Russian catering mogul Evgeny Prigozhin wins another defamation case against Lyubov Sobol

A Moscow district court has ordered opposition figure Lyubov Sobol to pay 500,000 rubles ($6,480) in compensation for moral damages, satisfying (at least in part) yet another defamation lawsuit filed against her by Kremlin-linked catering mogul Evgeny Prigozhin.

According to MBX Media, the lawsuit was filed over a post Sobol wrote on Twitter in October 2020. Sharing an article about Prigozhin filing a different defamation lawsuit against herself and opposition politician Alexey Navalny, Sobol wrote, “When you steal billions from the [state] budget, but want to snatch some more money?”

In his lawsuit, Prigozhin demanded 5 million rubles (about $64,780) in compensation from Sobol. In addition to awarding partial compensation, the court found the post to be defamatory and ordered Sobol to remove it.

In recent months, Evgeny Prigozhin has filed several lawsuits against Lyubov Sobol, as well as jailed opposition politician Alexey Navalny. On March 5, a Moscow court ordered Navalny to pay Prigozhin 500,000 rubles in compensation in another defamation suit (the oligarch was seeking 5 million rubles in damages in this case, as well).