Alisher Usmanov – an Uzbek-Russian oligarch currently attempting to buy Arsenal Football Club – spent six years in jail during the 1980s for various crimes committed in the former Soviet Union. That he was “pardoned” following an intervention by Uzbek president Islom Karimov is neither here nor there. Usmanov was convicted of criminal offences, served time, and has offered no evidence to show that he was a political prisoner of the Soviet regime.

A legal pardon is not the same as the overturning of a criminal conviction. It is defined as an act of forgiveness for an offence or offences committed, and the remission of legal consequences for same. Usmanov has not been declared innocent of the offences for which he was jailed.

So why am I writing about a Russian billionaire trying to screw Arsenal FC when there are so many others like him, and I cannot stand football? Because Usmanov has taken such strong objection to a blog written by a former British ambassador to Uzbekistan that the author’s web host has caved in to legal threats and pulled the blog. The blog has been shut down along with a number of others, including that of Boris Johnson MP, who is not involved in this affair (or at least isn’t yet).

This writer has little time for Craig Murray, author of the blog post that attacks Usmanov and his charming business associates. Like a number of other former establishment insiders who have seriously crossed Her Majesty’s Government, Murray has in recent times gone completely off the rails, and is now spouting all kinds of nonsense.

But Murray was a senior diplomat, and as such knows where the bodies are buried. He was at one time privy to classified intelligence material about the region in which he served, and many are convinced that at least some of what Murray says about Uzbekistan is reliable.

So what did Murray write that that caused such offence?

A number of other bloggers have reposted the article on their websites, and you can find it easily enough with the search engine of your choice and a little lateral thinking. [Will has linked to the I**ym**ia version of the offending piece below.]

In his article Murray outlines Usmanov’s background, and accuses him of being involved in unwholesome business activities. Murray then explains how the pardon was ordered by the Uzbek president, and draws a link between Karimov and Usmanov’s business mentor, Gafur Rakhimov. He also discusses Usmanov’s association with Gazprom, and that company’s links with the Putin regime and takeover of independent media outlets.

Murray first related his concerns about Usmanov in secret memos to the Foreign office, and this helped seal his professional fate.

So what are we to make of Murray’s attack on Usmanov, and the reaction to it? As Tory blogger Iain Dale says,

“If a webhost pulls the plug on a blog or website merely because they receive a lawyer’s letter from Schillings, a leading London law firm, then we all ought to be very worried indeed. … And if I were an Arsenal fan, I’d be even more worried than I am as a blogger. This man spells trouble with a capital T.”

I agree. Craig Murray may have a revolving head, but all those who believe in freedom of speech should support him in this instance, and lobby for a major revision of the English libel laws. We should also object to the continuance of Usmanov’s business activities in the UK and European Union as a whole. He should be barred from even setting foot on EU territory.