5.  The applicant company is a limited liability company registered in the town of Kstovo, in the Nizhegorodskiy Region. In 2008 it changed its name to Zemlyaki Publishing House.
6.  The applicant company is the founder, editor and publisher of a local newspaper, Zemlyaki, printed in Kstovo and distributed in the Kstovskiy District.
7.  In 2004 the applicant company published a series of articles commenting on the professional activity of Y.L., the then head of the Kstovo District Administration (“the District Administration”).
8.  In an article published in issue 11 (400) dated 6 March 2004 and entitled “Success has turned his head” (“Головокружение от успехов”), N.G., a member of a local council, contested the validity of the District Administration’s policy concerning spending and property management in respect of 2003 in the following terms:
“... I do not object for the sake of objecting, Y.L. I just do not understand, where exactly did you see the ‘strict economy regime’. Where exactly?
It has now been three years since the failure of MTS to repay its debt (of about seven million roubles). And the setting up of MTS was entirely your initiative and [it is your] creation. The Trade Committee is renting out the land for street commerce, but the profits somehow do not get back into the budget. You personally had given out the biggest shops for external management for free before the year in question, which resulted in budgetary losses of a few million roubles. I would not be surprised if [the shops] were sold by the Trade Committee to the ‘right people’, avoiding an open auction and following a well-established scheme (as was the case with your Mercedes car).
You have already created a precedent. You have entered into so many loan contracts with commercial banks [on behalf of the District Administration] that almost seven million roubles in interest is to be paid only this year. I read the fable ‘Monkey and a loan’ at the meeting of councillors. It is about a similar situation. The marmoset (мартышка) borrowed money from a bank to pay her debts. She did repay them, but afterwards the bank required her to pay back both the loan and interest. Do you remember? The moral of the fable is very obvious. That marmoset was a fool (дура).
...”
9.  In another article concerning the same subject matter, this time in issue 13 (402) dated 20 March 2004, authored by Z.O. and entitled “The golden grin awards” (“Вручение премии Оскал”), the newspaper published a photo collage depicting Y.L. as Osama bin Laden, along with the following comment:
“A golden grin statuette goes to the head of administration Y.L. for a rational proposal on the subject: how to dispose of industrial waste in village administration. The essence of the proposal is simple: ‘We could blow anything up. Or burn it’. It is a pity that the employees of waste disposal services have not thought about this yet. The solution is superficial. Or, more accurately, is going up in flames. Or, even more precisely, has been blown to bits.”
10.  On 11 May 2004 Y.L. complained about the articles to the Kstovo City Court. He claimed that the articles published in the applicant company’s newspaper had contained defamatory and damaging material. The applicant company disagreed.
11.  On 31 August 2004 the court issued a judgment in which it granted Y.L.’s claims against the applicant company and N.G. in part. The court reasoned as follows:
“... Examining the text of the publication, the court comes to a conclusion that the information contained in issue no. 11 (400) dated 6 March 2004 in the article ‘Success has turned his head’ and in issue no. 13 (402) dated 20 March 2004 in the article ‘The golden grin awards’ is defamatory to the claimant’s honour, dignity and reputation; and in particular, in the article ‘Success has turned his head’, the defendant N.G. compares the claimant’s activity as the head of the administration to the actions of a marmoset, eventually calling that marmoset a fool. In the Russian Language Dictionary edited by A.P. Evgenyev, the meaning of word ‘marmoset’ is defined as ‘a little monkey with long limbs, a long tail and a short muzzle’, and the meaning of the word ‘fool’ as ... ‘a stupid, dumb person, in ancient times, a court or domestic jester’.
In the article ‘The golden grin awards’ the defendant placed the claimant’s photograph in a photo collage with a Muslim turban and a beard, having added to the portrait the following text in bold ‘We could blow anything up. Or burn it’. Considering the events of last year: terrorist acts in America, Russia, Spain, Iraq, the world’s public opinion on bin Laden as terrorist no. 1, the court finds that the publication is defamatory to the honour, dignity and business reputation of the claimant and creates an image of an aggressive, cruel and fanatical actor.
...”
12.  The court declared the information in question erroneous and defamatory, and ordered the applicant company to pay an amount of a symbolic value to the claimant in damages and publish a retraction phrased in the following terms:
“The editorial board of the [applicant company] offers its apologies to the head of the Kstovo District Administration, Y.L., for the unethical comparison of [his] actions with the actions of the marmoset, called a ‘fool’, ... as well as for the photo collage of Y.L ... The editorial board recognises that the photo collage is unfounded, incorrect and injurious, and once again offers its apologies to Y.L.”
13.  The applicant company appealed against the judgment of 31 August 2004, relying on, among other things, the case-law of the Court and the failure of the Kstovo City Court to draw a distinction between statements of facts and value judgments, and the statements of politicians and those of the general public.
14.  On 22 October 2004 the Nizhegorodskiy Regional Court upheld the judgment on appeal. It held as follows:
“Having examined the case-file, the text of the publication [...] the [first instance] court rightly concluded that the information at issue defamed the honour, dignity and business reputation of Y.L. This being so, the court judgment was taken lawfully and justifiably, there being no grounds to quash it...”.
Further attempts by the applicant company to have the case reviewed by way of supervisory review procedure were unsuccessful.