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Lord Lester Introduces His Defamation Private Members’ Bill
22 June
12.00pm – 2.00pm
Free Word Centre
The Libel Reform Campaign presents Lord Lester to introduce his Defamation Private Members’ Bill at the Free Word Centre. On 27 May, Lord Lester tabled his Private Members’ Bill in the House of Lords. At the event he will introduce his Bill, explain what he seeks to redress and his public interest defence.
Free Word Centre
60 Farringdon Road
London
EC1R 3GA
A Zimbabwean government minister is suing a newspaper for defamation after it published accusations of corruption. The state-owned Chronicle newspaper will face Byl Manyange in the High Court next month, after reporting remarks allegedly made by mining minister Obert Mpofu, which suggested Manyange procured services for undeserving individuals. Mpofu now denies making the comments at a police function in Ntabazinduna last year.
A defamation case brought against the chief editor of Rodnoye Priyapovy, Sergei Shvedko, for doubting aspects of a 1930s famine has been squashed, creating a legal precedent. Businessman Vasily Kovalenko brought the case over an article that stated the Soviet famine — known as Holodomor— was not genocide against the Ukrainian people in particular. Kovalenko cited the constitution which outlaws Holodomor denial. But the court ruling stated Shevdko’s article “did not deny the fact of Holodomor” and was “subjective opinion”.
Editor-in-chief of the Firat newspaper Hacı Boğatekin has been sentenced to five years in jail. Bogatekin was charged with “insult” and “defamation” and “attempting to influence a fair trial”. Three other journalists were charged with similar offences. In one of the offending articles Bogatekin argued that the real threat did not come from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party but from religious leader Fethullah Gülen’s congregation. He also published prosecutor Sadullah Ovacıklı’s criticism of his abbreviation of Gülen’s name to “Feto” and made allegations about the prosecutors relationship with Güle. Boğatekin was awarded the Press Freedom Award in 2008 and was awarded by the Contemporary Journalists’ Association (ÇGD) in 2009.