- Title: RUSSIA: Stalin grandson takes Russia newspaper to court, over Soviet dictator
- Date: 9th October 2009
- Summary: MOSCOW, RUSSIA (OCTOBER 8, 2009) (REUTERS) CROWDED CORRIDOR INSIDE COURT, WOMEN WITH PORTRAITS OF STALIN WOMEN HOLDING PORTRAITS OF STALIN (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) STALIN SUPPORTER NINA IVANOVNA SAYING: "This is a false court case, its a new lie published by 'Novaya Gazeta'. Stalin said people would heap a lot of rubbish on his grave but the winds of history would blow it
- Embargoed: 24th October 2009 13:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,History
- Reuters ID: LVADQPZAQLE5E4YPGO8ZK1S6VWNZ
- Story Text: Stalin's grandson takes Russia's liberal newspaper to court, claims it defamed the former Soviet dictator.
The grandson of Joseph Stalin on Thursday (October 8) brought a court case against Russia's liberal newspaper Novaya Gazeta, claiming it defamed the Soviet dictator.
Stalin's grandson Yevgeny Dzhugashvili cites an article in Novaya Gazeta's article which claimed Stalin ordered the deaths of Soviet citizens personally.
A small crowd of Stalin supporters gathered in the corridors of Moscow's Basmmany court, where lawyers for Mr Dzhugashvili presented the case.
"This is a false court case, its a new lie published by 'Novaya Gazeta'. Stalin said people would heap a lot of rubbish on his grave but the winds of history would blow it all away," said Stalin supporter Nina Ivanovna, holding up a portrait of her hero.
Dzhugashvili - who was not in court on Thursday - says this is a lie, and that his grandfather Stalin never directly ordered the deaths of Soviet citizens.
The newspaper article he objects to, refers to death warrants, now declassified, which it says carried Stalin's own signature.
Dzhugashvili's legal counsel cast doubt on the court, saying the judge was too young to assess events under the Stalin regime.
"We presented our case to the court but I am afraid the judge here too young to deal with events that happened 60 years ago," said legal counsel Yuri Mukhnik.
The outcome is being closely watched in a nation where the dictator still inspires controversy.
"Some people in power want to see the history of the country as glorious - a movement from victory to victory - nothing should cast a shadow on the mood or the perception of the people and all this negative information just 'plays into the hands of our enemies' as they used to say (in Stalin's time)," said Henry Reznik, lawyer for the defence.
In recent months there have been moves apparently designed to quietly rehabilitate Stalin, either ignored or tacitly supported by the Russian authorities.
"What Dzhugashvili and his supporters want is hard to say but possibly they felt some change of mood at the top that they saw as positive," said 'Novaya Gazeta' Deputy Editor Oleg Khlebnikov, adding. "You know that in a school text book there was a phrase about Stalin as 'a good and effective manager' and during this televised vote 'Name of Russia' he was one of the leaders of the poll."
Late last year, in an online poll to find the greatest Russian ever, Stalin came third - although he was not Russian, but Georgian.
A history textbook for Russian schoolchildren was recently published which referred to Stalin as an effective leader who steered Russia to victory in World War II, not a brutal dictator who sent millions to their deaths.
In a newly-refurbished Moscow metro station, high inside a splendid dome, a line of the Stalin-era anthem praising the dictator has been carefully restored.
Now 73, Yevgeny lives in Tbilisi, the Georgian capital a short drive from Gori, Stalin's birthplace. During his career, Dzhugashvili served as a colonel in the Soviet and Russian air force. He briefly toyed with politics and in 1999 stood for Russia's state Duma as a representative of a group of communist parties. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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