MOSCOW, January 19 - RAPSI, Alyona Yegorova. An individual entrepreneur filed an appeal against the dismissal of his lawsuit against MTS to return him 12.5 percent of privileged and 2.5% of ordinary shares in Mobile Communication Systems, the Moscow Commercial Court told the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI/rapsinews.com) on Thursday.

Entrepreneur Yevgeny Grafeyev also seeks to recover 10 million euros in compensation.

MTS is Russia's largest mobile operator in terms of the number of clients. As of September the company's subscriber base included 70.122 million users, and the total number of users stands at 106.39 million people with due account to the company's CIS subsidiaries.

Grafeyev entered into a contract with MTS on August 17, 2007 for the sale of 1,250 privileged and 250 ordinary shares of Mobile Communication Systems (Mobilnye Sistemy Svyazi). Grafeyev received 4.668 million rubles ($148,500) from the defendant, the lawsuit reads.

Grafeyev asked the court to cancel the deal, return the shares in MTS subsidiary and award him compensation for moral damage.

According to Grafeyev, the company's management developed an action plan to coerce him into the transaction. Grafeyev maintains he was threatened, blackmailed, and ultimately forced into signing the sale contract which resulted in 21 million euros loss to him.

Earlier, MTS reported that the company acted in good faith and has the corresponding documents to prove its case.

The Moscow Commercial Court stated in its decision that the plaintiff did not prove that the defendant committed any threats or violence. Therefore the statute of limitations has expired.