Initial hearing takes place in action brought by Chelsea owner and others against Putin’s People author Catherine Belton and Harper Collins
This week, in the Victorian confines of London’s high court, massed ranks of lawyers acting for three Russian billionaires and state-controlled oil company Rosneft engaged in the first courtroom phase of a legal action against investigative journalist Catherine Belton, author of the best selling title Putin’s People, and her publisher HarperCollins.
Crammed full of wig-wearing barristers, and with reporters sent up to the public gallery, courtroom four heard Hugh Tomlinson QC say that his client – one of the complainants and Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich – understood that his action could be construed as “an attack on free speech and public interest journalism”.
