Alex Goldfarb has filed a complaint in federal court in Manhattan after broadcasts on RT and Channel One blamed him for the former Russian spies 2006 death in London
A close friend of Alexander Litvinenko sued two Russian country television channels on Thursday for airing false claims that he was behind the late dissident's murder.
Alex Goldfarb said he was the primary victims of “malicious defamation” in broadcasts shown on RT and Channel One the beginning of this year that blamed him for the fatal 2006 poisoning of Litvinenko in London.
In a complaint filed to federal tribunal in Manhattan, Goldfarb accused both channels of libel and intentional infliction of emotional distress. He requested unspecified damages.
The legal action was supported by Litvinenko's widow, Marina, which have already been added her name to a requirement for retractions from the state-controlled television stations for their broadcasts.
” It took me 10 years to get some closure when a British court named my husband's murderers, ” Marina Litvinenko said in a statement.” Now these false claims that he was killed by our close friend are broadcast to tens of millions of people. This adds insult to trauma. ”
Anna Belkina, a spokeswoman for RT, said: ” We have received a letter from Mr Goldfarb's representative, and we are now in the process of reviewing it. ” Representatives for Channel One did not respond to a request for comment.
Litvinenko, a former Russian intelligence officer, was murdered in 2006 with a radioactive cup of tea. A public investigation held by British authorities a decade later ruled that his killers were Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun and that they were sent by Russia's FSB spy agency- probably with the approval of President Vladimir Putin.
The Kremlin has mounted awareness-raising campaigns to discredit the official version of the killing with help from Litvinenko's father, Walter, who once blamed Putin for his son's death but changed his account after returning to Russia from an unhappy exile in 2012.
Goldfarb's suit quotes three broadcasts on Channel One and two on RT in March and April, following the nerve agent attack on another Russian dissident in England, which the British government has since blamed on Russian military intelligence.
It highlightings comments made by Walter Litvinenko on Channel One on 20 March, when the elder Litvinenko claimed Goldfarb was a CIA agent and that he had been told” Alex killed Alexander, ” later adding: ” Goldfarb. It was his run. ”
Goldfarb, who also pointed to another Channel One is demonstrating that recurred the false accusations 10 days later, said during his lawsuit that the channel acted maliciously by choosing to ignore the official judicial findings on Litvinenko's killing.
One of the RT broadcasts, which aired on 1 April, featured similar statements from Walter Litvinenko and falsely asserted that all materials from the British investigation into the poisoning death had been classified and maintained secret.
” I don't know if I will ever collect any damages, ” Goldfarb said in a statement.” But I find my friend die a most horrible death. I cannot permit them lie about it with impunity. I must show them, myself and everyone else that their spell of evil can somehow, somewhere be checked. Many people subsistence us. ”
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