A Moscow court on Thursday threw out a defamation lawsuit against State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov over his accusations that a Moskovsky Komsomolets columnist had sided with terrorists.
Gryzlov told President Dmitry Medvedev and State Duma faction leaders at an April 2 meeting that the article by columnist Alexander Minkin and a Vedomosti news analysis showed that the two newspapers were siding with terrorists after Moscow metro bombings killed 40 people four days earlier.
Both articles said the bombings were part of North Caucasus rebels' announced strategy to bring their war to the Russian heartland.
Moscow's Presnensky District Court did not explain its decision Thursday, saying only that the lawsuit had been rejected.
Minkin promised to appeal. "I didn't doubt that the court would make such a decision," he said, Interfax reported.
A lawyer for Gryzlov, Yelena Zabralova, declined to comment, the report said.
The same court earlier Thursday held a preliminary hearing on a defamation lawsuit filed against Gryzlov by Vedomosti, whose parent company, Independent Media Sanoma Magazines, also owns The Moscow Times.
Vedomosti lawyer Vladimir Rumyantsev voiced doubt that the newspaper would win the apology that it was seeking from Gryzlov.
"I think there is a 95 percent possibility that the court will rule like it did in Minkin's lawsuit," Rumyantsev told The Moscow Times.
The court is to consider the case Tuesday, he said.
Meanwhile, Ella Pamfilova, head of the president’s human rights council, criticized Gryzlov's accusations at a meeting with Medvedev on Wednesday. "I will never believe that the well-known journalist Alexander Minkin, with all the criticism in his articles about anti-terrorism measures, could be an associate of terrorists," Pamfilova said, according to a Kremlin transcript.
Medvedev did not comment on the issue.
The court refused on Thursday to summon Gryzlov to elaborate on his statement.
Gryzlov was paying a visit to China on Thursday.