Russian journalists sued for defamation 3,500 times a year
RIA-Novosti

Moscow, 10 June: Every year, Russian courts examine about 3,500 lawsuits against journalists in which plaintiffs seek to defend their honour and dignity, chairman of the Union of Journalists of Russian Vsevolod Bogdanov has said.

"About 3,500 lawsuits a year are filed against journalists. This figure is higher than the total for similar cases in all other countries put together," Bogdanov said on Tuesday at the first meeting of the working group to draft changes to legislation on the mass media; the meeting, chaired by First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Oleg Morozov, was held at the State Duma.

The chairman of the Union of Journalists pointed out that one of the reasons why the number of these cases was so high was that lawsuits to defend honour and dignity are exempt from litigation fees.

The working group for finalizing changes to legislation on the mass media was set up after the State Duma adopted in the first reading and then decided to reject an amendment on defamation. The author of the amendment was the young One Russia MP Robert Shlegel. (Passage omitted)

Apart from Morozov, the working group includes 11 MPs as well as representatives of the mass media and experts.