Court in Rostov-on-Don dismisses journalist's claim against Nukhazhiev

The lawsuit lodged by journalist Yevgeny Mikhailov on protection of his honour and dignity against Nurdi Nukhazhiev, the Ombudsman in the Chechen Republic, was dismissed by the Lenin District Court of Rostov-on-Don.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the journalist's claim had to do with the criticism of his publication "Caucasian Arithmetic: SFD + NCFD = Envoy Ramzan Kadyrov?" This material was criticized in the article "Novaya Gazeta's Coffee Grouts" signed by Nurdi Nukhazhiev. Yevgeny Mikhailov had treated the allegations presented in the article as containing extremism and insulting.

A preliminary hearing on the lawsuit was held on July 30; and on August 19, the Lenin District Court of the Rostov Region attracted the head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov to the case as the third witness. As a result, today the court dismissed Yevgeny Mikhailov's claim. The Chechen leader was not present at the session, Oleg Agafonov, the journalist's official representative at the trial, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"The reason for the dismissal was in the fact that allegedly the e-mail address, to which the above article had arrived (the article "Novaya Gazeta's Coffee Grouts", signed by Nukhazhiev, was posted on June 7 on the website of the IA "Grozny-Inform", – note of the "Caucasian Knot") could not be associated with the Chechen Ombudsman of the Republic," said Oleg Agafonov.

He added that he and his client are going to challenge the above decision of the Lenin District Court at the Rostov Regional Court.