Motorcycle star ordered to retract BLRT claims
Motorcycle star and Social Democratic Party (SDE) active supporter Anastassia Kovalenko has lost a dispute with shipping servicing holding group BLRT Grupp concerning comments she made about the firm both in an MBA thesis and in the media.
Specific claims included allegations by Ms Kovalenko that the BLRT 2012 Annual Report was inaccurate and invalid.
Ms Kovalenko's father, Valeri Kovalenko, is a minority shareholder in BLRT; other claims which she is being asked to rebut include that minority shareholders had been maltreated by majority BLRT shareholders.
A month to comply
After a first tier court did not fine in favour of BLRT after it filed a lawsuit last autumn, the case went to the appellate court in Tallinn who have ruled in BLRT's favour.
Ms Kovalenko had made the statements in an MBA thesis paper she wrote at the University of Tartu, and several editions of business daily Äripäev, in paper and digital formats.
Ms Kovalenko now has one month, from the judgement's coming into effect, to publish clear retractions in Tartu University's digital archive, Russian-language media channel Delovyie lyudi, Russian-language online and paper editions of Delovyie Vedomost, effectively the Russian-language Äripäev, as well as digital and online editions of Äripäev itself.
Starting her competitive motorcycling career in 2012, Anastassia Kovalenko is the first female Estonian road racer to win internationally. She races a Kawasaki Ninja 600R, and started training under the father of 2015 MotoGP champion Jorge Lorenzo, of Spain.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte