MOSCOW, June 22 - RAPSI. The Ostankinsky District Court in Moscow has collected from renowned inventor Viktor Petrik $1,215 in moral damages for members of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the court reports on Friday.

Petrik is known for developing a water filter, which he claims converts radioactive water into potable water.

According to the court, the academy members initially sought 2.5 million rubles ($76,000), but the court later adjudged 20,000 rubles ($607.5) for each member, and collected legal costs amounting to 40,000 rubles ($1,215) from Petrik.

"In addition, the court has ordered the inventor to refute his allegations that the academy's members received $1 million from the United States to sue him in an effort to destroy Russian sciences," the court said.

Petrik's water filter was widely discussed by media in the context of a public conflict between the pseudoscience commission and Boris Gryzlov, who was then the speaker of the State Duma and a co-author of Petrik's water filter patent.

The commission criticized Petrik's work and was then accused by Gryzlov of obscurantism.