Kazakhstan, Astana, Jan.14 / Trend , K.Konyrova /
Petropavlov City Court's acquittal on Vremya newspaper's staff writer Viktor Miroshnichenko and the Liter newspaper's writer Zaur Jumaliev came into force Jan.13, the Foundation for Protection of Freedom of Speech Adil Soz said.
The journalists were accused of libel.
The criminal case was filed due to an article titled "Lightning Hammer" published in November 2008 in the Petropavlovsk KZ newspaper. Viktor Miroshnichenko told Zaur Jumaliev in an interview about prosecution of journalists for their professional activities. He sited a case when they attempted to bring an action on a journalist for an article about son's appropriation of his father's estate.
One of the heroes in this publication, namely that mentioned son, appealed to the court demanding a trial a journalist for libel.
However, the Court regarded the charges in the appeal ungrounded and acquitted the defendants for lack of crime content in their activity," Adil soz said.