I’ve just returned from the latest hearing in Vladlen “I Feel Bitter” Stepanov’s defamation lawsuit. The court’s ruling was fairly unexpected: the claim was partially upheld, but in a very strange way. As an update to this post (which was what triggered the lawsuit), I will now have to retract a number of phrases such as, "Stepanova and her husband received so many millions of dollars from the scam"—that is, direct statements that the Stepanovs took part in a crime. The remarkable thing is that, under the court’s ruling, I am being required to retract not so much my own phrases from the post as the phrases and claims made in this video:
http://youtu.be/MYDJYTcgnLo That’s the strange part. I fully agree with the version laid out in the video; it is, so to speak, my value judgment. But I’m not the author. And today’s ruling by the Lyublino District Court effectively says that anyone who posted a link to the video can be compelled to retract the claims made in it. Once we receive the court’s reasoning, we’ll analyze it in detail, but for now it looks like an attempt to create a precedent for obstructing the viral spread on the internet of information (articles, videos) that certain people find inconvenient. What infuriated me most, of course, was that the court awarded Stepanov 100,000 rubles (about $3,300 at the time), even though he had asked for 1 million. That is a very large sum for “moral damages.” In Russia, people are awarded less than that for proven cases of torture. On that subject, Stepanov had an amusing exchange with the judge: *- Mr. Stepanov, you are demanding 1 million for moral damages and emotional suffering. How exactly does this suffering manifest itself? Your Honor, as they say in the film "Mimino" (a popular Soviet comedy), "I’m suffering so much I can’t even eat." I’ve already lost eight kilograms (about 17.6 pounds).* Nevertheless, this argument clearly had a serious impact on the judge, and I found myself “down 100,000.” Well then, since Stepanov currently has 8 million euros frozen in Swiss bank accounts, let him live for now on my 100,000 rubles. He can buy a kilo of foie gras and spread it on a lobster. Maybe that will ease the bitterness caused by my post. Now for the good news: the whole process was worth starting (and even worth losing) for the sake of three documents obtained at the court’s request on our motion. As you probably remember, Stepanov’s entire defense rests on two things: I am very wealthy and had plenty of official income, enough to buy all those villas in Dubai and so on. I divorced Stepanova a very long time ago; she is not my wife, and she has nothing to do with my property. And now, the documents obtained at the court’s request. As one of my lawyers said after reviewing them: it turns out Stepanov is a relatively not-so-wealthy rich man and a recently divorced liar.
Not much, for a businessman with a villa in Dubai and a house in Rublyovo-Arkhangelskoye, right? Now about the divorce. When did it happen?
Well, well, well. How could that be? The divorce only took place at the end of 2010. So why lie? And most importantly, this document means that all the luxury property and the money in foreign accounts are jointly owned by “businessman” Stepanov and his spouse—a modest civil servant and head of Tax Inspectorate No. 28, who modestly signed off on the refund of 5.3 billion rubles (about $175 million at the time) in “overpaid” profit tax from stolen companies. So these little pieces of paper will still have their part to play in the “Magnitsky case” (the high-profile Russian tax fraud and corruption case linked to Sergei Magnitsky). We will do our part to make sure of that. And of course we will appeal the Lyublino District Court’s ruling.