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UK blogger Craig Murray vows to continue Usmanov attacks

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UK blogger Craig Murray vows to continue Usmanov attacks


The Register - Sep 25, 2007
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/09/25/murray_usmanov_defiant/

Downed blogger Murray vows to continue Usmanov attacks

By Chris Williams

Former UK ambassador to Uzbekistan Craig Murray has vowed to carry on
making allegations against billionaire Arsenal shareholder Alisher
Usmanov, despite attempts to silence him and his supporters.

Murray told The Reg: "If the man believes he was libelled then he should
take me to court."

Murray's blog was deleted by its host on Friday after threats from
Usmanov's UK legal team. It's expected to reappear in the early hours
of tomorrow on an overseas server, and will repeat the charges that
drew heavy fire from specialist libel firm Schillings.

The ex-diplomat says he has contacted Schillings to ask for
clarification of which specific aspect of his allegations they contest,
but has not received a response. "They say my book [Murder in
Samarkand] is 'grossly libellous and defamatory', yet it has been
widely available for a year and has sold 25,000 copies, without their
actually taking any legal action," he added.

Murray's criticism of Usmanov stems from his rise in Uzbekistan
following the collapse of communism to become one of Russia's richest
men. He denies the accusations. His profile in the UK has skyrocketed
since he followed Chelsea chairman and fellow oligarch Roman Abramovich
into football investment.

Murray's blog entry about Usmanov, made September 2, were picked up by
many political and Arsenal websites which later also received
complaints from Schillings. It became the third-highest hit on Google
for the search "usmanov", but was quickly removed from Murray's site
after the first legal letter.

Tim Ireland, who runs the political site Bloggerheads.com, which was
downed along with Murray's site, has slammed Fasthosts' action
(http://b-heads.blogspot.com/), and denied the claim that they refused
to comply with takedown requests after he repeated Murray's allegations.

Fasthosts says it acted according to standard industy practice and has
declined to answer Reg questions.

Ireland said Fasthosts has so far failed to provide copies of two of the
three complaints made by Schillings. "We don't have any of the
correspondence despite multiple requests," he said.

The third complaint was made weeks after the September 2 post was
removed. The takedown meant the Google robot instead indexed another
piece Murray had penned in October 2005 that included the name.

On contact from Fasthosts, site administrator Clive Summerfield
suspended the site and wrote back to Fasthosts to suggest that it,
Schillings, Ireland and Murray liase on what was acceptable. Fasthosts
responded by pulling the plug on his two dedicated servers on Friday.

Bloggerheads and crsigmurray.co.uk were part of a small stable of sites
run by Summerfield. This connection explains the deletion of Tory
mayoral hopeful Boris Johnson's site, despite it having no involvement
in the Usmanov affair. The action also downed the website of the London
Bach Society and an independent record label.

The new hosting has been arranged separately from the rest of
Summerfield's sites - Murray believes that Usmanov's lawyers are trying
to make him back down by attacking others.

We asked Murray if he intends to stay on Usmanov's back. He replied:
"There is room on Usmanov's back for an awful lot of people. You could
get even more on his stomach, and possibly lose some under the overlap
of his chins."

We think that's a "yes". R

Related stories:

Blogosphere shouts 'I'm Spartacus' in Usmanov-Murray case (24 September
2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/09/24/usmanov_vs_the_internet/ 

See also 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craig_Murray

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