Court rules against Stalin grandson in libel suit - Yahoo! News A Russian court ruled against Josef Stalin's grandson Tuesday in a libel suit over a newspaper article that said the Soviet dictator sent thousands of people to their deaths. A judge at a Moscow district court rejected Yevgeny Dzhugashvili's claim that Novaya Gazeta damaged Stalin's honor and dignity in an April article that referred to him as a "bloodthirsty cannibal." We are sure the judge decided this case in advance," plaintiff's lawyer Vadim Zhur said. He suggested there might be an appeal, accusing the judge of violating his client's rights in decisions on evidence and witnesses. During the proceedings Tuesday, Zhur said Stalin's reputation has been wrongly besmirched. "A lot of evidence is emerging that Stalin was our country's first democrat," he said. Dzhugashvili's lead lawyer, Yuri Mukhin, charged that Novaya Gazeta and Memorial, a prominent rights group that documents Soviet-era abuses, "are working against Russia to make it weaker." He claimed the Katyn document was falsified so Poland could demand compensation and "rob Russia." Mukhin said the judge was wrong to allow Russian school textbooks as evidence of Stalin's repression. "How can a textbook prove that Stalin was a tyrant?" Mukhin said during the hearing. Reznik scoffed at Dzhugashvili's case. "We don't believe we have to prove generally accepted facts," he said.
A waist of money on lawyers if you ask me. With all the evidence out there, I don't thinks it's possible to PROVE that Stalin was not a ruthless leader. I don't know about a cannibal, but I'm not good on Stalin topics anyway.
Come on guys, he's STALIN'S grandson. I expect nothing less! If Hitler had kids who had kids, im sure they would think highly of their grand dad too. Stalin was a cannibal?
Stalin's ghost most probably haunted the grandson into grandstanding for him.... Maybe they got the "blood thirsty" thing confused with cannabalism.
What kind of a judge would be needed to say that Stalin wasn't a tyrant??? Since a few years after his death it has been a firm statement in Russia and the former USSR, and I know this myself, that Stalin was a tyrannical and abusive leader! You would need a suicidal judge to say otherwise!
Don´t try to dig too deep though.... Russian historian arrested in clampdown on Stalin era | World news | guardian.co.uk A Russian historian investigating the fate of Germans imprisoned in the Soviet Union during the second world war has been arrested, in the latest apparent clampdown on historical research into the Stalin era by the Russian authorities. Mikhail Suprun was detained last month by officers from Russia's security services. They searched his apartment and carried off his entire personal archive. He has now been charged with violating privacy laws and, if convicted, faces up to four years in jail. Suprun's project was done in collaboration with Germany's Red Cross. The organisation is still trying to establish the fate of thousands of Germans transported to Soviet Russia as prisoners during the war – many of whom never came back. The German Red Cross today said it was baffled by the historian's arrest. It was "completely unacceptable", Erica Steinbach, a rightwing German MP, added. The Arkhangelsk camps also contained Poles, Greeks, Tartars and other non-Russian ethnic groups. By the end of the war 11 million Germans were in allied prison camps. More than a million perished. Soviet prisoners of war fared even worse. Of the 5.7 million taken prisoner in Germany 3.3 million died – more than half.
BBC NEWS | Europe | Medvedev blasts Stalin defenders Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has made an outspoken attack on those seeking to rehabilitate former Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. Mr Medvedev said it was impossible to imagine the scale of repression under Stalin when whole groups of people were eliminated and even stripped of their right to be buried. The president said there were now attempts to justify the repression of the past, and he warned against the falsification of history. Under Mr Putin, the order was given for school history books to be re-written, highlighting Stalin's achievements. It would appear there is a split within the Russian leadership on this highly sensitive issue.
I was unaware of such high German POW numbers in allied hands. Nor the German figures numbers in Soviet hands. The sources which I have stumbled upon gave lower figures for both. Can you point me to your source Kai?
I shall not comment on this, just a thought.... How would people react if Hitler relatives made the same steps?
Here we go again: Stalin's grandson sues Russian radio station - Yahoo! News Ekho Moskvy radio said Saturday the suit was filed against program host Matvei Ganapolsky who read a phrase from a book saying Stalin had approved the shooting of children as young as 12. Ganapolsky then added: "What kind of bastard would say even one word in his defense." Stalin's legacy has been a subject of fierce debate in Russia. He ordered the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Soviet citizens during the purges, but he is revered by many for turning a struggling nation into a superpower. Dzhugashvili lost a similar libel case in October.
Yeah I saw that too Kai-Petri, one would think that eventually the grandson would get the message that his grandfather wasn't a "great guy" who was just misunderstood.
On one side it must be hard for him to hear such things said about a close family member, on the other side, how far can you go? brndirt1: Now he's going to come after you!
