Boris Berezovsky wins libel case against Russian state TV over Litvinenko case
Published: 10 March, 2010, 21:15
Edited: 15 July, 2010, 00:08
TAGS: Crime, Scandal, Litvinenko case, Russia, UK, Thrills&Spills, Politics, Human rights, Law
A British High Court has ruled there is no evidence linking self-exiled Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky to the murder of former Russian security officer Aleksandr Litvinenko, who was poisoned in 2006.
Boris Berezovsky filed a lawsuit against Russian State TV and Radio Company (VGTRK) after a 2007 report that claimed he was involved in the poisoning of the former security officer and friend of the tycoon.
However, the judge found no evidence proving Berezovsky could have been linked to the murder and ruled the broadcaster should pay damages of 150,000 pounds.
But the channel says the ruling is illegal, claiming journalists were denied access to the court after refusing to disclose their sources.
“Just before the hearing, the court decided to ban our broadcasting company from taking part in it. So we were actually deprived of our right of defense in court. I will appeal the court's decision and go as far as the European Court of Human rights,” lawyer of VGTRK, Zoya Matveevskaya told RT.
The company's Deputy Director General, Dmitry Kiselev, said the court's decision violates international conventions of freedom of speech.
Boris Berezovsky was satisfied with the ruling and underlined that British justice had never held him responsible for the murder of Aleksandr Litvinenko, the website of Ekho Moskvy radio station reported.
“Most likely it’s yet another bluff,” Berezovsky said, regarding the TV company’s intention to file an appeal, while speaking on the radio. “To go to Strasbourg one needs to go through all the levels in the country where the proceeding is taking place. Since Russian State TV and Radio Company didn’t get involved in the process here [in Great Britain], they don’t have a legal basis to go to Strasbourg.”
The tycoon also added that, apart from damage payments, he was also going to seek compensation for expenses and court costs of 2 million pounds.
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I vividly remember that day and shocking TV pictures of the man fading away in front of our eyes and dying a horrible death. The letter that he allegedly wrote before his death pointed in one direction and to the very top - at Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia… I have a few serious problems with this version: 1. Putin was the head of state at the time (pending election campaign!); the job description implies thinking ahead, taking care of the consequences and weighing them against the benefits. His tireless efforts, as I remember, primarily were focused on establishing partner-like relationship of trust with the West. I find it incomprehensible that a man of his standing and charisma would have authorised such a heinous operation prone to huge risk that caused a very serious political scandal indeed. 2. Blaming V. Putin for every high profile assassination or murder in Russia has become a tradition in ‘western media’. It serves well certain political agendas, it is catchy, makes news and can be re-used as a fail-proof method of demonising Russia and pumping up already deflating ‘Russian Threat to the Free World’. Some secret service communities have character assassinations of Russian leadership as their daily bread and would praise bringing Putin down the same way as Manchester United winning the World Cup. Besides, decades of Cold War made it easy to imprint all this bias on general public as well. 3. Why selecting a radioactive poison identifiable as manufactured in Russia? Russian intelligence should have known all too well the capabilities of specialised UK labs (where most famous nuclear physicists worked), and could have foreseen that samples are likely to be taken there for further analysis. There must have been other options available to FSB… 7. I do not see the MOTIVE here… TO BE CONTINUED…see http://russiabacktothefuture.blogspot.com/
well all this Russian TV station had to do was provide the source of the allegations they made against this person, they couldn't or wouldn't which made their claims liable,Sorry in England you need "evidence", unlike Russia where justice is bought and sold,Our judicial system in England is totally independent of government, because of this some cases where it would be "politically" expedient not to purse are dealt with and rulings are made based on the evidence presented, regardless of what outsiders think including the Russian state.












Berezovsky is sponsored -- in every way -- by the Rothschild financial and energy web, which continues to seek the destruction of the Russian state's independence and sovereignty. He lacks any and all credibility, as does that other Rothschild agent, Mikhail Khodorkovsky. London sadly continues to underestimate Russian strategic thinking.