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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business
Juliette Garside

‘Designed to distress and deter’: the impact of Slapp lawsuits on journalists and free speech

Eliot Higgins sits in front of his laptop at home
Eliot Higgins said the case brought against him by the now late founder of the Wagner militant group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, was exhausting. Photograph: Fabio De Paola/The Observer

Eliot Higgins found out two weeks before Christmas 2021.

The news came in a seven-page letter sent by lawyers acting for the head of Russia’s Wagner militia group. It informed Higgins, the founder of the Bellingcat media group, that he faced defamation proceedings in the English courts.

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