Krychau: court partially grants ideologist's claim to “Volny Horad”

December 8, Judge of Krychau District Court Alena Azaranka ruled for recovering 7 million rubles from the founder of the newspaper “Volny Horad” Uladzimir Kudrautsau, its editor Siarhei Niarouny and journalist Mikalai Herdziy as a compensation of the moral damage, 450,000 rubles for the court fee and 3.6 million rubles for the lawyers services to the plaintiff, Maryna Maksimava.

According to Siarhei Niarouny, the journalists will appeal the verdict of Krychau District Court after studying it more attentively, as the verdict is evidently unfair.

“The court evaded from finding why the people still don't know answers to numerous questions, asked after the collapse of a gymnasium in Krychau”, says Siarhei Niarouny. The fate of our petition for making a private remark to Krychau District Executive Committee, which failed to timely implement the request of the court to provide copies of the regulation on the division of ideology, culture and youth affairs, its tasks and duties of its head, remains unknown as well”.

Journalists of “Volny Horad” believe that the information published in “Volny Horad” corresponds to the reality and cannot damage the honor, dignity and business reputation of Maryna Maksimava.
The article “In Wrong Seat?” doesn't insult Maryna Maksimava: the passage “she knows the ideological work no better than a well-known animal knows the species of oranges” was written just to show that she didn't know her work. The ideological division of the executive committee and the local district newspaper “Krychauskaya Zhyttsio” paid almost zero attention to the consequences of the collapse of the hall and the canteen of the local gymnasium, though this topic was regularly covered by ONT, Belarusian TV, BelTA, “Sovetskaya Belorussiya” and other state-owned editions.

Bear in mind that in her initial lawsuit Maryna Maksimava asked the court to compel “Volny Horad” to refute the information discrediting her honor, dignity and business reputation, namely that she understood ideological work no better than a well-known animal could discern species of oranges, by publishing an appropriate article. The head of the ideological department also asked to recover from the defendant a compensation for moral damages in the amount of 10 million rubles and legal costs of 450,000, paid by her. Maryna Maksimava also claimed that publication of the article “In Wrong Seat?” brought her anguish, she lost four kilos of weight, had to go to the hospital and take medication because of high blood pressure. However, on December 2 she refused from the demand to the newspaper to publish refutation of the information, published in the article.