The nature of defamation lawsuits often means that they involve rather more well known characters in society. Joseph Stalin is one few will not have heard of but it might be a little surprising to find someone trying to protect his good name. Stalin’s grandson, Yevgeny Dzhugashvili, is seeking 9.5 million roubles ($299,000) from the Novaya Gazeta newspaper and 500,000 roubles from the author of an article published last April claiming Stalin personally signed politburo death orders reports Reuters .

Dzhugashvili’s legal representative, Leonid Zhurain, claimed that the article, based on declassified Kremlin documents, damaged Stalin’s reputation. We don’t know the inns and outs of Russian libel law but over here we’re not sure the claimaints would succeed in showing loss to Stalin’s trade or profession, or  cause a reasonable person to think worse of him… but you never know.

"Half a century of lies have been poured over Stalin’s reputation and he cannot defend himself from the grave so this case is essential to put the record straight," said Zhura. "We want to rehabilitate Stalin," he told Reuters. "He turned populations into peoples, he presided over a golden era in literature and the arts, he was a real leader."

In terms of clearing the Soviet leader’s name we think Dzhugashvili and his supporters have something of an uphill struggle but you gotta start somewhere. Could keep some lawyers busy for a while too.

Grandson sues to clear Stalin over killings [Reuters]