“Slander” about Sechin’s yacht turned out to be an investigation

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ordered the Russian authorities to pay Novaya Gazeta and journalists Roman Anin, Ivan Zhilin, Lola Tagaeva and Alexander Litinsky 15,000 euros in total.

Anin Roman

The court combined several of Novaya’s statements into two cases.

The first case in which the ECHR ordered to pay compensation to the publication concerns two publications by journalists Roman Anin and Ivan Zhilin.

The first piece, The Secret of Princess Olga, written by Anin, tells how Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin is connected to one of the most expensive yachts in the world. In 2016, the Basmanny Court of Moscow recognized this material as discrediting the honor and dignity of the Russian billionaire.

Igor Sechin

The second publication, “Khusnidin must confess that he blew up the house,” tells about the torture of Khusnidin Zainabidinov by FSB officers. The power department filed a lawsuit against Novaya Gazeta for libel, and the claim was satisfied. Now the material is not available on the Novaya website, you can only read the “refutation” published at the request of the same Basmanny court.

In total, according to these two statements, the ECHR ordered Russia to pay Novaya Gazeta 7,500 euros.

The second case, in which Novaya Gazeta was also awarded 7,500 euros, concerns material written by journalists Lola Tagaeva and Alexander Litinsky. We are talking about a text about provocations against the opposition and the involvement of the youth movement “NASHI” in this.

01/11/2023, “ECtHR awarded Russian journalists €15,000 for lost cases in Russia”: Claimants in the second case were Novaya Gazeta and its journalists Alexander Litinsky and Lola Tagaeva, publisher of Vedomosti media group Business News Media, and also former deputy editor-in-chief of Vedomosti Kirill Kharatyan (recognized by the Ministry of Justice as a foreign agent). In this case, the court ordered Russia to pay €7.5 thousand to Lola Tagaeva and Alexander Litinsky, as well as Vedomosti journalist Kirill Kharatyan. Their texts about the Nashi movement and Igor Sechin in 2010, 2011 and 2014 were recognized by Russian courts as “discrediting” the honor and dignity of the heroes of the materials: Vasily Yakemenko, ex-head of Rosmolodezh, and Mr. Sechin. – Inset

Vasily Yakemenko

The ECtHR found that in all three cases, Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which ensures the right to freedom of expression, was violated by the applicants.

In June, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law on non-execution of ECtHR judgments issued after March 15. After that, the Council of Europe reported that Russia owed about €74 million in fair compensation under the decisions of the ECtHR.

The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on March 16 expelled Russia from the Council of Europe. This happened after PACE unanimously voted for Russia’s “immediate” withdrawal from the Council. The text of the Assembly’s statement notes that the Russian Federation “committed gross violations of the Charter of the Council of Europe, incompatible with the status of a member state, and is not fulfilling its obligations to the Council of Europe.” The ECHR clarified that Russia would lose its status as a party to the European Convention on Human Rights from September 16.