Usmanov could sue Nathan / Registan for libel in an English court – that Nathan is based in the US, and the site is hosted in the US is irrelevant. It is read in England, and the article could conceivably affect Usmanov’s reputation in England.

I don’t think anyone can be extradited from the US to UK to answer a libel case (although I could be wrong) but it could certainly cause problems if Nathan wants to come to the UK in future, or has assets here.

The amount of damages awarded are largely related to the ‘damage’ suffered by the person who was libelled. The more widespread the story comes then (assuming it really is libellous) the greater the damage to Usmanov’s reputation. From Craig Murray’s perspective, I wonder if having the story repeated on many websites increases his exposure – would the amount of any eventual award against him be increased if bloggers republished his allegations.

And, finally, having looked at the allegations – they’re pretty strong stuff. I’d imagine Craig could get away with saying Usmanov ‘was’ a criminal – he did jail time, even though pardoned – but Murray goes way further than this, and repeatedly asserts that Usmanov is currently a criminal, which I would think – if true – would be immensely damaging.

Having said all that – like pretty much everyone else here, I’m appalled that Craig’s ISP took the site down based purely on someone’s complaint, rather than any actual legal action.

Did somebody say Shenanigans!?

)) So are Benny Hill and Jacques Villeret. Danny de Vito then?

Paul Kelso contacted me before writing his article, and here is the email I sent him:

Hi Paul;
no – Schillings have had no contact with me, except I phoned them to make sure they could find me for a writ! My webhost received a legal threat from Schillings, and my webhost responded to the threat of legal action by taking down one of my articles. I withdraw nothing. I want Usmanov to sue me. He is a , and I know enough about him, and enough
potential witnesses, to give him a torrid time in a UK court beyond even the ability of Schillings to cover up.

Usmanov knows that, and Schillings are obviously bluffing – although they are writing that my book is “libellous”, it has been out for over a year now, sold over 25,000 copies already, and they have done nothing but spout bollocks.

As you may know, my book is being made into a film next year by Michael Winterbottom and Paramount. Don’t know who will play Usmanov – sadly Fatty Arbuckle is dead.

Craig

I reported back in 2002 or 2003 in an Ambassadorial top secret telegram to the Foreign Office that Usmanov was the most likely favoured successor of President Karimov as totalitarian leader of Uzbekistan. I also outlined the Gazprom deal (before it happened) and the present by Usmanov to Putin (though in Jastrzebski’s name) of half of Mapobank, a Russian commercial bank owned by Usmanov. I will never forget the priceless reply from our Embassy in Moscow. They said that they had never even heard of Alisher Usmanov, and that Jastrzebski was a jolly nice friend of the Ambassador who would never do anything crooked.

. According to their website, http://www.schillings.co.uk/, Schillings specializes in defamation law and media law, so time will tell whether theirs was an empty threat to Murray–or not