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  1. Media Law
May 30, 2013updated 31 May 2013 1:47pm

Greek football boss suing Sun for £300,000 over bribery and match-fixing claims

By William Turvill

The president of Olympiakos Football Club is suing The Sun for more than £300,000 over claims he was facing criminal charges for bribery and match fixing.

Evangelos Marinakis claims an article, headlined “Arsenal’s rivals in a right old fix”, was defamatory and caused his reputation to be “seriously damaged”.

He said the article alleges he is facing prosecution for “being part of a criminal gang and participating in the offering of bribes as well as match-fixing”.

He also took issue with a picture caption saying: “TIED UP… Olympiakos owner Vangelis Marinakis is facing criminal charges”.

According to a High Court claim form, the article took up nearly a full page in The Sun and featured on the website from 1 October 2012 until at least the next day.

The article was published shortly before a Champions League match between the Greek club and Arsenal.

Marinakis says that the paper failed to publish an apology despite numerous letters sent by his solicitors to the paper between 1 and 19 October.

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The majority owner of the club is also seeking an injunction against The Sun to prevent it from publishing similar claims.

A Sun spokesman told Press Gazette: “The Sun stands by its article and a plea of justification has been put on the record.”

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