Russian Court Orders Navalny To Pay Businessman Prigozhin $4,240 In Legal Costs - Concord

A Moscow district court recovered from imprisoned Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny 300,000 rubles ($4,240) in legal costs in favor of Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin as part of the defamation case, Prigozhin's company Concord said on Friday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 29th April, 2022) A Moscow district court recovered from imprisoned Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny 300,000 rubles ($4,240) in legal costs in favor of Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin as part of the defamation case, Prigozhin's company Concord said on Friday.

"The court issued a ruling on the recovery from Navalny in favor of Yevgeny Viktorovich (Prigozhin) of legal costs in the amount of 300,000 rubles," the company's press service said, adding that the court hearing took place on Thursday.

In 2019, Navalny, his ally, Lyubov Sobol, and foundation were fined over 88 million rubles in total for alleging that a catering company, belonging to Prigozhin, had supplied low-quality food to schools and kindergartens under state contracts and accusing the businessman of corruption and ties to private military companies.

In 2020, Prigozhin's lawyers began filing a series of lawsuits against Navalny and his allies. The catering tycoon's company explained that the reason for these appeals was "the publication of offensive statements containing slanderous information" about the businessman.

In 2021, a court ordered that Navalny remove from the internet information that was deemed slanderous, publish a repudiation on the Navalny Live YouTube channel, and pay a 500,000 ruble fine. At the end of December, Concord reported that the courts had recovered more than 4 million rubles from Navalny and his supporters in favor of Prigozhin in the defamation cases.