Dutch blogger successfully sues Russian investigative journalist Roman Dobrokhotov

A Moscow court satisfied the defamation lawsuit filed against Roman Dobrokhotov, the editor-in-chief of the Insider, by Dutch blogger Max van der Werff, TASS reported on Wednesday October 6.

The Cheremushkinsky District Court ordered Dobrokhotov to pay 156,000 rubles ($2,150) as compensation for moral damages and legal fees. 

In addition, van der Werff’s lawyer Stalina Gurevich told TASS that Dobrokhotov will have to “publicly refute” his reporting about the Dutch blogger’s alleged cooperation with the Russian GRU. 

Van der Werff’s defamation suit sought two million rubles (nearly $27,600) in compensation. Gurevich said her client intends to appeal the amount awarded, because, in van der Werff’s opinion, it does not fully compensate for the damage done to his business reputation. 

Max van der Werff filed a defamation lawsuit against Roman Dobrokhotov over a tweet in which the journalist claimed that the Dutch blogger was cooperating with Russia’s military intelligence community to publicize “alternative narratives” about the causes of the MH17 plane crash in Ukraine. As part of the investigation into the case, Russian law enforcement raided Dobrokhotov’s apartment, as well as his parents’ home in July. 

In October, Roman Dobrokhotov was charged with illegally crossing the Russian border and Moscow police raided his parents’ home once again. Federal agents also brought his wife in for questioning. Dobrokhotov denounced the charges as an effort to put pressure on his family and silence his investigative reporting.