A court in Moscow will begin proceedings brought by Stalin's grandson in connection with what he claims is the defamation of his grandfather's memory in two cases connected to the 1940 Katyn massacre.

Yevgeny Dzhugashvili's first complaint relates to a resolution last year by Russia's lower house of parliament (Duma), in which MPs recognized the responsibility of Joseph Stalin for the massacre of over 20,000 Polish officers in the spring of 1940.

In the second complaint, the Soviet dictator's grandson calls for an apology and correction from Russian state television, which claimed the massacre was done on Stalin's orders.

In 2009, a Russian court ruled against Yevgeny Dzhugashvili' in a libel suit he brought over a newspaper article that said Stalin sent thousands of Soviet citizens to their deaths. (pg)