Moscow court orders Simpsons case retrial

Simpsons News — Posted 05 Sep, 2005 by DisgruntledGoat

A Moscow court ordered a retrial Thursday of a long-running case involving the world's best-known animated family.

The Moscow city court ruled that a case centering on the Simpsons cartoon be returned to the Khamovniki district court, thereby upholding the plaintiff's appeal against the lower court's rejection of his lawsuit against the independent television channel RenTV. He claimed that by running the animated series, the television station was promoting drugs, violence and homosexuality.

Igor Smykov filed the suit against RenTV with the Khamovniki district court three years ago, asking for $10,000 in moral damages. He also demanded that the channel be banned from airing the series or at least be required to show it later in the evening to protect young audiences from its degenerating influence.

The city court overruled the Khamovniki judge's decision, citing a technical error arising from the replacement of the Russian media ministry with a federal media service as part of last March's government reorganization.

RenTV has already received one warning from the oversight agency, for broadcasting a talk show that was considered to promote drugs. A second warning could result in the channel having its license revoked.

Source