Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2006 12:47:58 +0100

From: Charles Mitchell

Subject: Mbasogo

Members of the group may have been following the ongoing litigation in the English courts arising out of the attempted coup in Equatorial Guinea which came to a premature end in 2004 when a group of mercenaries funded by Sir Mark Thatcher among others were arrested in Zimbabwe. The latest chapter in the saga is Mbasogo, President of the State of Equatorial Guinea v Logo Ltd [2006] EWCA Civ 1370, where the CA has held that the tort claims made by the state of Equatorial Guinea were not justiciable in the English courts, essentially because they amounted to a claim for losses sustained in the exercise of the power of a sovereign state to protect itself from revolution. Following Wong v Parkside the CA also declined to hold that President Mbasogo had any cause of action in respect of emotional distress suffered as a result of the defendants' intentional actions - the fact that their actions were unlawful (unlike those in Wong) was insufficient reason to distinguish the case and give him a claim.

CM

Professor Charles Mitchell
School of Law
King's College London
Strand
London WC2R 2LS

tel: 020 7848 2290
fax: 020 7848 2465

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