A Moscow court up-held a claim filed by Pavel Bure against a Russian magazine that claimed former tennis star Anna Kournikova lost her virginity to him. The magazine was ordered to pay Bure 300,000 rubles ($10,500) in damages.
Pavel Bure filed a lawsuit against Arbat Prestizh Telegid earlier this year accusing the magazine of libel and demanded over $1 million in compensation.
Last December, Arbat Prestizh Telegid published an article in its New Year edition entitled "Russian Rocket in Free Fly" where it alleged that Bure "constantly brags about his manly exploits... and told everyone that he deflowered Anna Kournikova," the Izvestia daily reports, citing the lawsuit.
"I think that the magazine was spreading information that was not true, that smeared my reputation and thus caused moral suffering," the newspaper quoted Bure as saying in the lawsuit. Bure was so upset by the allegations that he filed the lawsuit immediately with Moscow`s Tagansky Court, without contacting the magazine first. He demanded 300 million rubles in moral damages.
The hockey player`s lawyer, Dmitri Ragulin, told Izvestia that his client never gave an interview to the publication. Meanwhile, Arbat Prestizh Telegid editor Olga Lobanova told the newspaper that her publication got the information from the Internet.
Last week the court upheld Bure`s claim and ordered the magazine to pay him 300,000 rubles in damages, the Interfax news agency reported.
Bure`s lawyer Dmitry Ragulin told the agency his client welcomed the ruling, adding that the compensation he receives from the magazine will be used for charity purposes.
Interfax
sections: Region News, Celebrities regions: Central region |