. However, it again declared Ivan Dziamulych the winner, since the violations in his election campaign established by the court did not affect the will of the voters. During the consideration of the complaint, the court established that the oblast territorial election commission for the elections of deputies of the Volyn Oblast Council had annulled the court decision of February 20, 2004, which established violations of election legislation by candidate Ivan Dziamulych. Therefore, the court decided that there were no grounds for granting the complaint. The case was considered by Judge Liudmyla Veremchuk of the Lutsk City and District Court. Bohdan Shyba, a candidate for oblast council deputy in the Turiisk electoral district who lost to Ivan Dziamulych by 437 votes according to the voting results, considers the court's decision "stubborn fulfillment of an order from the current authorities." Among the "means of pressure" on the court, Bohdan Shyba cites the fact that the Lutsk City Court was recently given new premises that "now need to be worked off," as well as the fact that with the reorganization of city courts into city and district courts, "the head of the court needs to remain the head." He also believes that such a relatively lengthy consideration of the case (more than a month from the time the complaint was filed) was a delay of time by the court so that the topic would lose its relevance and public attention would diminish. As for further actions in this case, Bohdan Shyba did not want to name specific steps "so that the authorities would not prepare for them in advance." He states that "serious, large-scale actions will be taken within the framework of current legislation." Ivan Dziamulych stated that he knows nothing about the court's decision, therefore he refused to comment.
Reference: The government-backed candidate — head of the education and science department of the oblast state administration, Ivan Dziamulych — in the elections in Turiisk district for oblast council deputy on February 8 defeated the agreed candidate from "Our Ukraine" and "BYuT," Bohdan Shyba, by a margin of 437 votes. Volodymyr Bondar, the authorized representative of candidate Shyba, filed a complaint in the Lutsk City Court about Ivan Dziamulych's use of administrative resources. On February 20, 2004, the Court issued a decision according to which the fact of the use of official position by oblast council candidate Ivan Dziamulych during the preparation and conduct of elections to the Volyn Oblast Council was established. Accordingly, the court annulled the territorial election commission's decision on the voting results and election outcomes in the part concerning the voting results for Ivan Dziamulych. The decision is final and not subject to appeal. On February 23, 2004, a meeting of the Volyn Oblast Territorial Election Commission was held, at which the territorial election commission adopted a decision to annul its previous decision of 9.02.2004. However, by its decision of February 28, 2004, the territorial election commission again recognized Ivan Dziamulych as the winner.