Thread by @bellingcat

In March, the Amsterdam District Court ruled that articles published in 2020 by RIA FAN about Bellingcat & its staff members were incorrect & unlawful. Today we note, following a challenge by RIA FAN, the same court has upheld its initial verdict.
bellingcat.com/riafan_en/

All RIA FAN achieved with its opposition is that the penalties ordered by the court for non-compliance have been withdrawn for practical reasons. Nevertheless, RIA FAN remains obliged to pay Bellingcat's legal costs.

Crucially, the offending materials must still be removed from RIA FAN's website. Regrettably, we note that this has not yet happened.

https://twitter.com/bellingcat/status/1369928698967683075

There was one exception: RIA FAN has so far removed the Arabic-language version of one of the libellous articles newly added to the case file. It claimed that this article “slightly violated European legislation”.

In a response on its website, RIA FAN claims the court overturned the earlier verdict concerning the libellous articles. This is incorrect. Paragraphs 4.5 and 5.2 of the verdict of June 29 clearly state that the only decision in favour of RIA FAN is withdrawing the penalties.

Therefore, we can only call upon RIA FAN to fully comply with the publicly available court ruling (linked in our statement). We once again look forward to the record being swiftly corrected and the offending articles being removed.