MOSCOW, September 10 - RAPSI. The Ninth Commercial Court of Appeals has dismissed Aeroflot's appeal against the lower court decision which dismissed the defamation lawsuit against Izvestia newspaper, the court spokesperson told the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI/rapsinews.com) on Monday.

Thus, the appellate instance confirmed the Moscow Commercial Court's ruling, which dismissed Aeroflot's claims in June.

The lawsuit centers on an article published by Izvestia in February which alleged that Aeroflot pilots fall asleep in the cockpit during flights because they are forced to work such long hours. The plaintiff demanded that the newspaper retract the allegations and pay five million rubles ($157,425) in moral damages.

The Moscow Commercial Court judge Nikolai Tarasov said in the ruling that the plaintiff produced no real evidence that the published charges in the article's headline and text were inaccurate.

Izvestia does not recognize the claims. The newspaper's lawyer said in court that there was no mention in the article that the company had violated the law. In addition, although the article mentioned Aeroflot, there are 83 other companies that use the same word in their names. Therefore, Izvestia claimed, the plaintiff needed to prove that the article was referring specifically to Russias major airline.

Also, Izvestia's representative said that Aeroflot requested to have the article refuted in court, without specifying which phrases it considers defamatory, although the material it did provide included historical facts, data on other companies, and an official comment by Aeroflot.