Consumer rights defender charged with slandering Christ the Savior Cathedral Fund
MOSCOW. Jan 22 (Interfax) - Chairman of the Consumer Rights Defense Society (OZPP) Mikhail Anshakov has been charged with slander, formerly an administrative count that was recently re-criminalized.
Anshakov was summoned to the Moscow Police Department on Monday, "where he was handed a notice saying that he is a suspected of slandering the Christ the Savior Cathedral Fund and that travel restrictions have been imposed on him," the OZPP said in a statement.
The Fund's executive director, Vasily Poddevalin, is the injured party, the statement says.
Investigators claimed that Anshakov slandered the Christ the Savior Cathedral and Poddevalin in an interview published by Novaya Gazeta in September 2012.
"Information that a business center is actually working at the Christ the Savior Cathedral, accommodating 15 commercial firms, a car wash, a car maintenance center, a parking lot for 305 cars, a laundry, a restaurant and numerous kiosks selling jewelry, souvenirs and other wares, are slander in Poddevalin's opinion," the statement says.
The Moscow Prosecutor's Office started two cases on slander charges against Anshakov and the OZPP in September 2012 for posting similar claims on the OZPP's website.