Moscow's Preobrazhenski Court Dismisses Media-Most Plea

Moscow's Preobrazhenski intermunicipal court has dismissed a Media-Most plea and refused to recognise as legitimate the decision of Gazprom-Media's subsidiary company, Leadville Investment Limited, to hold an extraordinary meeting of NTV share-holders on April 3. The case was still heard despite the absence of the plaintiffs' representatives, who failed to come to court on April 12 and April 20. Lawyer Dmitry Matveyev, representing the defendant, insisted that the case be considered in absence of the plaintiffs. Commenting on the court ruling, chief of the Media-Most judicial and arbitration work sector Alexander Polozok, a representative of the plaintiff, said that by law the case can be considered in absence of the plaintiff only if a corresponding application has been filed. At the same time, Polozok does not yet know whether the Preobrazhenski court's decision will be appealed against. Earlier, Polozok told RIA Novosti that the holding had withdrawn its plea. To him, the plea-withdrawal application had been mailed to the court on Thursday. On March 30 former general director Yevgeny Kiselev of the NTV television company and some of its other chiefs, as well as one of the NTV foreign share-holders, the Media-Most Capital and Management Limited, turned to the Moscow Preobrazhenski court. The plaintiffs claimed that the subsidiary of Gazprom-Media had unlawfully set a date for an extraordinary meeting of NTV share-holders on April 3 because back on February 5 the NTV board of directors had already fixed March 12 as the date for an NTV share-holders' meeting in Gibraltar.

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