Media wins again in lawsuit against authorities

The Court ruled in favour of three journalists and two media publications, which were sued by authorities of Rezina in October, 2006. According to a press release from the Journalist Investigation Centre, after 4 months of examination, on February 8, 2007, the Court of Rezina decided to uncharge the journalists Tudor Iascenco, Victor Sofroni and Cornelia Cozonac and the publications “Cuvantul” (Rezina) and “Ziarul de Garda”, sued by the mayor of Rezina and other two officials after the publication of the investigation “Government in Rezinian style”, in September 2006. The journalists described in their article several violations and abuses committed by the officials of the Rezina Town Hall, with the silent approval of the Town council. The violations include the privatisation of some houses, auctioned off at extremely low prices. The mayor of Rezina, Mihail Cut, and citizens Ruslan Socol and Pantelei Cojuhari sued the authors of the investigation and the newspapers which published the article, invoking the “violation of honour, dignity and professional reputation”. Moreover, Mihail Cut invoked the fact that “Rezina Town Hall’s honour and dignity has also been violated”. Plaintiffs were affirming that the facts presented in the article do not correspond to the reality and requested a retraction and non-pecuniary damage. Cut solicited USD 300,000 from the “Cuvantul” newspaper, Socol – MDL 15,000 and Cojuhari – MDL 5,000 and the recovery of the lawsuit costs. The Court qualified the plaintiffs’ accusations as groundless. The decision can be examined in an appellate court within the terms prescribed by the legislation.