A Russian court ruling has justified the use of obscenities in speech, qualifying them as interjections, rather than offensive terms.

The case that ended in such a curious verdict began in one university in the Russian Urals Region, where a woman-provost was publicly scathed by the university’s president – also a woman – for stealing her husband.

In the course of that row, watched by more than ten students of the Urals Financial and Legal Institute, the president used some of the dirtiest swear words existing in the Russian language to insult the provost, Rossiyskaya Gazeta reports.

The provost took the matter to court, accusing the president of indecent assault, but the final verdict did not go in her favour.

“In modern speech such words are used as interjections expressing disturbance and indignation,” the ruling said.

The claimant is appealing the verdict, the newspaper added.