Maria Zholobova

Affiliated media: Proekt, Journalist

Incident date: February 7, 2023

Attack type:

• prosecution for violation of the honour, dignity and business reputation; violation of privacy following civil lawsuit

Who attacked: Non-authorities

Source: Mediazona

Location: Russia, Moscow, Moscow

Additional information:

The Chertanovo District Court of Moscow has rejected a lawsuit for protection of honour and dignity filed by Moscow-based realtor Pavel Krotov against the journalist of Proekt Maria Zholobova and the editor-in-chief of the media outlet Roman Badanin. The decision was made back in November 2022, the plaintiff filed an appeal against it. The lawsuit was filed because of an article that claimed that Krotov, a businessman and diplomat at the Grenada embassy, was working for the Chechen leadership — the republic’s head Ramzan Kadyrov and State Duma deputy Adam Delimkhanov. According to journalists, Krotov had access to multi-billion dollar assets and acted in the interests of the Chechen elite. In addition, Krotov was a supervisor of the construction of Kadyrov’s residence in Tsentoroi, according to the Proekt investigation. Krotov demanded that most of the information collected about him by Proekt be declared false and that the journalists be obliged to remove this information.