MOSCOW, June 29 (RAPSI) - The Crimean meat processing plant Druzhba Narodov has filed an application with the Moscow Commercial Court seeking to recover from Alexey Navalny 3.3 million rubles (about $50,000) of legal expenses in a defamation dispute, according to court records.

The claim is set for August18.

In March, the Supreme Court dismissed Navalny’s motion to reconsider a ruling in his defamation dispute with Druzhba Narodov ordering the blogger to remove and refute information on the enterprise he had distributed. 

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.