Libel claim over Magnitsky death struck out
A British hedge fund manager saw a long-running libel action brought by a former Russian Interior Ministry investigator struck out by a High Court judge on Monday.
Hedge fund chief Bill Browder, had been accused by Pavel Karpov, 36, of ruining his reputation by alleging the Russian was behind a massive fraud on the Russian taxpayer.
Mr Browder was also being sued for allegedly linking Mr Karpov to the brutal death of anti-corruption activist Sergei Magnitsky.
But striking out the action, Mr Justice Simon said: “The claimaint cannot establish a reputation within this jurisdiction sufficient to establish a real and substantial tort… his connection with this country is exiguous.”
Russia was “the natural forum” for the litigation, the judgment read.
“Taking all these matters into account…I have concluded that these proceedings should be struck out as abuse of the process and/or under inherent jurisdiction.”
Mr Browder, 49, the chief executive of Hermitage Capital Management, appeared relieved as the decision was announced today.
Mr Karpov had earlier admitted he did not possess adequate funds to pursue the case, leading Browder’s lawyers to suggest the court “cannot be satisfied that the Russian state is not behind the claims in some way”.
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UK High Court throws out Russia-linked libel suit
Britain’s High Court has thrown out a libel case brought by a former Russian police officer against a London-based financier who is a critic of corruption in Russia.
Retired policeman Pavel Karpov sued Hermitage Capital Management and its chief executive, William Browder, who has accused Karpov of being part of a network of corrupt Russian officials.
Judge Peregrine Simon ruled Monday that Karpov had only minor links to Britain, and dismissed the suit.
The case is part of the labyrinthine saga surrounding the death of Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian lawyer hired by Hermitage Capital, who accused Russian police officials of stealing $230 million in tax rebates after illegally seizing Hermitage subsidiaries.
Magnistky was arrested in 2008 for tax evasion and died in prison in 2009 while awaiting trial. займ онлайн на карту без отказа buy viagra online www.zp-pdl.com www.zp-pdl.com hairy woman
Sergei Magnitsky libel claim struck out in landmark ruling
Blow to ‘libel tourism’ as high court rules Russian ex-policeman does not have prior reputation to defend in England and Wales.
The high court has thrown out a libel action taken by retired Moscow policeman against a British-based businessman in connection with his campaign for justice for whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky who was murdered in prison four years ago.
The decision to strike out Pavel Karpov’s case out is being seen as a landmark blow against “libel tourism” after the judge ruled that the case could not proceed on the grounds that the Russian did not have a prior reputation in England and Wales to defend.
“His connection with this country is exiguous and therefore there is a degree of artificiality about his seeking to protect his reputation in this country,” Mr Justice Simon ruled.
Karpov was suing Bill Browder and his UK-based fund Hermitage Capital for saying he was complicit in the “torture and murder” of anti-corruption whistleblower Magnitsky on a website and in interviews on video. hairy girl займ срочно без отказов и проверок https://zp-pdl.com/best-payday-loans.php https://zp-pdl.com/emergency-payday-loans.php hairy woman
UK court throws out Russian Magnitsky libel case
London’s High Court on Monday threw out a libel suit brought against British investment fund manager Bill Browder by a Russian former police officer who denies allegations that he played a part in the death of the lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.
Pavel Karpov, a former Russian Interior Ministry investigator who is on the “Magnitsky list” of people barred from the United States over the lawyer’s death, was suing Browder over four videos and two articles linking Karpov to the case.
Magnitsky, who was acting for Browder and his Hermitage Capital Management at the time, was arrested after accusing Russian officials of a $230-million fraud, and died in prison in suspicious circumstances in 2009.
In Monday’s High Court judgement, Mr Justice Simon said: “I have concluded that these proceedings should be struck out as abuse of the (court) process …”
The judge also found that there was “a degree of artificiality” about Karpov trying to protect his reputation in Britain.
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UK judge throws out libel case against Bill Browder
A High Court judge has thrown out a libel lawsuit brought by a Russian former policeman against Bill Browder, the UK-based fund manager behind the US Magnitsky Act.
Mr Browder had become a hate figure for the Russian leadership after lobbying Congress to adopt the Magnitsky law last year. The law imposed sanctions on Russians allegedly involved in a $230m fraud and the death in custody of Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer Mr Browder had employed to investigate it.
The defamation case had been brought in London by ex-policeman Pavel Karpov, who was attempting to sue over allegations on a campaigning website run by Mr Browder.
Magnitsky died in a Russian jail four years ago but he was convicted of tax evasion this year in a posthumous trial in Russia that drew widespread criticism in the west.
Mr Browder’s lawyers had applied to the High Court to have Mr Karpov’s lawsuit struck out before trial.
On Monday Mr Justice Simon did just that, ruling Mr Karpov “cannot establish a reputation within this jurisdiction” to bring the lawsuit.
The judge said Mr Karpov’s connection with Britain is “exiguous” and Russia rather was “the natural forum” to bring the lawsuit as the “connection with [the UK] is limited”.
Mr Browder’s campaign had accused Mr Karpov of being involved both in the fraud and of being among police who arranged for Magnitsky’s arrest and alleged torture in jail. Mr Karpov’s libel writ said those claims were false.
The judge’s decision is significant because it underscores the growing challenge to people with only a weak link to London bringing libel claims there.
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Britain’s High Court throws out libel suit related to dead Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky
Britain’s High Court on Monday threw out a libel case brought by a former Russian police officer against a London-based financier who is a fierce critic of corruption in Russia.
Retired policeman Pavel Karpov sued Hermitage Capital Management and its chief executive, William Browder, who has accused Karpov of being part of a network of corrupt officials complicit in the death of a Russian lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky.
Judge Peregrine Simon dismissed the suit, ruling that Karpov had only minor links to Britain and “there is a degree of artificiality about his seeking to protect his reputation in this country.”
Browder called the judgment a victory against so-called libel tourism — the practice of litigants taking cases to court in Britain, even when there is no strong link to the country, because the British legal system is perceived as friendly to their claims.
“I think this is a precedent-setting case,” Browder said “If you are a dubious foreign chancer, this precedent makes it much less likely you will succeed in the libel courts.”
The case is part of the labyrinthine saga surrounding the death of Magnitsky, a Russian lawyer hired by Hermitage Capital, who accused Russian police officials of stealing $230 million in tax rebates after illegally seizing Hermitage subsidiaries.
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Sweden’s Shame, Putin’s Gain
Russian President Vladimir Putin sometimes converses in Swedish with his chief of staff, Sergei Ivanov, Ivanov told the Moscow Times in an odd revelation published on October 2.
But President Putin may have had reason to brush up on his Swedish. On September 23, Stockholm refused to clearly guarantee Kremlin critic Bill Browder protection from a Russian arrest warrant while briefing Sweden’s parliament on the case of Sergei Magnitsky. As a result, Browder canceled his trip to Stockholm.
Magnitsky was a tax lawyer who died from abuse in a Russian jail cell nearly four years ago. Russian authorities had detained him in retaliation for exposing a massive tax fraud against the Russian public. In addition to jailing Magnitsky in appalling conditions that led to his death, the Russian government also posthumously convicted him, and Browder in absentia, of tax evasion, and is pursuing other cases against Browder as well.
[See a collection of political cartoons on the European debt crisis.]
In a letter to Browder’s attorneys, Martin Valfridsson, an official in Sweden’s Justice Ministry, said Stockholm could not act on a request from Russia that had not been made.
Left to stand, Sweden’s at best ambiguous position on Browder reflects a disturbing deference to Moscow on a legal matter that even Interpol has refused to respect, labeling it “predominantly political.”
Furthermore, Stockholm’s action is a back door way to thwart progress toward adoption of legislation that would put Sweden, its banks and desirable real estate off limits to Russians connected to Magnitsky’s death or other abuses of power. And it is damaging to the Russian democratic opposition which has enthusiastically endorsed the Magnitsky sanctions effort as “pro-Russian.”
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Obama and Putin May Meet at APEC Summit
President Vladimir Putin could meet U.S. President Barack Obama on the sidelines of an economic summit in Indonesia on Monday to discuss a range of topics including Syria, a Putin aide said Thursday.
“This was our proposal, which was taken up immediately by the American side,” Yury Ushakov said at a news briefing, Interfax reported. “We think the meeting will take place.”
The meeting would take place in Bali at a summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC, forum,
which is aimed at developing trade and economic cooperation within a group of 21 countries from the Asia-Pacific region. Apart from Russia and the U.S., group members include China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and Canada.
The two leaders plan to discuss the “development of agreements and the prospects of working together on Syria,” Ushakov said, among other issues.
Despite last week’s United Nations Security Council agreement on the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons that codified an earlier deal brokered by Russia and the U.S., bilateral relations between the countries have been deteriorating since Putin returned to the presidency last year.
The U.S. Senate passed the Magnitsky Act in December, banning entry to the U.S. for Russian officials suspected of involvement in the 2009 death of Hermitage Capital lawyer Sergei Magnitsky and other suspected human rights violators. Russia retaliated with the Dima Yakovlev law, which prohibited U.S. adoptions of Russian children and banned entry to certain U.S. officials implicated in human rights abuses.
Last September, Obama skipped the APEC summit in Vladivostok, which some saw as a response to Putin backing out of last May’s Group of Eight meeting at Camp David near Washington, D.C. payday loan unshaven girl https://zp-pdl.com https://zp-pdl.com/fast-and-easy-payday-loans-online.php займы на карту без отказа
Russia Could Deny Entry to FIFA Official
A senior FIFA official who was declared persona non grata in Russia is expected to be denied a Russian visa as he embarks on a tour to examine reports of corruption and match fixing in soccer, a news report said Thursday.
Michael Garcia, chairman of FIFA’s Ethics Committee, will next week start his tour of the nine countries that submitted bids to host the World Cups in 2018 and 2022, Kommersant reported.
In December 2010, Russia was awarded the right to stage the 2018 tournament, but Garcia may have to forgo his plans to visit the host-country.
He was blacklisted by the Russian government in April over alleged human rights violations linked to his involvement in the criminal case against Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout when Garcia worked as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York in 2008.
Bout was sentenced to 25 years in a U.S. prison in April having been found guilty of collusion to sell weapons to Colombian terrorist group FARC.
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To learn more about what happened to Sergei Magnitsky please read below
- Sergei Magnitsky
- Why was Sergei Magnitsky arrested?
- Sergei Magnitsky’s torture and death in prison
- President’s investigation sabotaged and going nowhere
- The corrupt officers attempt to arrest 8 lawyers
- Past crimes committed by the same corrupt officers
- Petitions requesting a real investigation into Magnitsky's death
- Worldwide reaction, calls to punish those responsible for corruption and murder
- Complaints against Lt.Col. Kuznetsov
- Complaints against Major Karpov
- Cover up
- Press about Magnitsky
- Bloggers about Magnitsky
- Corrupt officers:
- Sign petition
- Citizen investigator
- Join Justice for Magnitsky group on Facebook
- Contact us
- Sergei Magnitsky
