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Moscow court turns down complaint by Stalin’s grandson on justification of Nazism

Yevgeny Dzhugashvili, Joseph Stalin’s grandson, filed a petition with investigation agencies in connection with an interpretation of the Katyn tragedy in schoolbook of Russian history

MOSCOW, October 24. /TASS/. Moscow City Court on Monday turned down a complaint by Yevgeny Dzhugashvili, Joseph Stalin’s grandson over the refusal by a court of lower jurisdiction to institute a criminal case for justification of Nazism against the authors of a schoolbook, which claims the execution of Polish officers in Katyn took place at an order of the Politburo of the Soviet Communist Party’s central committee.

"A resolution of the Ostankino district court to deny acceptance of Yevgeny Dzhugashvili’s petition over a crime related to Clause 354.1 (of the Russian Criminal Code - TASS) on justification of Nazism will remain unchanged and the appeal filed by the lawyers shall not be represented," the judge said.

Dhugashvili filed a petition with investigation agencies in connection with an interpretation of the Katyn tragedy in schoolbook of Russian history from the early 20th century through to the beginning of the 21st century that the Moscow-based Drofa publishing house put out earlier this year.

"The authors of the textbook deny the fact of guilt of the Third Reich’s military in the slaying of 11,000 Polish prisoner officers in the Katyn forest near Smolensk," lawyer Sergei Strygin representing Dzhugashvili said. "Also, they deny the personal guilt of Herman Gering and Alfred Jodl in organizing this particularly heinous military crime."

The prosecutor who attended the court hearing said the court of lower jurisdiction had not made any substantial procedural violations while considering the petition.

Moscow City’s Tverskoi district court somewhat earlier turned down a petition where Yevgeny Dzhugashvili demanded that the State Duma should refute the claims on Joseph Stalin’s involvement in the execution of Polish officers near Katyn.