Articles

Standing up to bullies can be extremely scary, as the head of one of Russia’s rare media-freedom groups recalls.

In the 1990s, Galina Arapova successfully defended a group of TV journalists who were sued for defamation by members of a neo-Nazi group, Russian National Unity.

“Those guys threatened the journalists and me with murder,” she said. “It was a very, very unpleasant experience, to say the absolute least.”

Rwanda

In Rwanda, for example, two independent newspapers, Umuseso and Umuvugizi, have each been hit with privacy and libel claims for reports of extramarital affairs involving government ministers and high-ranking public officials. There was a clear public interest in each of the stories, but the Rwandan courts apply a very high test to any defence put forward by journalists.

The background to these cases is the rapid expansion in Thailand by a subsidiary of the British retail giant, Tesco, called Tesco Lotus.

As in other countries, the rise of out-of-town shopping has become a point of keen public discussion, largely because of the damaging effect it is widely supposed to have on local retailers. The Tesco moves also coincided with the passing in Thailand of the Retailing Act 2007, which seeks to safeguard the local market from being monopolised by superstores.

Here is a summary of the cases.

One day while driving her car Ndey Tapha Sosseh thought she was being followed. She had seen the same man and the same car too often in too many places for it to be a coincidence. But she wanted to be sure, so she took a characteristically brave decision and slammed on the brakes. The following car smashed into hers, whereupon she got out offering fulsome apologies. "Give me your name and I'll call the insurance," she said. "I must pay for the damage." Strangely, her follower demurred and left the scene.