Russian Federation

[RU] Decision of the Judicial Chamber against the Publishing of an Article in Moskovskaia Pravda

IRIS 1995-9:1/13

Ad van Loon

European Audiovisual Observatory

State Duma Vice Chairman A. Chilingarov appealed to the Judicial Chamber of Information Disputes regarding a publication in Moskovskaia pravda on 16 June 1995. The claimant argued that the publication was untrue and contained a set of defamatory statements designed to discredit his political, social and professional reputation and that it also discredited the authority of legislative power.

The Judicial Chamber established that the article contained negative analysis of the social-political activity of Chilingarov as well as unfavorable evaluations of several of his personality traits. The Judicial Chamber dedided:

- to recognize that the publication was based on unreliable and false information and that it therefore represents an abuse of the mass media as stipulated in Article 59 p 2 of the Law on Mass Media, and a violation of ethical norms;

- to reprimand Moskovskaia pravda's Chief Editor for publishing the article;

- to propose that the editorial board of Moskovskaia pravda examines disciplinary action against members of the editorial staff who prepared the article for publication;

- to publish the decision of the Judicial Chamber in Rossiiskaia gazeta;

- to recommend the Chief Editor of Moskovskaia pravda to publish the decision.