Not only are journalists affected, but scholars, authors and anyone else who writes or speaks.

Now, after the Kyiv Post became the latest target of this dangerous trend, we have – with heavy hearts – decided to block traffic to our website from the United Kingdom. It is both a prudent business move and a protest of the U.K.’s weak libel protections.

We also strongly support the movement under way there to strengthen free-speech protections. More information can be found here.

British laws are harmful because they place the burden of proof on the accused, rather than the accuser, a reversal of the way justice should work.

Libel tourism” is the favored practice of thin-skinned, bullying billionaires to silence legitimate free speech, a cornerstone of democracy.”

– Kyiv Post.

Plaintiffs are presumed to enjoy a reputation that could be monetarily damaged.

Unlike in America, where protections encourage wide-open debate involving public figures and issues, more weight is given to privacy in Britain.

Litigation is also extremely costly in the U.K., favoring the rich and possibly bankrupting news organizations.

Moreover, London courts have tended to define jurisdiction broadly – covering almost everything on the Internet, even if only a few British citizens read the material.

The libel allegations against the Kyiv Post were brought by RosUkrEnergo co-owner Dmytro Firtash, who objected to a July 2 article headlined “Gas trade leaves trail of lawsuits, corruption.”

The story – and Firtash’s legal complaint – can be found here.

The article in question was a spot news story over the disputed 11 billion cubic meters of gas that ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, when in power, seized from RosUkrEnergo following a Jan. 19, 2009, deal with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to end the protracted standoff that year.

Firtash challenged the confiscation, won an international arbitration court ruling and eventually won the gas back for RosUkrEnergo, which he co-owns with Russia’s Gazprom.

The article contained allegations made at a press conference made by a public figure (Tymoshenko) against another public figure (Firtash) involving a public issue (the gas trade). If a newspaper cannot report about such events, then Ukraine has no democracy or free press.

We believe this dispute is a matter for the court of public opinion in Ukraine, first and foremost, and not a court in London.”

– Kyiv Post.

No matter whom you believe, it seems indisputable that corruption, conflict of interest and abuse of power exist in the gas trade.

If you believe Tymoshenko, Firtash and his associates are to blame. If you believe Firtash, Tymoshenko and her subordinates are the culprits.

The story also cited Firtash associate Valeriy Khoroshkovsky, the chief of the Security Service of Ukraine, as opening a criminal case against former Naftogaz executive Igor Didenko and ex-customs chief Anatoly Makarenko in connection with the gas seized by the government.

They have been jailed since June and are in legal limbo.

Neither Firtash nor his associates have accepted the Kyiv Post’s repeated requests, then and now, for interviews or even given a concrete explanation of what was factually wrong with the story.

In any case, we believe this dispute is a matter for the court of public opinion in Ukraine, first and foremost, and not a court in London.