Russian catering mogul Evgeny Prigozhin wins another defamation case against Lyubov Sobol

A Moscow district court has ordered opposition figure Lyubov Sobol to pay 500,000 rubles ($6,480) in compensation for moral damages, satisfying (at least in part) yet another defamation lawsuit filed against her by Kremlin-linked catering mogul Evgeny Prigozhin.

According to MBX Media, the lawsuit was filed over a post Sobol wrote on Twitter in October 2020. Sharing an article about Prigozhin filing a different defamation lawsuit against herself and opposition politician Alexey Navalny, Sobol wrote, “When you steal billions from the [state] budget, but want to snatch some more money?”

In his lawsuit, Prigozhin demanded 5 million rubles (about $64,780) in compensation from Sobol. In addition to awarding partial compensation, the court found the post to be defamatory and ordered Sobol to remove it.

• In recent months, Evgeny Prigozhin has filed several lawsuits against Lyubov Sobol, as well as jailed opposition politician Alexey Navalny. On March 5, a Moscow court ordered Navalny to pay Prigozhin 500,000 rubles in compensation in another defamation suit (the oligarch was seeking 5 million rubles in damages in this case, as well).