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Russian businessman asks court to recover $8,800 from oppositionist in defamation lawsuit

The businessman demands that opposition leader Alexei Navalny deny the information that was made public in the Chaika documentary, which calls Sergei Mikhailov a crime boss

MOSCOW, June 14. /TASS/. Russian businessman Sergei Mikhailov has asked Moscow’s Lyublinsky District Court to recover 500,000 rubles ($8,800) from opposition leader Alexei Navalny and his Anti-Corruption Foundation in a defamation lawsuit, the court’s press service told TASS.

"The plaintiff has asked the court to recover 250,000 rubles ($4,400) from each of the defendants, he also wants them to pay the court costs," press service said.

The businessman demands that Navalny deny the information that was made public in the Chaika documentary released at chaika.navalny.com, which calls Mikhailov a crime boss. He also requested the court to declare this information as defamatory and false and rule that it should be removed from the website.

The Lyublinsky District Court is expected to hold a discussion concerning the lawsuit on June 29.

It is the second defamation lawsuit filed against Navalny. On May 31, the Lyublinsky District Court upheld Russian business magnate Alisher Usmanov’s lawsuit, ruling that Navalny’s statements about the plaintiff’s alleged involvement in corruption and his being convicted for rape should be deleted from the internet.