Moscow court to consider lawsuit to Zhirinovsky on protection of honour and dignity regarding his statements about Azerbaijanis

The Tver Court of Moscow has accepted for consideration a lawsuit on protection of honour and dignity against the MP of the Russian State Duma Vladimir Zhirinovsky for his statements concerning the Azerbaijani people. This was reported by Ekaterina Korotova, the press secretary of the above court, who is quoted by the RAPSI.

The lawsuit was filed by the Mamedov spouses, who are lawyers and who believe that the politician's statements have offended not only them, but also the whole people of Azerbaijan. The State Duma is attracted as a co-respondent in the case.

Sadik Mamedov and Elmira Mamedova demand to oblige Zhirinovsky, who had stated that Azerbaijanis are "not a nationality" to refute his statement, as well as to collect from him 50 million roubles in favour of each of the claimants as compensation for moral harm.

According to the newspaper "Izvestia", the Mamedovs' claim is supported by Asif Magerramov, the President of the Federal National Cultural Autonomy of Azerbaijanis in Russia (FNCA "AzerRos"). Earlier, his organization sent a letter to the Russian General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) asking to open a criminal case against Zhirinovsky. However, the GPO refused to do it, while the Duma's Ethics Commission found nothing contradictory to the MP's ethics in his statement.