Pieter van Huis

Affiliated media: Bellingcat, Journalist

Incident date: May 19, 2021

Attack type:

• request to remove or block the article and/or refutation

Who attacked: Authorities

Source: Mediazona

Location: Russia, Saint Petersburg, St. Petersburg

Additional information:

A court in St. Petersburg ordered the Bellingcat investigation group and journalist Pieter van Huis to pay RUB 340,000 to former «Donetsk People’s Republic» field commander Igor Bezler. He filed a lawsuit for compensation for the fact that the group’s investigations stated his involvement in the death of the Malaysian Boeing. Bezler demanded to pay him RUB 500,000, as well as to publish a refutation. The court granted the latter demand, but reduced the amount of compensation for moral damage. The Bellingcat Foundation and the private company Bellingcat were charged RUB 150,000 each, and the journalist was charged RUB 40,000.