MP offered to pay for criticism of ex-director of utility company

The Kletsky District Court of the Volgograd Region ordered local Duma deputy Klara Borisova and local activist Nadezhda Orlova to pay the former director of the Kletskoye MMUKH Alexei Zotov 5 thousand rubles. for criticism that, in the court's opinion, is untrue. The plaintiff himself, Alexey Zotov, claims that as a result of statements addressed to him by a deputy who accused him of withdrawing transport from the enterprise and other shortcomings, he “lost sleep and appetite.” But Klara Borisova herself believes that the trial against her is an attempt by the authorities to “suspend” her critical speeches. The district administration denies this.

For a year now, district Duma deputy Klara Borisova has been trying to prove in the district and regional courts that the statements she made at a meeting of the district Duma and at a meeting of residents addressed to the former director of the municipal enterprise MMUKH "Kletskoye" Alexei Zotov are criticism and judgments based on documents. The deputy expressed the opinion that the director of a municipal utility enterprise was trying to deliberately worsen the material and technical base of the economy, was making attempts to write off sewage transport as scrap metal, although the car was in good condition, was trying to transfer “profitable, advantageous utility services to private companies that are registered in his spouse,” repaired private vehicles at a municipal enterprise.

The deputy’s criticism was also shared by local residents who, at one of the meetings, as follows from the court materials, were outraged by the company’s work: “everyone was shouting,” saying that “people pay money, but they do nothing.”

But the former director himself proves that the accusations made against him were not proven, insulted him and filed a lawsuit, trying to recover moral damages from the deputy in the amount of 10 thousand rubles. “I feel deeply about what happened,” he explained his appeal in the statement of claim. “I lost sleep, lost my appetite, lost the desire to continue to remain in this position, and therefore quit.” The court of first instance partially satisfied the claims of Alexei Zotov, qualifying Klara Borisova’s statements not as a judgment, but as statements “about facts that take place in time,” and considers them not proven. In particular, the decision contains a reference to an inspection by the control and audit department of the district administration, which did not reveal the facts that became the subject of criticism. Klara Borisova and local activist Nadezhda Orlova were ordered to pay the plaintiff 5 thousand rubles as compensation for moral damage.

Klara Borisova does not agree with the decision and is appealing it in the regional court. She explained that she has all the documents (in particular, the order of the head of the district and the transcript of the district council meeting - Kommersant), which indicate the impending decommissioning of the equipment. The decision was canceled, the deputy believes, after her criticism. And an employee of the utility company, Alexander Kurganov, confirmed that a private car, allegedly belonging to IP Zotova, was indeed located on the territory of the enterprise and was being repaired. “I am a deputy. Expressing an opinion on the riots in the Duma or at a public event is not only my right, but also my duty,” says the deputy. She considers the trial an attempt by management to “suspend” her criticism, which she often has to make. “Recently, in the village of Kremenskaya, electricity and water were turned off due to debts. But there are houses, a hospital, a kindergarten, and a school there. I spoke at the Duma again, but others were silent,” the deputy said.

The scandalous trial between the municipal director and the deputy lasts more than a year. Let us note that Klara Borisova is a well-known person in the region and beyond. She was the chief physician of the central district hospital, and this spring she was elected to the Public Council under the Ministry of Health of the regional government, and heads the Donskoy TOS. But the district administration says that they did not have the opportunity to intervene in this conflict, since they learned about it when the statement of claim was already in court. “No one put pressure on the court. I think the judges simply figured it out and realized that the person had been insulted,” says Sergei Shuvaev, head of the Kletsky district administration.

“I think that the situation is not small and not local. In my opinion, it clearly illustrates that pressure is no longer only on the ordinary person or the opposition, but even on the deputy. It turns out that a respected person can be dragged through the courts for a whole year to prove that he is wrong by making unpleasant facts public. It turns out that people elected a deputy to protect them and fight injustice, but he has to answer for his work in court,” says Mikhail Tarantsov, deputy of the Volgograd Regional Duma.

Elena Zavyalova

Showdown at the Kletsky level