According a statement released yesterday by the Mayor’s office Aleksander Boyd, a supporter of the opposition to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, has withdrawn his defamation case against the Mayor after being presented with Mr Livingstone’s defence case.
Last month Mr Boyd claimed that he was defamed by the Mayor of London during comments made at Mayor’s Questions on 17 May 2005 when he stated that Boyd was a ‘supporter of terrorism against Venezuelan democracy.’
The Mayor’s office says the statement was based on comments by Aleksander Boyd on his own website including: ‘Yesterday I had a conversation with someone about Venezuela and its problems. Given the peculiar characteristics of our crisis, my interlocutor asked “what’s the solution then?”. And I replied: “when elected politicians treat one as an animal, how on earth can be expected that one behaves like a gentleman? The solution in my view is clear and simple: violence.’
Mr Livingstone is quoted in yesterday’s statement as saying “supporters of the Venezuelan opposition like Aleksander Boyd, who have lost all elections in Venezuela, advocate terrorism against Venezuela’s democratically elected government. In other words they advocate illegal violence to deny the people of Venezuela the right to elect their own government.”
“I will now be writing to the Conservative Group in the London Assembly to demand that they dissociate themselves from Mr Boyd and other advocates of terrorism in Venezuela.”
“I will also be asking the Times and other media organisations which have given Mr Boyd a platform to dissociate themselves from his views.”
