Banned crooner threatens court action over hotel bill

Josif Kobzon, one of three Russian singers banned from entering Latvia, has threatened to take the country to court in a bid to win back his hotel bill, lsm.lv reports.

Kobzon, who has the unique distinction of being banned from entering Latvia on two separate occasions, told the Russian news portal ria.ru he was incensed that he had splashed out on an expensive hotel suite in the Jurmala resort only to be told he wasn't welcome.

As previously reported by LSM, Kobzon and two other Russian singers were blacklisted by Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics in July on the eve of the Jurmala New Wave song contest which they had been due to attend.

"Together with [my lawyer] I have approached the European court in order to sue the Latvian government for causing moral and material damage," said Kobzon, who also happens to be a member of the Russian Duma.

"I paid 11,500 euros for the hotel stay in Jurmala and the money was never returned," he moaned.

Comment