Expert Testifies the Radiation Tests Were Incorrect
On December 7, the Economic Court of Minsk continued consideration of the lawsuit filed by Milkavita dairy company against an AP correspondent Yuras Karmanau.
The defendant is represented by lawyer Siarhei Zikratski and BAJ lawyer and chairperson Andrei Bastunets. The presiding judge is Tatsiana Sapeha. Briefly, the court declines most motions of the defendant.
The court heard the testimonies of the correspondent’s colleagues who confirmed that the milk had been bought from the farmer Nikalay Chubianok and brought to the Center of Hygiene for testing.
The defendant argues that the information of the journalistic investigation related to the farmer and not to the dairy company Milkavita, so in fact Milkavita was unrelated as a plaintiff. Today, the defendant motioned to attach a linguistic examination of the claims held by a linguist of the State Yakub Kolas Linguistic Institute: the expert conclusion says that all fragments of the text, quoted in Milkavita lawsuit, refer to the farmer, and not to the dairy company. However, the court dismissed the argument.
Also, the court dismissed Yuras Karmanau’s motion to involve the Center of Hygiene and Epidemiology as co-defendant.
This Wednesday, the chief engineer of the Center Aksana Drabysheuskaya told that the data on strontium could not be treated as valid because establishing contamination by this element requires a complicated and long-lasting procedure. The data indicated in the printout that was handed in to the reporter were not precise because it was impossible to hold correct measurements in liquid state.
The judge ordered the expert to present technical specifications of the equipment that was used in the tests.
The hearing continues on December 9, at 2 pm.
At the previous hearing, on November 28, the court dismissed the motion to allow Associated Press agency as co-defendant. Also, the plaintiff changed the earlier claim of refutation: now the company does not want the refutation to be published by the agency and some other outlets who reposted that investigation; now the plaintiff wants the reporter to send an official refutation to the agency saying that the information submit for the report was no true.
Background of the story Dairy Company Sues AP Journalist for Report about Radioactive Milk (Upd)