MOSCOW, July 6 - RAPSI. The Moscow Commercial Court has postponed until September 10 the consideration of the Auchan retailer's defamation lawsuit against Lifenews.Ru founder News Media, the court told the Russian Legal Information Agency on Friday.

The lawsuit centers on an article about a tragedy that took place in a Moscow family.

Two young girls reportedly died when the family suffered from food poisoning after eating products that they had purchased at an Auchan store.

During the last hearing in May, News Media asked the court to be granted access to the forensic evidence in the case. On Friday, the court postponed the hearings as no response had been given to the court's inquiry. Auchan's lawsuit was submitted to the court on February 10.

The family of four was hospitalized due to food poisoning on January 19. The children died later at the hospital on January 24.

Investigators then opened a criminal case.

The deceased children's mother was soon discharged from the hospital, while her husband stayed there until the doctors were able to make a diagnosis. Forensic scientists failed to find any toxic elements in the blood of the deceased girls.

The article titled, "Girls Get Poisoned with Products Purchased in Auchan," described the tragedy and stated that the forensic scientists claimed the victims suffered from food poisoning.

Auchan said it hopes to attract the author Yelena Mikhaylova to the case as a co-defendant. However, News Media said the name is a collective pseudonym for the portal's employees.

The Auchan international retail group was established in 1961 by Gerard Mulliez. It runs over 1,200 outlets in 13 countries. Auchan has operated in Russia since 2002, where it has 25 Auchan megastores, 13 Auchan City megastores, two Auchan Garden stores and two Raduga (Rainbow) stores as of June 2010.