Andrey Zakharov

Affiliated media: Investigative journalist

Incident date: September 4, 2025

Attack type:

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

Who attacked: Authorities

Source: Mediazona

Location: Russia, Moscow, Moscow

Additional information:

The Moscow City Court has overturned the decision of the Savelovsky District Court and entirely dismissed businessman Konstantin Malofeev's lawsuit against journalist Andrey Zakharov and the publishing house Individuum. Malofeev had demanded that excerpts from Zakharov's book Kripta: How Cryptopunks, Programmers, and Crooks Shackled Russia with Blockchain be declared false and that the print run be destroyed. In October 2024, the district court partially upheld the lawsuit, ruling that one phrase in the book was defamatory, but it refused to order the destruction of the print run. Both parties appealed; the appellate court overturned the Savelovsky Court’s decision, recognising Zakharov’s right to freedom of expression.