Brest: journalists are not admitted to the trial over their colleague
Milana Kharytonava, press photographer of the Brestskiy Kurier independent newspaper.
The judge of the
Maskouski District Court of Brest Tatsiana Isayeva turned down the
petition for admitting all interested people to the trial over the
photo correspondent Milana Kharytonava.
As a result, only
participants of the trial and Milana's husband, journalist Ales
Liauchyk, were let in the court room. As noticed by the journalists
who wanted to attend the trial, another court room, which was enough
to seat all the people, was vacant at the time.
Bear in mind
that Milana Kharytonava is trying to protect her honor, dignity and
business reputation against insulting expressions, posted by an
anonymous at one of the city's Internet websites.
As it was
found later, the author of the comments was Uladzmir Minevich, an
officer of the "Brestskiy Vestnik" newspaper, founded by
the Brest City Executive Committee.
Milana Kharytonava demands
that the court oblige him to disprove the defaming information and
sentence him to pay her 3 million rubles in moral damages.
On
11 January, during the preliminary hearings on the case Minevich
proposed her reconciliation: he would publish a refutation of his
sayings, if she refused to demand the compensation for moral damage
and payment of the court fee by him.
Mrs. Kharytonava
disagrees with such a "solution", as she spent too much
time and means to bring the man to account.
