This week’s debate will be a key staging in the progress of libel reform, but serious issues remain for campaigners
UK Parliament debates defamation bill
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CATEGORY: Europe and Central Asia
French politician Marine Le Pen sues writer for libel
The leader of France's National Front, Marine Le Pen has announced plans to sue philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy for libel. Le Pen's move comes after an article posted on the website La Règle du Jeu, where Levy links the controversial politician to...
Lord Justice Leveson’s big internet problem
The inquiry into UK press standards does not seem to understand how to deal with the web, says Marta Cooper
Belarus: Journalist assaulted and detained by authorities
Belarusian authorities assaulted and interrogated Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reporter Ina Studzinskaja while she was covering a meeting of opposition activists and local residents outside the capital Minsk last week. Studzinskaja, a...
UK: Spectator fined after admitting reporting breach
The Spectator has been ordered to pay £5,600 after admitting a November 2011 article about the trial of Stephen Lawrence's killers breached a court order. Associate editor Rod Liddle's piece claimed defendants Gary Dobson and David Norris --- who...
Belarus: Andrei Sannikov not allowed to leave country
Former Belarusian presidential candidate Andrei Sannikov was removed from a train travelling from Minsk to Vilnius at a station near the Lithuanian border yesterday. The activist, who was released from detention and pardoned by Belarusian president...
Belarus activist fights political sentence
Political activist Siarhei Kavalenka may have given up his hunger strike but his fight for freedom in Belarus continues, says
Andrei Aliaksandrau
Azerbaijan: Outspoken blogger released
An Azerbaijani blogger who had spent 15 months in prison for criticising the government was granted an early release by the supreme court on Monday. Bakhtiyar Hajiyev was arrested in March 2011 after calling on social networks for an...
Britain’s press needs a strong public interest defence
The Leveson Inquiry should not forget the need to protect British journalism, says Marta Cooper
UK: receives police warning for Facebook joke about Olympic flame
A woman who joked on Facebook that she planned to squirt the Olympic flame with a water pistol has been issued with a warning by police. Helen Perry posted the joke on a local newspaper page, and was contacted by the police several weeks later. In...