Elena Baturina at the 70th birthday party of her husband, Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov
Photo:
| Other Photos |
 |
|
 |
Mayor's Wife Wins Money from Forbes
The Moscow Arbitration Court has awarded the Inteko Co. 136,000 rubles in a judgment against Forbes Russia and ordered the magazine to print a retraction. Forbes editors are now thinking of ways to retract the statements that Elena Baturina, wife of Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov, “operates more carefully” and that builders “willingly accept” her “as a partner.” The mayor's wife's sued over an article in the December 2006 issue of the magazine about her business perspectives after Luzhkov's retirement. Axel Springer Russia, which publishes the magazine, was willing to reprint the issue with the material devoted to her, but the American office of Forbes refused to.
In its suit, Inteko made it clear that it disputed claims that Baturina has “the support of organs of authority,” without specifying exactly what it objected to. In the course of the trial, it became clear that there were two phrases it objected to. The first was “Inteko does not receive plots of land as gifts' from the city or contracts on easy terms – Baturina operates more carefully.” The second was “Why do builders willingly accept Baturina as a partner? No one will say officially that it helps sort out problems conciliating projects.”
Inteko was awarded 1 ruble in damages for every copy of the magazine printed (106,500) and 29,500 compensation for expert consultations. Inteko called experts from the literature department on Moscow State University and the Russian Academy of Sciences Institute of the Russian Language. Forbes called experts from the Moscow State University philology department. The court ordered an expert assessment of the phrases from the Guild of Linguistic Experts for Documentary and Informational Disputes to determine that the phrases did indeed damage Baturina's business reputation.
In March, Inteko won a judgment of 106,500 rubles against Forbes Russia editor-in-chief Maxim Kashulinsky for accusing Inteko on Ekho Moskvy radio station of “violating the law on mass media prohibiting censorship.”
www.kommersamt.com
All the Article in Russian as of Sep. 26, 2007
|
|
|
