MOSCOW, October 6 (RAPSI) – Moscow’s Cheremushkinsky District Court on Wednesday ordered the editor-in-chief of The Insider (recognized in Russia as a media performing functions of a foreign agent) Roman Dobrokhotov to pay Dutch journalist Max van der Werff 156,000 rubles (over $2,000) upon the latter’s defamation lawsuit, lawyer Stalina Gurevich told RAPSI.

The court also obliged Dobrokhotov to refute information distributed by him on Twitter. The lawsuit by the Dutch journalist was granted in part as he demanded 2 million rubles ($27,500) from the defendant.

In July, investigators opened a criminal case over the fact of defamation against Dutch journalist Max van der Werff on the part of The Insider. A search at the office of the editor-in-chief of The Insider Roman Dobrokhotov was carried out as part of this case. 

Representatives of the Dutch journalist allege that The Insider published false information that the journalist secretly cooperates with the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Russian General Staff (GRU) and is paid by the Directorate to disseminate materials about the crush of the Malaysian Boeing MH17 in 2014. Dobrokhotov also put a link to The Insider article on his Twitter adding that van der Werff commited a crime working for the Russian intelligence service.

Earlier, the lawyer cited an expert opinion saying that the article published by The Insider and Dobrokhotov’s Twit contain “negative information” about the journalist.

In late September, Dobrokhotov was put on a wanted list on the illegal border crossing charges. According to the Federal Security Service (FSB), he illegally crossed Russia’s border with Ukraine.