The wife of Moscow's long-serving mayor appealed again on Thursday against a court's ruling that statements by an opposition figure were not libelous.
Yelena Baturina, the world's third richest woman, and her construction company Inteko took Solidarity leader Boris Nemtsov to court in October 2009 over allegations that her husband Yury Luzhkov had used his position to further her business interests.
However, only two of the statements published by Solidarity were recognized as libelous by Moscow arbitration courts earlier this year. Nemtsov was ordered to pay 60,000 rubles ($2,000) in compensation.
Several Kremlin-backed TV channels ran documentaries last week accusing Luzhkov, a bee enthusiast, of holidaying during Moscow's smog crisis this summer and of spending more money on bees than on the capital's smog-hit residents.
They berated him for destroying Moscow's architectural heritage and for using his position to help his wife's amass her estimated $2.9 billion riches.
Commentators say the media war against Luzhkov, by far the most serious in-fighting within Russia's elite since Dmitry Medvedev's 2007 presidential campaign, reflects growing tensions inside the Kremlin ahead of the 2012 presidential elections.
MOSCOW, September 16 (RIA Novosti)
