Nevis Premier Sues ZIZ For Defamation ================== Published on Sunday, 05 October 2014 20:21 Written by Toni Frederick St. Kitts and Nevis (WINN): Nevis Premier Vance Amory has filed a defamation law suit against the state-controlled ZIZ Broadcasting Corporation. The suit alleges that in ZIZ TVs June 23rd newscast, the presenter Mr. Vere Galloway, “falsely and maliciously” accused Premier Amory of using his office to enrich himself and members of his immediate family. Comments made in the same item, by Labour-party spokesman Austin Edinborough, who was introduced by the presenter as a political commentator, were included in the suit. The claim charges that Mr. Edinborough made “malicious” comments about the Premier’s involvement in a land deal. Were calling for compensation of course, and were also calling for an injunction to stop them from repeating the allegations that they made on that broadcast, between Vere Galloway and Austin Edinborough, Legal counsel for the Premier, Mr. Ted Hobson Q.C. told WINN FM over the weekend. Mr. Hobson indicated that before filing the suit, attempts were made to have ZBC broadcast a denial letter and apologize for the offensive comments. My letter asked for...$200,000. We thought that it was a reasonable amount bearing in mind the hurt and injury to Mr. Amory and the callousness in which it was done, and of course I made reference to the fact that it is extraordinary that a public corporation owned by the people of this country, could embark on such an attack on the Premier of Nevis, without giving him an opportunity to respond to this allegation before they put it on the air, and we also wanted them to not only apologize, but to encourage Mr. Edinborough...to apologize as well, Mr. Hobson explained. The Queens Counsel said when he did not receive a response from the corporation he wrote again. He told WINN FM that he then got a response from ZBC indicating that they had responded by email, and a copy of that correspondence was provided. The corporation denied that the news report was slanderous and said it stood by the comments made as being “fair comments on a matter of public interest. It is interesting to note...in that letter they said they would respond to me in full, and they never did and as a result we took action in the High Court, Mr. Hobson said, indicating that his team did not think it was necessary to name Mr. Edinborough as a defendant in the suit, though the action does refer to his comments. The lawsuit does not call for an apology. Were past that stage. They have refused to apologize and so we will use that as part of our case and try to get some aggravated damages for refusal to apologize. The Court Mr. Hobson said would ultimately decide on the amount of the compensation. The Queens Counsel believes that this is the first time that a sitting member of government has taken legal action against a state-controlled entity. He tells WINN FM that he has no doubt, the news item and the corporations response is politically influenced. The Opposition in Nevis has openly accused the Premier of impropriety over a controversial land sale negotiation with an Iraqi national, while the Prime Minister has hinted at a possible federal investigation. The Premier for his part, has called the allegations are outrageous and completely false, and described them as a case of character assassination by the Nevis Opposition. The Concerned Citizens Movement led Nevis Island Administration has a fragile relationship with the Labour Party led Federal Government. The Nevis Premier and his Deputy who sit on the Opposition benches in the Federal Parliament openly support a Motion of No Confidence against the government that was filed nearly two years ago, and has yet to be tabled in the House. They have accused the Prime Minister of openly supporting the Nevis Opposition and have suggested that the Federal Administration has sought to undermine the NIA. Meantime, though the Prime Minister continues to say that he is open to working with the NIA, he has made statements suggesting a lack of confidence in the competence and integrity of the Vance Amory-led Administration.
Posted on: Mon, 06 Oct 2014 06:41:59 +0000
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