Oligarch Boris Berezovsky wins Litvinenko libel case
Oligarch Boris Berezovsky wins Litvinenko libel case
Wednesday, 10, Mar 2010 01:34
By Alex Steger.
Oligarch Boris Berezovsky has won a libel case against a Russian TV channel which alleged he was responsible for the death of Alexander Litvinenko.
Mr Litvinenko, a former Russian agent and critic of former president Vladimir Putin, was poisoned with polonium in London in 2006.
Mr Berezovsky was awarded £150,000 at the high court in London over a claim by Russian state run TV channel RTR Planeta.
The businessman, who was granted political asylum in 2003, sued the channel over a 2007 broadcast which suggested that he killed Mr Litvinenko after the former agent witnessed him attempting to avoid extradition by obtaining false evidence.
The same broadcast also implied Mr Berezovsky was involved in threats to kill Vladimir Terluk, the man alleged to have procured his false evidence for him.
RTR and Mr Terluk are both liable for the damages; although the judge said Mr Terluk was not personally responsible for the claim Mr Berezovsky was implicated in Mr Litvinenko's murder.
RTR did not attend the court claiming it had not been allowed to defend itself.
Outside the court Mr Berezovsky claimed he was satisfied with the ruling.
He said: "I am pleased that the court, through its judgment, has unequivocally demolished RTR's claims. I trust the conclusions of the British investigators that the trail leads to Russia and I hope that one day justice will prevail."
Making his ruling, Mr Justice Eady told the court: "I can say unequivocally that there is no evidence before me that Mr Berezovsky had any part in the murder of Mr Litvinenko. Nor, for that matter, do I see any basis for reasonable grounds to suspect him of it."