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Moscow Court Refuses to Consider Slander Lawsuit Against Chaika

Russian opposition leader and anti-corruption blogger Alexei Navalny

Moscow's Presnensky district court has refused to consider a slander lawsuit against Prosecutor General Yury Chaika filed by Alexei Navalny's Anti-Corruption Fund (FBK), the RIA Novosti news agency reported.

“The lawsuit was given back to the applicant due to the Presnensky court's lack of jurisdiction,” court spokeswoman Nina Yurkova said, RIA Novosti reported.

The defendant Chaika does not reside in the district subordinate to the Presnensky court, Yurkova said, the RBC newspaper reported Monday.

In response, Navalny wrote on his blog — citing Chaika's tax report that says he owns a flat in the Presnensky district — that Presnensky court is legally where the lawsuit has to be filed.

“If Chaika lives elsewhere — he is lying in his tax report. If he does not lie in his tax report — the court is lying to us,” Navalny said.

The FBK filed a slander lawsuit against Chaika after the prosecutor general claimed the film detailing his sons' illegal activities made by FBK was ''commissioned.”

On Dec. 1, FBK published an investigation incriminating Yury Chaika, as well as his sons Artyom and Igor, in a range of shady business deals, the illegal seizure of a state-owned enterprise and murder — as well as a listing of foreign assets allegedly owned by the family.

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