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Specialist opinion of 18.11.2024

CaseCriminal defamation case (Moscow) — Уголовное дело · 2021–2024
Date
Document typeExpert report
InstanceOther
Pages45
SourceМатериалы дела
Added08.10.2026

This material has been redacted to protect personal data: names of all persons (except the surname Artsinovich), case and act numbers, signatures, seals and identifiers are hidden and cannot be recovered from the image or text.

Specialist opinion of 18.11.2024 — Page 1

Text version

Unofficial translation.

Specialist's opinion [скрыто] of 18 November 2024 ("Veritas" Expert Bureau Istina)

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[Title page. Letterhead: "VERITAS" — "Centre for the Promotion of the Development of Forensic Expert Activity — [скрыто] [скрыто] [скрыто], autonomous non-profit organisation, [скрыто], Moscow, [скрыто], building 1, office 300B, http://istina.expert, tel.[скрыто];[скрыто], e-mail: [скрыто][скрыто][скрыто]"]

SPECIALIST'S OPINION

(a judgment in written form on questions requiring special knowledge)

[скрыто] of 18 November 2024

Moscow — 2024

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[скрыто] [скрыто]

Basis for drawing up the specialist's opinion

The specialist's opinion (a judgment in written form on questions requiring special knowledge) has been drawn up on the basis of Services Agreement [скрыто] of 8 November 2024 (hereinafter — the Agreement), concluded between the expert institution ANO "Expert Bureau Istina", represented by its director [скрыто] [скрыто] [скрыто], and [скрыто] [скрыто] [скрыто] (hereinafter — the Client).

The specialist [скрыто] [скрыто] [скрыто] carried out an analysis of the materials submitted and, on the basis of its results, drew up the present specialist's opinion.

The purpose of [скрыто] [скрыто] [скрыто]'s application is the clarification of questions falling within the professional competence of the specialist on the basis of the results of the analysis of the materials submitted, and the obtaining of a written specialist's opinion in the field of forensic linguistic examination containing a qualified judgment of the specialist on the questions set out in the Client's request.

Place and time of the analysis of the materials submitted and of the drawing up of the written specialist's opinion

[скрыто], Moscow, [скрыто], building 1, office 300B, the premises of the expert institution ANO "Expert Bureau Istina". The analysis of the materials was begun on 14 November 2024 and completed on 18 November 2024.

Information on the education and qualifications of the specialist

[скрыто] [скрыто] [скрыто] holds higher expert education from the [скрыто] Moscow State Law University (MSAL) in specialisation 030502 "Forensic examination", with the qualification conferred — "Forensic expert" (decision of the State Examination Commission on the conferment of the qualification of 15.06.2015, higher education diploma on form series [скрыто], issued by the Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education "[скрыто] Moscow State Law University").

She has completed:

  • additional professional training at the online school for forensic experts "ANTINOMIA" on the course of forensic linguistic examination (certificate without number of 17.11.2020, issued by the online school for forensic experts ANTINOMIA.RU);

  • advanced training under the additional professional programme "Anti-corruption examination of draft legal acts" in the volume of 144 academic hours in the period from 02.08.2021 to 23.08.2021 (advanced training certificate [скрыто], registration [скрыто], issued by [скрыто] [скрыто] "Institute of Modern Technologies and Management");

  • advanced training under the additional professional programme "Analysis of the products of speech activity in forensic examination" at the Pushkin State Institute of the Russian Language in the volume of 28 hours (advanced training certificate [скрыто], registration [скрыто], issued by the Pushkin State Institute of the Russian Language);

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  • additional professional training under the programme "Theory and practice of linguistic examination of text" in the framework of the VII International Scientific Conference "Text: philological, socio-cultural, regional and methodological aspects" at Togliatti State University, 17–19 April 2023 (certificate without number, issued by Togliatti State University);

  • advanced training under the additional professional programme "Analysis of the products of speech activity in forensic examination" at the Patrice Lumumba Peoples' Friendship University of Russia in the volume of 72 academic hours (advanced training certificate 23 162306, registration number 162306 of 19 October 2023);

  • advanced training under the additional professional programme "Linguistic examination of text" at the National Research University "Higher School of Economics" in the volume of 136 academic hours in the period from 26 February 2024 to 19 April 2024 (advanced training certificate [скрыто] of 6 May 2024, registration [скрыто]

Experience of expert work in the field of forensic linguistic examination — since 2015.

The following question was put to the specialist:

1. Do the statements of [скрыто] [скрыто] Artsinovich, documented in the Record of the hearing of the Arbitrazh Court of the City of Moscow in case [скрыто] of 17 October 2024, contain negative information expressed in the form of assertions that Yu. [скрыто] [скрыто] violated the norms of the legislation in force of the Russian Federation, in particular that he committed criminally punishable acts, assertions that Yu. [скрыто] [скрыто] committed dishonest acts, or of his improper, unethical or unconscientious conduct in his private and/or public life? If so, in which fragments of the text is that information presented?

The following materials were submitted for analysis

Objects analysed:

— The Record of the hearing of the Arbitrazh Court of the City of Moscow in case [скрыто] of 17 October 2024, on eleven pages of typewritten text.

The following sources were used in carrying out the research

  1. GOST R 70003–2022 Forensic linguistic examination. Terms and definitions (approved and brought into force by Order of the Federal Agency for Technical Regulation and Metrology of 10 February 2022 [скрыто]
  2. [скрыто] [скрыто] [скрыто]. Linguistic examination of text: theory and practice. — Moscow: Flinta: Nauka, 2007.
  3. How to carry out a linguistic examination of a disputed text? A memorandum for judges, lawyers, the media, advocates, prosecutors, investigators, inquiry officers and experts / edited by Prof. [скрыто] [скрыто] [скрыто]. — 2nd ed. — Moscow: Yuridichesky Mir, 2006.
  4. [скрыто] [скрыто] [скрыто]. Linguistics vs extremism: A guide for judges, investigators and experts / edited by Prof. [скрыто] [скрыто] [скрыто]. Moscow, 2006.

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[Continuation of the list of sources, items 5–24: works by [скрыто] [скрыто] [скрыто] on forensic speech studies and forensic linguistic examination; [скрыто] [скрыто] [скрыто], "Communicative strategies and tactics of Russian speech"; [скрыто] [скрыто] [скрыто], "Linguistic semantics"; articles by [скрыто] [скрыто] [скрыто] and [скрыто] [скрыто] [скрыто] in the journal "Theory and Practice of Forensic Examination"; the textbook "Linguistic examination" by [скрыто] [скрыто] [скрыто] and [скрыто] [скрыто] [скрыто]; "The concepts of honour, dignity and business reputation" edited by [скрыто] [скрыто] [скрыто] and [скрыто] [скрыто] [скрыто]; works by [скрыто] [скрыто] [скрыто]; "The judge's handbook: forensic examination" by [скрыто] [скрыто] [скрыто] and [скрыто] [скрыто] [скрыто]; "Russian grammar" edited by N. Yu. [скрыто]; the four-volume Dictionary of the Russian Language (Small Academic Dictionary); the Large Explanatory Dictionary edited by [скрыто] [скрыто] [скрыто].]

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[скрыто] [скрыто]. Terms and definitions

[The specialist sets out the conceptual apparatus used, with references to GOST R 70003–2022 and to the specialist literature. In particular the following are defined:]

Context — the environment of a linguistic unit which makes it possible to determine its meaning. A distinction is drawn between the microcontext — the environment of a linguistic unit within the statement — and the macrocontext — the linguistic environment of the unit in the text as a whole or in a set of texts. In addition to the linguistic context, the extralinguistic context is distinguished — the situation of communication in which the linguistic unit was used, including the conditions of the communication, the range of objects, the time and place of the communication, the communicants, etc. Verbal context is contrasted with non-verbal context — facial expressions, gestures, posture, graphic elements, symbols, etc.

The fragments of text preceding a word, expression or statement and influencing its semantic perception are calle[скрыто]

Monological speech — a form of speech constituting an extended message by one person and not presupposing an exchange of remarks.

Dialogical speech — a form of speech presupposing an exchange of remarks connected with one another semantically and grammatically.

Information — the totality of statements about the world, about events and about a state of affairs, as well as about the attitude of the sender of the information to those events, clothed in textual form. From a linguistic point of view, verbally expressed information consists of messages about some event, process or phenomenon which occurred in the past or is occurring at present, in specific conditions of place and time. Information may in particular be:

  • factological — about specific situations, incidents or events, about the acts or conduct of a natural person, about the activity of a legal person;
  • generalising — about typical events, typical human conduct, typical representatives of some groups, about everyday customs, etc.;
  • ethically evaluative — about the qualities and acts of people, about situations or events which, in some picture of the world or system of values, are described as good or bad;
  • conceptual-analytical — about natural or social regularities, about causal and other connections between the phenomena of actual reality;

[There follow the definitions of "assertion of fact", "opinion", "value judgment", "presupposition", "implicit information", "negative information" and others, and a description of the methods of analysis applied.]

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Analysis of the statements

[In this part the specialist examines, statement by statement, the remarks of [скрыто] [скрыто] Artsinovich recorded in the transcript of the hearing of 17 October 2024, giving for each the communicative situation, the lexical meanings of the key words according to the dictionaries, the semantic and syntactic analysis, and the determination of the form of presentation of the information. By way of illustration, the analysis of the noun "robber" (page 22):]

The second meaning of the noun "robbery", with reference to the lexico-semantic properties of which the dictionary interpretation of the lexeme "robber" is given in the first meaning cited earlier, is excluded by the context within which the analysed statement of [скрыто] [скрыто] Artsinovich is verbalised. Thus, in [скрыто] [скрыто] Artsinovich's statement there is no question of phenomena permitting the lexeme "robbery" to be interpreted in its colloquial meaning of reducing someone to destitution through levies, taxes or exorbitant prices. All the other current dictionary meanings of the lexeme "robber" are united by the semantic component 'the commission of such acts as consist in the taking (seizure) of another's property, coupled with the use of violence'.

However, the analysis of the communicative situation and of the full context of [скрыто] [скрыто] Artsinovich's statements unequivocally shows that the context excludes the speaker's use of the lexeme "robber" in the meaning of a person carrying out the taking (seizure) of another's property with the use of violence. Thus, already in the analysed statement of [скрыто] [скрыто] Artsinovich those components of meaning are realised which exclude any accusation of a violent character in the acts attributed to the subject of the speech: the speaker indicates that the taking (seizure) of property is carried out through court proceedings ("who do this regularly over many years, every year, they have 10 court cases each"). Similarly, the context of [скрыто] [скрыто] Artsinovich's subsequent statements, which will also be analysed by the specialist below, excludes the realisation of the semantic component 'violent character of the acts' when the speaker uses the designation "robber" (robbers) — in all his remarks [скрыто] [скрыто] Artsinovich indicates a manner of the acts committed by Yu. [скрыто] [скрыто] and his lawyers which is connected with the conduct of court proceedings and the recovery of debtors' property in the framework of judicial process ("And what is he talking about? He says, at the last hearing, we found a shop there filled with jewellery, we want to get at least something, to recover at least something from him, and so on. Do you understand? They are robbers, fraudsters", "They brought the claim for recovery in the hope that in the United Arab Emirates they would settle matters as in Russia and would recover from me there", "He has five groups of lawyers working both here and abroad, and in Europe, and in the United Arab Emirates. And they are constantly robbing people. That is their business", etc.) and is in no way connected with the use of violence against the debtor.

At the same time, [скрыто] [скрыто] Artsinovich's statements contain an indication of the regular character of the acts of which Yu. [скрыто] [скрыто] and the lawyers representing his interests are accused ("do this regularly over many years", "that is their business"), and of their unlawful character, connected with the aim of recovering property/debts for whose recovery there are no grounds. Thus, in a number of preceding statements [скрыто] [скрыто] Artsinovich indicates that the claims brought against him by Yu. [скрыто] [скрыто] are unfounded and unlawful, since Yu. [скрыто] [скрыто] is attempting to recover funds which [скрыто] [скрыто] Artsinovich never took from him ("they ruled to recover from me 2.3 million dollars which I never took, with interest, that is, a million 137 and another 900 thousand of interest piled on", "I never in my life received that money", "I took no money. All this has been proved in the courts", etc.).

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CONCLUSIONS ON [скрыто] [скрыто] [скрыто]

[The specialist concludes that the statements of [скрыто] [скрыто] Artsinovich documented in the transcript of the hearing of 17 October 2024 contain negative information about Yu. [скрыто] [скрыто] expressed in the form of assertions of facts and events, namely:]

1) [скрыто] [скрыто] [скрыто] Artsinovich's statement "I did not interrupt you, shut your mouth. I did not interrupt you. What is being decided here is my fate, to the tune of 2.5 million dollars. And you represent the interests of a robber. Once again I assert that [скрыто] [скрыто] [скрыто] and his whole gang are robbers, fraudsters, who do this regularly over many years, every year, they have 10 court cases each" there is negative information expressed in the form of an explicit assertion, capable of being verified as to its correspondence with reality, to the effect that [скрыто] [скрыто] [скрыто] and the lawyers working with him (representing his interests) are a group of persons who jointly carry on regular joint activity involving the unlawful recovery of another's property through court proceedings in the absence of legal grounds for such recovery; who on more than one occasion in the past and/or present have committed fraudulent acts (have used fraudulent schemes) for the unlawful judicial recovery of another's property in the absence of legal grounds for such recovery; and who on more than one occasion in the past and/or present have conducted court proceedings (disputes) for the recovery of another's property in the absence of genuine legal grounds for such recovery.

In its content the above assertion is an assertion that Yu. [скрыто] [скрыто] and the lawyers representing his interests committed such acts / carried out such directed and conscious activity as, from the point of view of common sense and of the notions of the norm prevailing in society, is reprehensible, dishonest and unconscientious, and, from the point of view of the law (in so far as any person of legal capacity not possessing special knowledge in the field of jurisprudence may judge of this), is unlawful and is regarded as punishable;

2) [скрыто] [скрыто] [скрыто] Artsinovich's statement "But here he was charged by the Main Investigative Directorate of the Moscow police. The man was arrested, handcuffed, put in the cage. And then, on a call from [скрыто], the First Deputy Prosecutor General, within just twenty-four hours the criminal case was closed and the man walked free. That is how [скрыто]'s gang resolves these matters. That is all, full stop." there is negative information expressed:

— in the form of an explicit assertion, capable of being verified as to its correspondence with reality, to the effect that at some moment in the past [скрыто] [скрыто] [скрыто] was subjected to criminal prosecution and subsequent arrest in the framework of charges brought against him by the Main Investigative Directorate of the Moscow police.

Within its context the above assertion conveys negative information about Yu. [скрыто] [скрыто], since [скрыто] [скрыто] Artsinovich's subsequent statements contain an indication that Yu. [скрыто] [скрыто] was released from liability and that the criminal case against him was closed as a result of the patronage of a high-ranking official;

— in the form of an explicit assertion of facts and events, capable of being verified as to its correspondence with reality, to the effect that the criminal case against Yu. [скрыто] [скрыто] was terminated in connection with instructions received from the First Deputy Prosecutor General, [скрыто],

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— and in the form of an implicit assertion of facts and events, capable of being verified as to its correspondence with reality, reporting that the criminal case against [скрыто] [скрыто] [скрыто] was terminated unlawfully, on grounds unconnected with his innocence.

The assertions identified report such grounds for the termination of the criminal prosecution of Yu. [скрыто] [скрыто] and for his release as are connected with the intercession of a third person, and not with the absence of the elements of an offence in Yu. [скрыто] [скрыто]'s acts or with Yu. [скрыто] [скрыто]'s innocence as such, by reason of which they characterise Yu. [скрыто] [скрыто] negatively;

3) [скрыто] [скрыто] [скрыто] Artsinovich's statement "And meanwhile, [скрыто] will be brought to further criminal liability just for the forgery of documents in the United Arab Emirates. Because a pre-investigation inquiry has been carried out, because it was found that all the documents, all my signatures, which he submitted to the court, are forged. They are forged! Do you understand? They even use forged signatures in the Emirates" there is negative information expressed:

— in the form of a presuppositional (implicit) assertion, capable of being verified as to its correspondence with reality, reporting that at some moment in the past Yu. [скрыто] [скрыто] was brought to criminal liability;

— in the form of an explicit assertion of facts and events, capable of being verified as to its correspondence with reality, reporting that Yu. [скрыто] [скрыто] and the lawyers representing his interests in the judicial proceedings in the case against [скрыто] [скрыто] Artsinovich in the United Arab Emirates submitted to the court documents bearing forged signatures of [скрыто] [скрыто] Artsinovich;

— in the form of a presuppositional (implicit) assertion, capable of being verified as to its correspondence with reality, reporting that Yu. [скрыто] [скрыто] personally and/or certain third persons on his instructions forged [скрыто] [скрыто] Artsinovich's signatures on documents submitted by Yu. [скрыто] [скрыто] and his lawyers in the framework of the judicial proceedings against [скрыто] [скрыто] Artsinovich in the United Arab Emirates.

All three assertions convey information about the commission by Yu. [скрыто] [скрыто] of unlawful acts, in particular of such acts as entail, or may entail, criminal liability;

4) [скрыто] [скрыто] [скрыто] Artsinovich's statement "They brought the claim for recovery in the hope that in the United Arab Emirates they would settle matters as in Russia and would recover from me there", having regard to the logico-semantic relations into which that statement enters with the previously analysed statement of [скрыто] [скрыто] Artsinovich "And then, on a call from [скрыто], the First Deputy Prosecutor General, within just twenty-four hours the criminal case was closed and the man walked free. That is how [скрыто]'s gang resolves these matters. That is all, full stop.", there is negative information expressed in the form of an implicit assertion of facts and events, capable of being verified as to its correspondence with reality, reporting that Yu. [скрыто] [скрыто] and the lawyers representing his interests have at least once in the past and/or present used the connections they have in Russia with high-ranking officials in order to secure the adoption of decisions favourable (necessary) to themselves.

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In view of the stable everyday notions and stereotypes prevailing in society, and in view of the fact that in [скрыто] [скрыто] Artsinovich's statements Yu. [скрыто] [скрыто] and the lawyers working with him are given a characterisation closely connected with the images of the criminal world and with the regular unlawful activity of the subject of the speech ("robbers", "fraudsters", "gang"), the said assertion is actualised in the text first and foremost as an assertion of the unlawful use of the connections available, connected at the very least with everyday notions of corruption and/or the bribery of officials;

5) [скрыто] [скрыто] [скрыто] Artsinovich's statements "And what is he talking about? He says, at the last hearing, we found a shop there filled with jewellery, we want to get at least something, to recover at least something from him, and so on. Do you understand? They are robbers, fraudsters" and "He has five groups of lawyers working both here and abroad, and in Europe, and in the United Arab Emirates. And they are constantly robbing people. That is their business" there is negative information expressed in the form of explicit assertions of facts and events, capable of being verified as to their correspondence with reality, reporting that [скрыто] [скрыто] [скрыто] and the lawyers working with him (representing his interests) are a group of persons who jointly carry on regular joint activity involving the unlawful recovery of another's property through court proceedings in the absence of legal grounds for such recovery; who on more than one occasion in the past and/or present have committed fraudulent acts (have used fraudulent schemes) for the unlawful judicial recovery of another's property in the absence of legal grounds for such recovery; who on more than one occasion in the past and/or present have conducted court proceedings (disputes) for the recovery of another's property in the absence of genuine legal grounds for such recovery, and have derived a certain income from that activity (those court proceedings).

For all the assertions identified, the source of the negative information reported about Yu. [скрыто] [скрыто] is [скрыто] [скрыто] Artsinovich.

Specialist — [скрыто] [скрыто] [скрыто] [signature, seals of ANO "Expert Bureau Istina"]

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ANNEX 1. The specialist's qualification documents

[Copies of the specialist's documents: the specialist's diploma with distinction of the [скрыто] Moscow State Law University, series [скрыто], issued on 10 July 2015, in specialisation 030502 "Forensic examination", qualification "forensic expert"; the certificates of advanced training listed in the introductory part; and also the civil-status documents confirming the change of surname (certificate of change of name I-AK [скрыто] of 4 May 2023 and marriage certificate IV-AK [скрыто] of 5 May 2023, in the names Timko / [скрыто]). Each sheet bears the seal of ANO "Expert Bureau Istina" and the specialist's signature.]