Siberian doctor Alevtina Khorinyak, who made headlines two years ago after she was charged with trafficking and fraud for prescribing painkillers to a cancer patient, has won a malicious prosecution case in connection with the scandal, the TASS news agency reported.
Khorinyak, 71, was convicted in 2013 of document fraud and the illegal trafficking of medication for prescribing painkillers to a man suffering from advanced cancer.
The charges were rooted in the fact that the man — an acquaintance of Khorinyak — wasn't formally registered as a patient at the clinic where she was employed.
Though she was initially ordered to pay a fine of 15,000 rubles ($258), the case was retried a year later and Khorinyak was fully exonerated when that court determined her actions had not in fact constituted a crime.
This year, Khorinyak sued various federal and regional authorities, including Russia's Finance Ministry, the Krasnoyarsk branch of the Federal Treasury and the regional directorate of the Federal Drug Control Service.
She initially sought 2 million (about $34,000) rubles in moral damages, her lawyer, Vyacheslav Bogdanov, told TASS on Friday, but was granted only 200,000 rubles (about $3,400).
Though he noted that the court had partially satisfied the plaintiff's demand, he said they would likely appeal the comparatively paltry damages award.
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