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Moscow Times
March 19, 2002
Novaya Gazeta Fined $1.5 Million for Libel
By Nabi Abdullaev
Staff Writer
Novaya Gazeta, known for its criticism of the Chechen conflict and its investigations into state corruption, is staring bankruptcy in the face after being slapped with a record $1.5 million judgment in two libel cases.
Novaya Gazeta journalists and free press advocates say the newspaper is the target of a government-backed campaign to muzzle independent media.
Novaya Gazeta lost the two libel cases in Moscow's Basmanny municipal court in late February. Judge Yelena Ptanskaya ordered the newspaper on Feb. 22 to pay about $1 million for a report alleging that the Krasnodar region's top judge was living well beyond his means. Six days later she ordered the newspaper to pay $500,000 to Mezhprombank for a story alleging that the bank was involved in the Bank of New York money-laundering scandal.
"They [the fines] are equal to our yearly turnover, and we will not be able to pay even if we sell all of our property," said Sergei Sokolov, the newspaper's deputy editor.
In a story published in January, Novaya Gazeta reported that Krasnodar judge Alexander Chernov owns a $50,000 watch, drives luxury cars, frequents expensive resorts and is building a $1 million mansion in Sochi -- all on a monthly salary of $300.
Chernov filed a defamation suit in the Basmanny district, where the newspaper is located, for 300 million rubles. He asked that the money go to the state budget.
In a telephone interview, Chernov said the newspaper had fabricated the story and that only one allegation was true -- the fact that he wears expensive suits. "I run an important office and I must wear decent clothes," he said. "But that does not mean that anybody is entitled to dig into my dirty laundry."
Novaya Gazeta's lawyer Yaroslav Kozheurov said the newspaper has good reason to be disliked by judicial authorities: The day before the Feb. 22 trial, it ran a highly critical story about the head of the Moscow city court.
"Solidarity among the judges could be the reason for the harsh verdict," he said.
Chernov acknowledged that solidarity could have played a role.
"I have nothing against this kind of corporate solidarity," he said. "Perhaps this is the first time in Russia when a judge has imagined herself in my place."
Chernov denied having any personal contacts with Ptanskaya and said he had not attended the trial.
Ptanskaya refused to comment Monday.
Mezhprombank spokesman Sergei Samoshin said that the court had just cause to fine the paper, calling the story that was published in November 2001 filth.
"I am a former journalist but I have never seen such a bad article," Samoshin said. "The newspaper now says it cannot afford to pay such fine, but it could afford to publish such filth."
Samoshin denied that the bank had filed the lawsuit on behalf of former Mezhprombank CEO Sergei Pugachyov, often a target of the paper's criticism.
Pugachyov, who is widely thought to be a confidant of President Vladimir Putin, left the bank in December to take the Tuva seat in the Federation Council.
Ruslan Gorevoi of the Glasnost Defense Foundation said the two verdicts looked like a concerted campaign against Novaya Gazeta supported by the authorities.
"Formally, it looks like the state has nothing to do with the cases, but when we summarize reports about the prosecution of certain Russian newspapers, it becomes clear that courts are fulfilling official orders to eliminate the independent press," he said.
"After the punishment of the two independent TV stations [NTV and TV6], somebody in the Kremlin has been left with idle hands," said Anvar Amirov of the Panorama think tank.
"Novaya Gazeta is now the most radical in Russia in its criticism of the war in Chechnya," he added.
Leonid Olshansky, a renowned civil lawyer, said the size of the judgments suggested that there was more at stake than just a libel suit.
"There are no means to define moral damages, so its size depends upon a court's judgment," Olshansky said.
"The verdict of the Basmanny court means probably that they don't like the newspaper."
One of the largest libel judgments announced to date took place in 1999, when Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov won 50,000 rubles ($1,700) from ORT television and 100,000 rubles ($3,400) from its former anchorman, Sergei Dorenko.
Novaya Gazeta has appealed to the Moscow city court but fears the lower court's rulings will be upheld.
"After our story about the head of the court, it may want to get revenge," Sokolov said.
Kozheurov, the paper's lawyer, said the only appeals that can be made after the city court is to its presidium or to Moscow prosecutors, who could order a new trial.
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