Nokia prototype row blogger/journalist retaliates

Eldar Murtazin, the Russian blogger-slash-journalist accused by Nokia of refusing to give back prototypes of its handsets, has denied the manufacturer's claims.

Last week, Nokia said it had called in the Russian authorities in an attempt to retrieve prototypes from Murtazin, the proprietor of Mobile-Review.com. Murtazin had occasionally published early reviews of handsets, such as the N8, that had not yet even been officially announced.

On the weekend, Murtazin published his version of events. According to the blogger-slash-journalist (Nokia called him a blogger, but he calls himself a journalist, suggesting that Nokia is "looking to remove any legal rights I have as a journalist in protecting my sources"), he never owned the N8 or had it in his possession for more than a few hours a day.

"My source provided me with pictures of the handset and received no compensation for that," Murtazin wrote. "It's physically impossible for me to return something I do not have."

Murtazin also denied working as a consultant for Samsung (Nokia actually only said he was a consultant for an unspecified rival manufacturer). "If a competitor really wanted to get their hands on a device there are easier, and more discrete ways, than to contact a journalist with a prominent public profile," he wrote. "Reputation of an honest journalist sustained me through the years and there isn't an amount of money in this world that is worth to sacrifice my reputation, livelihood, business and career for."

ZDNet UK has asked Nokia for a response to Murtazin's claims, but had received none at the time of writing/blogging.