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Moscow court to hear lawsuit against ex-USSR leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Gorbachev

The founder and the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia has filed a lawsuit against Gorbachev demanding that he pay around $16,000 for insulting honor and dignity

© Alexander Scherbak/TASS

MOSCOW, October 29. /TASS/. Moscow’s Timiryazevsky court is due on Thursday to hear a lawsuit against ex-Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev filed by flamboyant Russian politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky over the statements in his book.

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"The court will consider Zhirinovsky’s civil lawsuit against Gorbachev," a court spokesman said.

Earlier this month, the court satisfied a motion of Gorbachev’s representatives who said that the former Soviet statesman wanted to personally attend the hearing. They explained that Gorbachev, 84, was unable to appear in court in mid-October due to health reasons. The hearing was postponed until October 29.

Zhirinovsky, the founder and the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), has filed a lawsuit against Gorbachev demanding that he pay 1 million rubles (around $16,000) for insulting honor and dignity.

The lawsuit comes following the publication in 2014 of Gorbachev’s book titled "After the Kremlin" in which he wrote that Zhirinovsky allegedly announced extremist slogans and participated in several provocations.

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