A woman was sleeping in the lobby of the arbitration court. She didn’t bother anyone, on the contrary, she showed complete serenity. It became somehow calm - for example, for the journalist Vasily Utkin, who acted as a defendant in the process against CSKA.
“Homeless,” the lady in the form of a bailiff suddenly said loudly.
Journalists startled.
“The homeless person is on the bench,” she explained.
The sleeping woman immediately got ready for her business. The calm was broken.
Representatives of CSKA arrived. Club lawyer Roman Babaev and the girl tried to quickly slip through to the meeting room, but thanks to a strict access control system, Roman managed to ask a couple of questions.
“You do not want to withdraw the lawsuit and complete the case with peace?” - asked him.
- I'm not against. But, probably, the defendant should take the first step, ”he agreed.
The defendant arrived a few minutes later and was also set up kindly.
“I don’t need anything from CSKA,” emphasized Vasily Utkin. - If the claim is withdrawn, then I will not demand anything. But I'm not going to apologize to the club.
Utkin, by the way, was admitted to court with difficulty. I needed an identity document, but Vasily did not have it with him.
“Am I a famous person?” - Utkin asked the policeman. “Can I go this way?”
“Of course,” the law enforcement officer was embarrassed. - Come on in.
A little later it turned out that a peaceful outcome is impossible. The withdrawal of the claim could be regarded as a defeat for the army. And if the journalist asked to stop the consideration of the case, he would have to admit that he called the game “Rostov” - CSKA Moscow a contractual rage. Dead end. It remained to wait for what the court would say.
During the debate, it was impossible to say anything about Judge Galina Cherenkova. She carefully concealed her likes and dislikes. But lawyers behaved differently. For example, Alexandra Nikolaeva, who defended the journalist and Soviet Sport, very calmly stated the reasons why the lawsuit could not be satisfied. Roman Babaev was less eloquent. Both lawyers referred to the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights. It sounded solid.
They argued about whether Utkin's judgments can be considered personal opinions (to which everyone has the right) or accusations (they cannot be rushed without evidence). They listened to Vasily Utkin.
“It all seems strange to me,” the journalist thought, commenting on the lawsuit. - It's nice, of course, that they pay attention to me. But I, having analyzed the match, simply fulfilled my professional duty.
- Do you consider the game “Rostov” - CSKA contractual and paid? - directly asked Vasily the lawyer of the army club.
“Negotiable, yes,” Utkin answered proudly.
- And paid? - Babaev did not calm down.
“I did not write anything about this,” the journalist defended.
“But you think so?” - insisted the lawyer.
“Yes,” Utkin shrugged. The Arbitration Court has not yet banned thinking.
Utkin was not at all worried, he spoke calmly. I’ve never even joked and did not scam. Although he could.
“We do not argue that journalists have the right to freedom of speech,” Babayev drew the line. “But we want them to keep a fine line between opinion and accusation.”
“I don’t think accusations of a contractual game are a serious crime,” retorted Utkin. “This is not fraud, robbery, or robbery.” A contract is not a crime. No criminal cases are being instituted on it.
“If they find out, they will start a case,” muttered another lawyer from CSKA. This question was probably thoroughly discussed.
Galina Cherenkova asked everyone to go out to make a decision. After 40 minutes, she stated that "Soviet Sport" should write a refutation. The match “Rostov” - CSKA was not negotiable. It turns out that now a journalist can not share his opinion. The judge probably did not see the game.
Roman Babaev, of course, was pleased with the decision.
- Will we file a claim for compensation for non-pecuniary damage? Not yet, but let's see what they decide at the club.
Vasily Utkin was also not very upset. Or did not show. He still plays in the theater.
“It's hard for me to judge why the judge made such a decision.” Probably affected by the fact that she is a lady, far from the sports subtleties. All this was informative, interesting. I am sure that there will be an appeal.
- It turns out that thanks to this decision, journalists will now not be able to write about football at all, expressing their point of view?
- They do not have the right to call a match contractual if they consider it so. However, in my opinion, this is wrong. I would like to emphasize that the court found only one wording in the article “Games that we deserve” unreasonable. And the army club had about 60 complaints.
- If you were writing about the match “Rostov” - CSKA, would you call it contractual?
- Yes, sure. They punish him for this, but it doesn’t hurt ... inexpensively (Vasily had in mind that Sovetsky Sport should pay 2000 rubles for legal costs).
- Is this a serious defeat for Vasily Utkin?
- Not. This court session is a match held in the cup system. CSKA just scored a prestige goal.
Alexey Shevchenko