Kislovodsk Imam Kurman-Ali Baichorov sues for defamation

A lawsuit on defence of his honour and dignity and compensation of moral harm was lodged to the Leninsky District Court of Stavropol by the Kislovodsk Imam Kurman-Ali Baichorov, who demands to attract as respondents the STRC (State TV and Radio Company) "Stavropolye" and Mark Tolchinskiy, the head of the press service of the Chief Department of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) for the North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD).

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on January 12 Kurman-Ali Baichorov was sentenced to 3.5 years of general-security colony on charges of drug dealing. The Imam refused to plead guilty and said that he fell victim to the men, including an FSB agent, who kidnapped him and planted drugs on him.

The subject of the lodged complaint is the misleading and defamatory information, voiced out on October 21, 2013, in a news report broadcast by the STRC "Stavropolye" a few days after Baichorov's detention; and on November 24, 2014, in the programme "Vesti. Stavropolye", says the statement of claim, a copy of which is at the disposal of the "Caucasian Knot".

Baichorov demands to recognize the data voiced out in the reports as unreal and discrediting his honour, dignity and business reputation, "to oblige the defendants to publish a refutation of the earlier widespread information and to collect in his favour the compensation for his moral harm in the amount of 100,000 roubles from each of the defendants."

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.