MOSCOW, August 23 - RAPSI. Oleg Mikheyev, the election campaign manager of the "A Just Russia" political party, has reported that he filed a defamation lawsuit against Lifenews, an on-line news publication, and Oleg Matveichev, the Volgograd Region Vice-Governor for internal and information policy.

On August 17, Lifenews published a story of a fancy-dress wedding attended by Mikheyev, who was allegedly dressed as Nazi Admiral Wilhelm Canaris. The story was supported by photographs.

The party called the story a provocation and the photographs a fake. Lifenews stated it had evidence of the photographs authenticity.

Mikheyev is seeking a court-ordered refutation of the assertion that he wore a Nazi uniform, along with moral damages in the amount of one ruble from each defendant.
The party said the photographs were doctored with Photoshop. In place of a Russian service insignia on Mikheyevs cap, the photographs were edited so that the Nazi eagle insignia appeared on the cap

Volga-media.ru editorial board, Volgograd Region Press and Information Committee, and Lifenews Editor-in-Chief Aram Gabrelyanov were all named as co-defendants.

RIA Novisti has yet to obtain comment from Volgograd Region authorities on the matter.


RAPSI News Service