Volgograd court refuses to consider lawsuit on disclosure of activists' data

The Tsentralny District Court of Volgograd has refused to consider the lawsuit for protection of honour and dignity, defence of privacy and claiming compensation for the suffered moral harm lodged against the "Volgograd-1" TV Company, under whose brand the story appeared on air about the people laying flowers in memory of Alexei Navalny. The court has explained its decision by the fact that the claimant had chosen an "inappropriate respondent," while the advocate was not allowed to file a motion on changing the respondent.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that one of the heroes of the above TV story, Vladislav Tsevashev, had filed a claim with the above District Court. The respondent was the "Volgograd-1" LLC. The third parties were Roman Melnichenko, a lawyer, and Vladimir Telpuk, an activist. The claimant called the information about him disclosed by the TV presenters, Mazanov and Potolovsky, false and demanded that all the personal data be removed from the TV show.

"The respondent is not the "Volgograd-1", but the 2TV LLC. We need to re-file the lawsuit," Mr Melnichenko has stated.

"If Mazanov and Potolovsky are not employees of the 'Volgograd-1' LLC, how could they broadcast under its auspices? If they are employees of another organization, they were obliged to indicate this information in their author's programme," Sergey Ivaschenko, a lawyer, has noted.