A Russian court on Friday overturned a defamation conviction against a journalist who had accused the mayor of his town of being involved in blowing up his car in 2008.
Several months after his car was blown up, Mikhail Beketov was badly beaten by two unidentified thugs in the town of Khimki, a Moscow suburb. The attack left the reporter brain damaged and unable to speak.
Beketov’s supporters have blamed local officials for the violence and say it was related to his investigation into plans to clear a local forest for highway construction and lucrative development projects.
After police refused to investigate the destruction of his car, Beketov gave a television interview in which he accused the Khimki mayor, Vladimir Strelchenko, of being involved.
The mayor sued for slander. On Nov. 10, Khimki magistrates court convicted Beketov of defamation and fined him 5,000 rubles ($167), although it said he did not have to pay because of a technicality.
The conviction drew outrage not only because Beketov had suffered such debilitating injuries, including the loss of a leg and three fingers, but because just a few days earlier another Russian journalist had been severely beaten in a strikingly similar attack.
Some saw the Nov. 6 beating of Kommersant reporter Oleg Kashin as retaliation for his reports on the Khimki controversy.
Several activists who opposed the project also have suffered brutal attacks, including one in early November.
In August, President Dmitry Medvedev ordered the highway construction suspended so the route could be reassessed. No decision has been announced, but the respected Vedomosti business newspaper reported Thursday that the Kremlin has decided to allow the construction to go ahead along the original route. The report cited several unidentified Kremlin officials.
Russia has seen a wave of assaults on journalists and activists, and in most cases the perpetrators are never found.
Road construction is widely acknowledged to be one of the most corrupt sectors of Russia’s economy, with numerous opportunities for kickbacks.
