The UK’s highest court, the House of Lords, has ruled that it will
allow a Russian businessman, Boris Berezovsky, to sue the US
magazine, Forbes, in the UK for libel over comments which appeared
in an article in the magazine and on the Forbes web site.
Although the fortnightly publication has a small circulation in the UK, having sold less than 2,000 copies of the December 1996 edition in which the article appeared, the judges noted that the appearance of the article on the Forbes.com web site would have lifted the readership.
The article stated that Mr Beresovsky “stands tall as one of the most powerful men in Russia. Behind him lies a trail of corpses, uncollectible debts and competitors terrified for their lives.”
The case overrules an earlier decision by an English judge in 1997, when Mr Justice Popplewell considered Beresovsky’s links with England tenuous and said that the case should be heard in a Russian court.
Forbes is reported to be planning to appeal the ruling to the European Court of Human Rights on the grounds of free speech.
For further information on defamation in the UK, see our guide.
