Court has bound public association “Union of Sport Journalists” to recover KZT200000 Jamilya Sadykova as moral damage

April 13, 2011

On April 12, 2011 Medeu District Court of Almaty has made a decision by suit of Director of National Coalition "Kazakhstan Smoke Free" Jamilya Sadykova, Public Foundation "Temekisiz" ("Smoke free") and Public Foundation "Center of Support and Promotion of Public Health Service" have brought a suit against news agency "Kazakhstan Today", editor-in-chief of the agency Timur Kuvatov and public association "Union of Sport Journalists".

The charges stemmed from article "Kazakhstan's journalists casted doubt on specific waste more KZT380000000 (USD1=KZT145,37), which were contributed for anti-tabacoo campaign", which was placed on the website "Kazakhstan Today" (www.kt.kz) on November 18, 2010.They have also asked the recovery of KZT2000000 from editor-in-chief, KZT3000000 from news agency and KZT5000000 from public association"Union of Sport Journalists" as moral damage.

The suit was satisfied partially. The court has recognized that there was a publication of untruth information in third and tenth lines of the text; insisted on publication of disclaimer, related to news of press agency "Kazakhstan Today" within ten days after the entry of ruling into legal force. PA “Union of Sport Journalists” should recover KZT200000 Jamilya Sadykova and two founds as moral damage.

Defendants have disagreed with judgment. They intended to appeal a decision in superior body.