Court Fines Editorial Office of “BDG. Delovaya Gazeta” USD 23,000 :: Charter'97 :: News

The court of Kastrychnitski district of Minsk ruled to fine the editorial office of “BDG. Delovaya Gazeta” Br 50 mln (more than USD 23,000) and journalist Syarhei Satsuk Br 5 mln in behalf of a common citizen. Judge Basko has delivered this verdict on September 30, partially sustaining the claim of Syarhei Byadrytski, a former riot policeman.

In June 2005 the suit was filed to defend honour, dignity and compensate moral loss inflicted by the article “Advertising campaign” in the newspaper number 70 of May 20, 2003. The article written by Syarhei Satsuk told about investigation of a criminal action against two persons suspected of committing a series of crimes, one of whom was investigator by profession. He demanded Br 100 mln of compensation from the editors (“Marat” Unitary Enterprise) and 10 mln from the author.

The proceedings in a case started in summer, but were suspended because of absence of a plaintiff’s lawyer. On September 29 the proceedings resumed.

The court has partially satisfied the claim. The published information has been declared untrue, insulting honour and dignity of the plaintiff, and obliged the “BDG” to refute its article in press within 30 days after entry of decision into legal force. The editorial office is also to pay 50 mln Belarusian rubles to the plaintiff, and S.Satsuk is fined Br 5 mln.
The Belarusian Association of Journalists public associatin was informed about that by lawyer Larysa Atamanchuk, who represented the interests of the “BDG” in the court.