Stalin's grandson loses libel case

The grandson of Joseph Stalin yesterday lost his case against an opposition newspaper he had sued for libel after the publication of an article on the Soviet dictator, RIA-Novosti reported.

The Moscow court that had heard the case since mid-September dismissed Yevgeny Dzhu-gashvili's lawsuit against Novaya Gazeta, the agency said, adding that the judgment was to be made public later.

Mr Dzhugashvili, a grandson of the Soviet dictator who died in 1953, had asked that the paper retract statements about his grandfather and pay 10 million rubles (€230,000) in damages. The lawsuit was over an article that said Stalin personally ordered the killing of thousands of Polish officers at Katyn forest in western Russia in 1940 - a massacre that continues to poison Russian-Polish ties.

Some, gathered inside and near the courtroom, applauded the court's decision, while others yelled "shame", the agency said.