Alexey Navalny loses another defamation lawsuit brought by a billionaire

Alexey Navalny has lost another defamation lawsuit brought by a billionaire. A Moscow district court ruled on Tuesday that Navalny defamed Mikhail Prokhorov when he claimed in a recent Anti-Corruption Foundation report that Prokhorov bribed then Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Khloponin by paying three times the market value for his Italian villa. Prokhorov insists that he paid a fair price (35.5 million euros, or $41.4 million), and Khloponin’s spokespeople say he paid all the necessary taxes on the sale.

Navalny has until 10 days after the ruling takes effect to retract his allegations, and he was also fined one ruble in accordance with Prokhorov’s request for symbolic compensation for non-pecuniary damages.

Navalny has previously lost similar defamation lawsuits brought by the billionaires Oleg Deripaska and Alisher Usmanov.