Mikhail Prokhorov hit Alexei Navalny with the ruble

The businessman filed a lawsuit against Alexei Navalny for 1 ruble. He demands that he refute information about the purchase of an Italian villa by former Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Alexander Khloponin for him as a bribe to an official.
22.05.2018
RBC
Origin source
The Lublin court explained that the amount of the claim is 1 ruble, but the decision to take the suit by the court has not yet been made. The suit concerns FBK's publication of Prokhorov's purchase of an Italian villa from Khloponin. Navalny called the deal a bribe

Billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov filed a lawsuit against oppositionist Aleksei Navalny in Moscow's Lublin court to protect his honor and dignity, RBC's spokeswoman Lyudmila Morozova, spokeswoman for the Moscow Lublin court, told RBC. As the press secretary of the court informed, the reason for the claim was the material published on the website of Navalny.

"Prokhorov asks the court to oblige Navalny to refute the information specified in the material, remove the material in dispute and collect 1 ruble from the defendant," she said.

According to Morozova, the lawsuit has just arrived, no procedural decision has been made yet, the court has five days to do it.

The managing partner of Gridnev & Partners, Timofei Gridnev (representing Prokhorov), told RBC that the suit of the businessman concerns Navalny's material about the Italian villa, which Prokhorov bought from Alexander Khloponin. "Honor and dignity are priceless, but Prokhorov believes that Navalny should be punished by the ruble, here's a ruble and ask," Gridnev said.

"We do not ask Navalny to oblige to remove this information, as it is naive to believe that it is possible to remove anything from the Internet. Prokhorov does not need refutations, since stupidity does not need to be refuted, stupidity refutes itself. We ask the court to recognize this information as invalid and discrediting the honor and dignity of Prokhorov, and Navalny on the same pages to publish the court's decision on this, "he added.

After the first video, FBK uploaded another video on May 18 with documents that "it is difficult to argue with," Ivan Zhdanov, the lawyer of the foundation, told RBC. "We are not surprised by the lawsuit, because there was such a message about the readiness to sue. We are ready to sue, "Zhdanov said.

On April 26, Navalny published in his blog the results of FBK's investigation of the connections between Prokhorov and Alexander Khloponin, who at that time held the post of deputy prime minister. The publication says that Prokhorov bought from Khloponin an Italian villa for € 35.5 million. Navalny referred to a contract of sale, which, according to the publication, was received "in a completely legal way" in FBK.

The fact that the company bought Prokhorov villa, it was known before, a representative of the ONEXIM group confirmed this information to RBC, but details were not disclosed. Navalny insists that the price at which the villa was sold is overstated and is not market. From this he concluded that Prokhorov "buys himself ... <...> one of the highest officials of the Russian government." Navalny claims that the sale of the villa was a bribe.

According to the BBC, the new owner of the villa was the company FDM Real Estate Ltd, it owns the Cyprus company Neptolino Holdings, which owns Prokhorov.

After Navalny published material on the sale of real estate in his blog, a representative of ONEKSIM told RBC that the businessman intends to apply to the court. In ONEXIM also said that the transaction for the purchase of real estate was "absolutely transparent."

Khloponin's spokeswoman Natalia Platonova said at the end of April that RBC that the sale of the villa "was officially declared, carried out on market terms and paying all necessary taxes." In ONEXIM said that the transaction for the purchase of real estate was "absolutely transparent."

How entrepreneurs sued Navalny

At the end of 2015, the former wife of Deputy Prosecutor General Gennady Lopatin, entrepreneur Olga Lopatina, filed an action for defending honor and dignity against Oppositionist Alexei Navalny. In the investigation film about the business of the family of Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika, released by the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) Navalny, she was accused of having links with members of the Zapka gang - convicted of murder in the village of Kuschevskaya. The court did not consider the application due to "contained deficiencies".

In the spring of 2017, Alisher Usmanov, a billionaire, filed an action for defending honor and dignity against Alexei Navalny. The reason was the film-investigation "He is not Dimon". Usmanov asked to refute the information in the film that he transferred a land plot on Rublevka worth 5 billion rubles. the fund, which, according to FBK, is controlled by the environment of Premier Dmitry Medvedev. Navalny called it a bribe to the head of government. The court satisfied the demands of the businessman, and in October 2017, FBK announced that they had complied with the court's decision and published refutations.

Entrepreneur Sergei Mikhailov in 2017 filed against the opposition two lawsuits. First, in the framework of the suit on protection of honor and dignity, he demanded 500,000 rubles from the oppositionist and FBK. due to the fact that in the investigation of Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika Navalny called Mikhailov "criminal authority" and "head of Solntsevo OPG." The court did not consider this information defamatory and rejected the claim. Then the businessman demanded that the information in the article "Still give Putin hours to S. Mikhailov, the head of Solntsevo OPG", was presented in an article that did not correspond to reality, and this time the court took his side.

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