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Russian opposition leader protests refusal to consider lawsuits against prosecutor general

Two courts have thrice turned down the anti-corruption fund’s lawsuit against the Russian top official

MOSCOW, January 11. /TASS/. Russian opposition leader and crusader against corruption Alexey Navalny and the Fund of Struggle Against Corruption have protested the Moscow courts’ refusal to consider honor and dignity protection suits against Russia’s Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika and the Ekho Moskvy radio station.

"Earlier today we received by mail our appeals against the rulings of the Gagarinsky and Ostankinsky courts, which had refused to consider our lawsuits," the plaintiffs’ lawyer, Ivan Zhdanov, told TASS, adding that protests against similar decisions by the Tverskoi and Presnensky courts would be made, too.

Earlier, honor and dignity protection lawsuits against the prosecutor general and a number of Russian mass media, such as the dailies Vedomosti and Kommersant, the Ekho Moskvy radio station, the television channel Dozhd and on-line periodical Slon were submitted to four courts in Moscow. Not a single one was accepted for consideration.

Two courts have thrice turned down the anti-corruption fund’s lawsuit due to procedural violations.

The Fund of Struggle against Corruption on December 2015 published on its website the results of what it said was its own investigation of businesses allegedly run by the prosecutor general’s sons. The fund claimed that one of Chaika’s sons owned a hotel in Greece. Also, Chaika’s sons were mentioned as holders of stakes in key affiliates of the Russian railways company. Chaika dismissed all charges as false and declared that British subject William Browder and secret services behind him had engineered the charges.

In response to this statement Navalny and the anti-corruption fund tried to protest Chaika’s statement in court.