MOSCOW A Russian court on Friday postponed the verdict in the legal battle between Joseph Stalin's grandson and a liberal newspaper, as lawyers presented clashing views of the Soviet dictator.
The trial in Moscow's Basmanny court adjourned until Tuesday, delaying a decision in the closely watched libel lawsuit by Yevgeny Dzhugashvili against Novaya Gazeta over an article published in April about Stalin-era repressions.
Dzhugashvili, a grandson of the Soviet dictator who died in 1953, is asking the paper to retract statements about his grandfather and pay 10 million rubles ($340,000) in damages.
The hearing was adjourned after a member of Dzhugashvili's legal team suffered leg pains, said lawyer Yury Mukhin, who also represents Dzhugashvili.
Mukhin predicted that his client would lose because judge Alexandra Lopatkina was biased.—AFP
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