Two lawsuits have been filed against the organizers of a “nearly naked” party that sparked nationwide controversy last month, Russian state media reported Wednesday.
Television host and blogger Anastasia Ivleeva, who organized the star-studded private event on Dec. 21, was hit with a one billion-ruble ($11.2 million) class-action lawsuit for allegedly having caused “moral suffering.”
The lawsuit was filed with Moscow’s Tagansky District Court, according to the state-run TASS news agency.
Russian mobile phone operator MTS, which dropped Ivleeva as its brand ambassador following last month’s controversy, was named as a co-defendant in that suit.
Meanwhile, a second lawsuit was filed with the Vsevolozhsky City Court outside St. Petersburg against Ivleeva and five other celebrities who were spotted at the party, the RIA news agency reported.
In that case, the plaintiff, who is also demanding one billion rubles in damages, claims that she experienced “moral, physical suffering, hopelessness, doom, fear for the future… of Russia.”
One of the defendants, rapper Nikolai Vasilyev, was already fined 200,000 rubles ($2,100) and spent 25 days in jail on misdemeanor charges of petty hooliganism and “gay propaganda” after being filmed at the “nearly naked” party wearing only a sock on his genitals.
Vasilyev was reportedly summoned to serve in the Russian military following his release.
RIA Novosti notes the two lawsuits could set a new record for the sums of money sought as “moral compensation.”
Russian officials have told The Moscow Times that the sweeping response to the “nearly naked” party came on orders from senior Kremlin officials and approval by President Vladimir Putin.
The Russian leader on Tuesday hinted at the “semi-naked” party when he compared Russian soldiers with civilians “jumping around without pants at some party.”