In the court case with Usmanov, a recess was announced until tomorrow. Overall, there is nothing new here. We filed 23 motions; one was granted. They are refusing to call even the witnesses requested by Usmanov’s side—along with all the other delights of the Russian justice system.
But one small detail is still astonishing. In his lawsuit, Usmanov is challenging every statement I have ever made anywhere saying that he imposed censorship at *Kommersant*. He literally collected every quote of that kind—from all media outlets over the entire period. In other words, it is very important for him to prove that there was no censorship at *Kommersant*. And now they continue to insist on this, and they leaned on it heavily in court.
What is astonishing is that one of the very few cases of censorship in Russia that simply cannot be denied and that is backed by legal evidence is precisely the case of Usmanov and Kommersant. Censorship is everywhere, of course—it is obvious—but Usmanov carried it out publicly and even boasted about it. In 2011, at the height of the mass protests against election fraud, Usmanov personally fired Galiyev, the general director of Kommersant-Vlast, and Kovalsky, its editor-in-chief. There was a press release and his statement sent to Gazeta.ru, where he said: “Yes, I fired them, because this was hooliganism.” There were plenty of publications matter-of-factly saying, “Yes, Usmanov fired Kovalsky over an article.” For example, look at the Interfax report. And finally, there was an open letter from Kommersant journalists titled “They Are Forcing Us Into Cowardice,” signed by almost the entire staff. In the letter, they say they view what is happening as intimidation.
So there you have it: a legally proven case of censorship. And yet today, through his representatives, Usmanov is telling us: no, this was not censorship, I did not fire anyone. Today, for the record, I specifically asked attorney Padva whether Usmanov fired Kovalsky. He replied: “No, he did not.”
The court refused both to admit Usmanov’s statement to Gazeta.ru into the case file, to review the journalists’ open letter, and to question the witnesses—the *Kommersant* journalists.
And in all likelihood, we will get a ruling saying: there is no censorship at the *Kommersant* publishing house, Usmanov fired no one, and he did nothing wrong. State media—and *Kommersant* itself—will write: Navalny lost his case against Usmanov and failed to prove censorship. And Alisher Burkhanovich will record a new video: you lied about censorship, Alexei, shame on you.