MITCHELL. filed civil lawsuits earlier this week

ST GEORGE'S, Grenada (AP) - Grenada's prime minister filed two libel lawsuits against British telecommunications firm Cable & Wireless because users on one of the company's bulletin board websites repeated claims that he accepted a payoff, officials said yesterday.

The company has since shut down the bulletin board, called the Spice Islander Talkshop.

"We are ready to face the challenges," said Ian Blanchard, a Cable & Wireless executive in the Caribbean island.

The civil lawsuits were filed earlier this week, but it was not clear when they would be heard, said prosecutor Hugh Wildman, who wasn't directly involved in the case.

The case follows a criminal libel lawsuit brought by Prime Minister Keith Mitchell against Miami-based online newsletter OffshoreAlert and its publisher, David Marchant.

The newsletter published a report on April 30 citing allegations that Mitchell accepted US$500,000 from a German-born man in exchange for a trade minister position.

Mitchell denied the allegation. The man gave Mitchell about US$15,000 for travel expenses for a 2000 promotional tour of Europe and Kuwait without hope of personal benefit, the government said, maintaining such actions are common and accepted.

Users of the Cable & Wireless bulletin board repeated the allegations against Mitchell, Wildman said.

The government has warned that journalists who repeat the allegations also could face legal action.

Four people, including a journalist and three opposition members, have been detained recently on suspicion of distributing the article or writing about the case. They were later released without charge.

In the meantime, the Association of Caribbean Media Workers has called for a repeal of criminal defamation laws in the former British colony.

The association's president, Wesley Gibbings was expected to meet yesterday with the information minister and the local media association.

Gibbings said that criminal defamation laws throughout the English-speaking Caribbean were the root of many problems facing journalists, and he believes civil courts should handle defamation cases.

Wildman said Mitchell could have filed a criminal defamation suit against Cable & Wireless but he needed to file a police report. So far, no police report has been filed in the case.
Separately, Mitchell testified for several hours Thursday during a preliminary inquiry into another criminal libel case against a daily newspaper, lawyers said.

That case, brought by Grenada's police commissioner on behalf of Mitchell, accuses Grenada Today and its editor, George Worme, of defaming Mitchell's character by twice publishing a letter in September 1999 that accused the prime minister of bribing voters.

Mitchell's party won the January 1999 elections, and was narrowly re-elected in November 2003.

Worme faces a maximum two-year prison sentence if convicted. He has maintained his innocence in the case, saying criminal defamation laws limit freedom of expression.
Mitchell's testimony in the Worme case is to resume on June 23.

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