Law Firm Sirel & Partners attorneys at law Kristel Viru and Anneli Aab represented successfully the chairman of Saaremaa Municipal Council Jaanus Tamkivi in a dispute with Harry Raudvere, in which the latter claimed compensation for non-pecuniary and pecuniary damage based on inaccurate information and misjudgments. The basis of the dispute was an interview given by J.Tamkivi to Saaremaa Teataja, in which J Tamkivi commented on H. Raudvere´s appearance on Nõmme Radio on 01.03.2022 in the programm “Lõunatund”, calling H.Raudvere a Moscow troll”. A large part of the dispute centred on what a Moscow troll means in the Estonian legal space and whether it is a hired Russian agent (as H.Raudvere claimed) or a person who referees and justifies Russian and Putin´s propaganda more generally.
The court agreed with J.Tamkivi that in view of the Russian Federation´s information war in connection with the war in Ukraine, it is precisely those who referee and justify Putin´s positions and propaganda who called “Moscow trolls” or “Kremlin trolls” in today´s media (also in Estonia).
In view of H. Raudvere´s appearance on Lõunatund, the court also agreed with J. Tamkivi that on this basis, the designation of H. Raudvere as a Moscow troll as a value judgment was not inappropriate. Accordingly, the Court dismissed H. Raudvere´s action. The judgment has not entered into force and can be appealed within 30 days.
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