A Russian court has ruled in favour respected businessman and academic Vladimir Kokorev, following a defamation case he launched against the internet portal Daily Online, the editorial office of ZAD Business Online.
Kokorev launched proceedings following the publication of an article claiming that he had stolen $26 million from the bank accounts of the president of Guinea Equatorial, Teodoro Obiang. The story had initially appeared in the Spanish press, before being re-printed in the Russian media.
The article itself claimed that $26 million had been transferred into Kokorevs bank account for the explicit purposes of buying luxury property for the President in Spain. In the trial the prosecution were able to prove that this money was actually paid to Kokorevs shipbuilding company Kalunga who had several contracts with the government of Equatorial Guinea.
The court ruled in favour of Kokorev, ordering the Daily Online to publicly acknowledge the story was inaccurate and was in fact defamatory. The court also ordered compensation to be paid for the moral damage caused to Kokorev.
According to Kokorevs lawyers, Kirill Yaschenko and Vitall Chaban, this is a great victory for Vladimir and points to the issue of editors running articles without making sure the stories are accurate.
Kokorevs legal team are now in the process of looking into further proceedings against other publications who ran the story.