MOSCOW, March 6 (RAPSI) – The Moscow Commercial Court has scheduled preliminary hearing of a lawsuit over protection of business reputation filed by businessman Oleg Deripaska against Alexey Navalny for May 14, according to court records.

The applicant seeks to oblige the defendant to refute information distributed in several videos on the Youtube-channel of Navalny. Moreover, the tycoon demands a 1-ruble moral compensation from the blogger.

The hearing date has not been set yet.

Earlier, Navalny filed a petition with Russia’s Supreme Court challenging an order to remove and refute information on the Crimean meat processing plant Druzhba Narodov he had distributed.

Earlier, the Moscow District Commercial Court dismissed Navalny’s cassation appeal in this defamation dispute. Navalny challenged the Moscow Commercial Court’s ruling of February 2019, and the July 2019, ruling of the Ninth Commercial Court of Appeals.

The Moscow Commercial Court ruled in favor of Druzhba Narodov on February 12, 2019. The court declared information distributed by Navalny in one of his videos untrue and discrediting the plant’s business standing.

The statements read that the meat processing plant inflated prices for food products purveyed for the National Guard, delivered bad quality goods and accused the plant employees of embezzlement during supplies.

According to the court ruling, the defendant did not furnish evidence of credibility of the disseminated information.

On July 26, 2019, the Ninth Commercial Court of Appeals upheld the ruling.