Krasnodar police department sues Mediazona for article about police torture

A Krasnodar region Vyselki district police department has filed a suit against Russian outlet Mediazona after they published an article featuring quotes from residents of rural locality Vyselki about getting tortured by police agents, reports Mediazona.

The lawsuit on protection of honour, dignity, and business reputation was filed in a Krasnodar district court back in January. The police think that the text of the publication does not correspond to reality and tarnishes the department’s image, seeing as an investigation did not find any rule violations that Mediazona had reported. Thich is why the department is asking for the article to be deleted and for Mediazona to issue a retraction.

The article featured several residents of Vyselki talking about being beaten in a basement of the local police department and being driven into the forest and getting tortured with electricity there. The article was published in January 2021.

A year later, the Vyselki district police department filed the lawsuit; in March, the court proceedings started. However, Mediazona was not informed, so the proceedings were constantly postponed due to the absence of the defendant. The next hearing is supposed to take place on 13 September.