A Volgograd court has refused to hear a lawsuit against a local television station that aired the personal information of people who brought flowers in memory of Navalny.
On March 26, the presenters of the Volgograd 1 TV channel Sergey Mazanov and a former deputy from United Russia Roman Potolovsky The results of police surveillance of activists were aired, presented as the results of their "journalistic investigation." They revealed the names, places of work, and photographs of Volgograd residents who brought flowers to the monument to the victims of political repression after Alexei Navalny's death. According to the hosts, these people "insulted the country and all Russians" in doing so.
On April 25, one of the activists mentioned on the Volgograd-1 TV channel Vladislav Tsevashev filed a lawsuit. He demanded the removal of defamatory information about Volgograd residents and reimbursement of his legal costs. During the trial, it was revealed that the Volgograd-1 TV channel lacked a broadcast license, and Mazanov and Potolovsky were not employees of the channel.
The court refused to hear the claim, explaining its decision by citing the plaintiff's choice of "inappropriate defendant": instead of the channel's founding company, OOO 2TV, the claim was filed against OOO Volgograd-1. The lawyer failed to file a motion to change the defendant and plans to refile the claim.
Previously, other activists - Roman Melnichenko, Ruslan Nurushev и Vladimir Telpuk — filed a complaint about the disclosure of personal data with Roskomnadzor. However, they claimed the information was allegedly obtained from open sources, and therefore Mazanov and Potolovsky had committed no crime. The Investigative Committee also found no evidence of a crime.