Alexander Goldfarb won a $25 million lawsuit against Channel One in the US
Cairo: Hani Kamal El-Din
A court in the American state of New York has awarded compensation of $25 million in a lawsuit filed by scientist, publicist and human rights activist Alexander Goldfarb against the Russian Channel One. This is what he’s talking about reported on Facebook. The court’s decision has not yet been published.
Alexander Goldfarb, who has US citizenship, was friends with Alexander Litvinenko, who died in 2006 in London as a result of poisoning. He filed a libel suit against Russia’s Channel One and RT in New York federal court in 2018. The reason for the lawsuit was stories on Russian television channels in which Goldfarb was accused of murdering Litvinenko.
The widow of a former FSB officer, Marina Litvinenko, joined the lawsuit. They raised money for the trial through crowdfunding (in his Facebook post, Goldfarb expressed gratitude to “everyone who donated to this hopeless enterprise”). Subsequently, Goldfarb told Radio Liberty that there was only one defendant left in the lawsuit – Channel One. The court in 2021 rejected Channel One’s request not to recognize the jurisdiction of the court in New York over the Russian defendants.
DW drew attention to the document published on the legal portal Casetext in January 2024. According to it, the defense of Channel One stated in court that the defendant did not intend to further speak out or otherwise defend against Goldfarb’s claims in the lawsuit, after which a default judgment was made in the case.
Alexander Goldfarb reported program The Breakfast Show that the decision in the lawsuit allows, at the request of the plaintiffs, to seize the property of Channel One in countries that recognize the decisions of American courts. At the same time, he previously called payment of compensation or a refutation even if he wins in court unlikely, “since everyone understands who we are dealing with.” The main thing, according to the scientist, was to show that “the Russian authorities continue to kill people, and the Russian media continue to lie about it to the whole world.”
There are no comments from Channel One yet.
- Former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko, who was granted asylum in the UK after he openly opposed Vladimir Putin, died in November 2006 in London from poisoning with radioactive polonium-210. The British investigation believes that polonium was allegedly added to his tea during a meeting with former Russian intelligence officer (now State Duma deputy) Andrei Lugovoi and businessman Dmitry Kovtun. The European Court of Human Rights also found the Russian authorities responsible for the murder of Litvinenko. Moscow denies its involvement in Litvinenko’s murder, hinting at the possible involvement of British intelligence services. Goldfarb was not officially charged with murder in Russia.
- Alexander Goldfarb is a former Soviet and American scientist, biochemist and microbiologist, engaged in human rights activities. At the request of his friend Boris Berezovsky, he helped Litvinenko travel to the UK in 2000. Subsequently, he collaborated with Litvinenko, helped publish his book “The Lubyanka Criminal Group,” represented Litvinenko’s interests in the last days of his life and after his death, and co-authored a book about his murder. Goldfarb believes that Vladimir Putin personally is behind the murder of Litvinenko.
