Journalist from Dagestan adjudges 100,000 roubles from colleague

The Sovietskiy District Court of Makhachkala has passed a decision, according to which Zaur Gaziev, editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Free Republic", should pay 100,000 roubles of moral damage compensation to journalist Svetlana Anokhina.

The court has ruled to partially satisfy Ms Anokhina's claim and obliged Mr Gaziev to remove the article offending the journalist away from the website. He also should place a refutation within ten days and pay her 100,000 roubles for moral damage and 11,000 roubles for the services of advocate and notary.

Let us remind you that in 2008 Zaur Gaziev, then a journalist and now editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Free Republic", published a fairy tale "Twins". Svetlana Anokhina, who was at that time a correspondent of the weekly "Novoye Delo" (New Business), criticized the fairy tale in her article "Under-Baked Dough Boy and Under-Eaten Grandmother".

In response, Mr Gaziev published a note in his website "Very Terrible Movie" (it contained surname "Anukhina"), which, in Anokhina's opinion, contained offensive and slanderous information about her. In particular, she quoted as proofs the following phrases from Gaziev's article: "held propaganda of vices", "sold drugs" and "hellbenders with constant sexual harassments."

Svetlana Anokhina brought an action by quoting Gaziev's article, which she found offensive, and demanding to remove the article from the website, publish a refutation instead and collect from Gaziev the expenses on advocate and compensation of moral damage in the sum of 2 million roubles.

Although the respondent tried to prove that his article assumed some collective image, Anokhina made her accent on 25 factual coincidences, which, in her opinion, prove that the "collective image" is she.

The court of the first instance rejected her claim; the Supreme Court of Dagestan cancelled that decision and sent the case to re-consideration. As a result, the court has ruled to satisfy Anokhina's claim.

At one of court sessions Gaziev tried to use violence to Anokhina; the examination, where she addressed, registered traces of beating on her face and back.