ECtHR accepts Dagestani's lawsuit against Zhirinovsky

The lawsuit submitted by Shamil Sheikhov, a resident of Makhachkala, on protection of honour, dignity and business reputation and collection from Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) and Vice-Speaker of the Russian State Duma, and from the newspaper "LDPR" of compensation in the amount of 100 million roubles has been found eligible for consideration by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg.

Mr Sheikhov told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that the other day he received a respective notification from France. "The document is in my hands; and now we'll wait for further developments; I hope to find justice at least abroad," he said.

Starting from 2010, the claimant has been seeking to recognize the information published in Zhirinovsky's article "Entire Caucasus Is Huge Cherkizovo Market" in the "LDPR" newspaper No. 7 for 2009, as inconsistent with reality, false and defamatory, encroaching on the honour, dignity and business reputation of Dagestanis. Sheikhov wants to oblige the LDPR leader to bring apologies to Dagestanis through the newspaper and one of the federal TV Channels.

As explained by Sheikhov, by addressing the ECtHR he wants to "create a precedent." In his view, the main thing is to make it clear to politicians "that for every xenophobic statement they will have to answer before the court" and to teach them "what they can voice out publicly, and what they shouldn't."

The Dagestani regional office of the LDPR refused to give any comments to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent on Mr Sheikhov's lawsuit.