Volgograd TV company distances itself from story authors about persecution of Navalny’s supporters

At the trial in court regarding the disclosure of personal data of the people who laid flowers at the memorial to victims of repressions in memory of Alexei Navalny, an official of the "Volgograd-1" TV Company stated that the authors of the programme in which the story appeared were not its employees. The lawsuit authors demanded to remove their personal data from the broadcast and claimed some symbolic compensation for the suffered moral harm.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on March 20, 2024, the Volgograd TV channel revealed the names of the people who had brought flowers in memory of Alexei Navalny, calling them potential "saboteurs." A number of activists shown in the programme - Roman Melnichenko, Ruslan Nurushev and Vladimir Telpuk - demanded from the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) and the prosecutor's office to open a criminal case in this regard, but so far, their demands have not been satisfied.

One of the heroes of the programme, Vladislav Tsevashev, filed a lawsuit with the Tsentralny District Court of Volgograd for the protection of honour and dignity, protection of privacy and compensation for moral harm. According to his version, the TV presenters had failed to present “a single piece of proof” of the citizens' illegal activities. The claimant has also stated that he is not an enemy of the state and society.

According to Roman Melnichenko, a representative of the defendant "Volgograd-1" LLC stated that the presenters Mazanov and Potolovsky are not employees of this TV channel, and "Volgograd-1" LLC has no license for any TV broadcasting, which is carried out by a certain 2-TV.

Melnichenko has treated the defendant’s statement as an acute desire to “distance themselves from Mazanov and Potolovsky.”