Moscow court to consider defamation lawsuit against ex-tycoon Khodorkovsky

A Moscow court is due on Thursday to consider a defamation lawsuit brought by Russia’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) against former Yukos owner Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
The LDPR seeks 10 million rubles (around $213,000) in moral damages from Khodorkovsky who accused the party in his book, “Prison and Freedom,” of having accepted money for voting.
The party has asked the court to declare information in the book, written by Khodorkovsky and his co-author, Russian journalist Natalia Gevorkyan, as defamatory, saying that it does not accept funds from questionable sources.
Khodorkovsky, the former owner of Yukos, which was declared bankrupt by a Moscow court in 2006, spent a decade in jail for embezzlement and tax evasion before he was pardoned by Russian President Vladimir Putin and released in December 2013.