Andsource He asks the court to recover 10 million rubles from the HRC member. The former head of the Iglinsky district of Bashkiria, Rishat Iskhakov, sued Ruslan Valiev, editor-in-chief of the Aspects-Bashkortostan publication, and Ildar Isangulov, a member of the Human Rights Council under the head of Bashkiria. The reason was, in particular, the doubts expressed by Mr. Isangulov on the air of Aspects about the legality of land transactions in the Iglinsky district. Rishat Iskhakov considered these words discrediting his honor and dignity as information. As compensation for non-pecuniary damage, he asks to recover 10 million rubles from Mr. Isangulov, and to oblige the journalist to publish a refutation.
The former head of the Iglinsky district of Bashkiria, Rishat Iskhakov, filed a lawsuit with the Ufimsky District Court against the editor-in-chief of the socio-political publication Aspects-Bashkortostan (works in the format of a YouTube channel) Ruslan Valiev and journalist, member of the HRC under the head of Bashkiria Ildar Isangulov. Mr. Iskhakov asks the court to recognize as untrue a number of statements by Ildar Isangulov in June on the air of “Aspects” and on his personal channel “Inquiry with Ildar Isangulov”, to oblige Mr. Isangulov to publish a video with a refutation and to recover from him compensation for non-pecuniary damage in the amount of 10 million rubles . Ruslan Valiev, it follows from the lawsuit, should publish on the Aspects YouTube channel a refutation recorded by Mr. Isangulov and remove the recording of the broadcast with controversial statements.
The court session was supposed to start yesterday, but due to the illness of cancelled.
Rishat Iskhakov headed the administration of the Iglinsky district from 2000 to 2010. At the beginning of the year, the head of Bashkiria, Radiy Khabirov, announced that the former official had a territory of 4 thousand hectares in use, and instructed to check the conditions for granting him land. Later, the ICR opened a criminal case on the fact of abuse of power, as a result of which the company, headed by the son of Rishat Iskhakov, received a large land plot in the district. No completion of the investigation was announced.
As follows from the lawsuit, in two videos published on the Inquiry with Ildar Isangulov channel, the author, in particular, mentioned that Rishat Iskhakov, using the “false” decision of the Iglinsky District Court, “took over” the school building with adjacent lands in the village of Akberdino. “In exactly the same way, his family seized a number of other objects,” Mr. Isangulov argued and suggested calling corruption in the regions “Iskhakovism”. “If someone managed to take away a donated municipal school, this is Iskhakovism. Someone took away the mosque from the believers – this is pure Iskhakovism,” he said.
On the air of Aspects, Mr. Isangulov also stated that Rishat Iskhakov “had an accomplice in the judicial system,” and admitted, that the ex-head of the district had common interests with the former first deputy prosecutor of the republic, Oleg Gorbunov (he has been in custody on charges of bribery since 2018), and so on.
Ildar Isangulov does not agree with the claims, his lawyer Ramil Gizatullin told Kommersant-Ufa. “The controversial phrases, according to my client, are taken out of context, value judgments or do not discredit the honor and dignity of the plaintiff,” the lawyer added.
Ruslan Valiev called the fact of filing a lawsuit “at least strange and irrational.”
“For the most objective coverage of the problem, which the head of the republic spoke about at least twice, I conducted two live broadcasts. Iskhakov took part in the first, where he rejected all claims against him. In the second, the journalist Ildar Isangulov, who considers Iskhakov's position at least implausible. The parties know that they can count on the opportunity to speak live at any time, ”he added, noting that both opponents had previously agreed to meet in a face-to-face discussion of Aspects.
Interviewed by Kommersant-Ufa lawyers said that the lawsuit lacks a basis that would prove the disputability of the above quotes. “The lawsuit, in my opinion, does not provide a detailed linguistic examination of quotations discrediting the business reputation and good name of the plaintiff,” said Dmitry Gorbunov, partner at Rustam Kurmaev and Partners law firm. “The above phrases contain specific facts, and also carry part of the subjective evaluation.”
“I believe that it must be proved here that the publication of the video caused such and such damage to the plaintiff (for example, loss of income, clients, contracts, and so on). Accordingly, in any case, the amount of compensation in the event of a court decision in favor of the plaintiff will be lower than indicated in the claim,” added Yury Fedyukin, managing partner of Enterprise Legal Solutions.
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