Actual Crimes vs. 'Theoretical' Crimes - USA: Free Viktor Bout

Article SOURCE as marked Actual Crimes vs. 'Theoretical' Crimes USA:  Free Viktor Bout https://www.rt.com/news/337906-viktor-bout-american-prison/ Yoga, foreign languages & anecdotes: Viktor Bout marks 8yrs in US high-security prison Published time: 31 Mar, 2016 15:55 Avoiding depression and keeping in good shape are the key to survival in a top security American prison, says Russian businessman Viktor Bout, who was extradited to the US and later sentenced to a 25-year prison term, despite Russia’s belief his case is political. Russian citizen Viktor Bout was arrested in Thailand in 2008 after a sting operation by US agents. He allegedly admitted in a conversation that it was theoretically possible for a foreign terrorist group to purchase anti-aircraft weapons. In 2010 Bout was extradited to the United States, and one year later was convicted of conspiracy to kill US citizens. The allegations were based on the idea that guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) could in theory have been the buyers of the weapons he could reportedly sell. The United States ranks FARC as a terrorist organization. In April 2012 the businessman was sentenced to 25 years behind bars and placed in a top security prison. This March signals eight years since Bout’s arrest in Bangkok. Russia called the judge’s decision in October to refuse Bout’s retrial plea “regrettable,” and proof the probe and trial were politicized from the very beginning. “This is yet another regrettable decision. As far as we know the defense lawyers have prepared a solid base of materials to ask for a retrial, they had serious arguments. The fact that the court ignored them again surely is a proof of our understanding that Viktor Bout’s case has been politicized by the American side from the very beginning,” Russian Foreign Ministry human rights envoy Konstantin Dolgov told TASS. ‘A sound mind in a sound body’ RIA Novosti contacted Bout via phone for a rare interview to share his experience of serving a term in an American top security prison. To remain in good physical shape, Bout practices yoga every morning and does high-intensity interval training during the day. The only alternative to keeping fit is falling into depression, which would result in being prescribed pills by the prison authorities, Bout told RIA Novosti’s Evgeny Belenky, who was among the first journalists to contact him in 2008. Bout continues studying foreign languages such as Turkish, Arabic and Farsi, but he has problems with obtaining new books and lacks mother-tongue speakers to practice with. He reads any book he can lay his hands on and is free to communicate with anybody in his block from 6am to 10pm, yet, naturally, there are certain communication problems. “It’s kind of an endless submarine independent cruise here, with the difference that the crew has been picked up randomly, without considering psychological compatibility and other subtleties,” Bout said, adding that sometimes it takes days before he can get out of his cell and talk with someone. Unlike America’s medium-security prisons, the jail where Bout is serving his term does not allow visits or team sports. He tells anecdotes from the Russian media he receives to entertain inmates he is on friendly terms with. “Everything is in our hands, the environment is neutral, even in the communications control block of a top security prison,” Bout said. “There is a saying that hell and paradise do not relate to geography, but to psychology. My motto is: any hell we turn into paradise.” Bout says you can help keep depression and pessimism away by beginning the day with a couple of good anecdotes and yoga, together with physical training and personal mind control. “Your glass is always half-full, not half-empty,” he says. Being a vegetarian, Bout finds it difficult to feed himself in a prison which has no alternative for those who don’t eat meat. Only once, when he complained about his vegetarian diet, did he get boiled beetroot, but the rest of the time he is fed like everybody else. ‘Where does the money go?’ Bout says that according to open US Congress sources, a maximum-security prison like the one he is in spends $981,000 a year from the US budget on every prisoner – a sharp contrast to the $34,000 needed to keep a man locked up in an ordinary prison. He believes that for that money, the prisoners could have decent food and vegetarians could be given a separate menu, yet inmates get food that leaves much to be desired and “nobody ever investigated” why the cost is so high. According to Bout, the prison he is serving his term in was built back in 1963 and has not been renovated since, and as a result is “in bad shape.” However strict the conditions of a top security prison are, Bout remains full of optimism. On Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov criticized the detention in the US of people like Viktor Bout and Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot sentenced in 2011 to 20 years in jail for allegedly participating in a plan to smuggle drugs to the United States. Peskov said the Russian government regards such actions as an attempt to project American jurisdiction to the rest of the world. “It was exactly in this context that these names [of Bout and Yaroshenko] were mentioned in the talks with [John] Kerry,” Peskov said, speaking about the head-to-head talks Russian President Vladimir Putin had with the US secretary of state this week. https://www.rt.com/news/337906-viktor-bout-american-prison/ http://www.religionnews.com/2016/02/24/italy-faces-fine-over-cia-abduction-of-egyptian-cleric/ Italy faces fine over CIA abduction of Egyptian cleric Rosie Scammell | February 24, 2016 | (RNS) Italy must pay compensation to an Egyptian imam’s family after a European court ruled his human rights had been breached in a CIA operation that had him abducted in Milan and sent to his country of birth, where he was tortured. The European Court of Human Rights ordered Italy to pay 115,000 euros ($126,500) in damages and legal expenses to Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr and his family.  [Comment:   got to be kidding.  What kind of compensation is that for kidnap, deportation & torture?] The cleric, who is also known as Abu Omar, was living in Milan in February 2003 when he was snatched from a street in a CIA-led operation. He was then flown to a U.S. airbase in Germany and onward to Egypt, where he was tortured during interrogation, Deutsche Welle reported. Concluding the case on Tuesday (Feb. 23), the Strasbourg court said: “(The) Italian authorities were aware that the applicant had been a victim of an extraordinary rendition operation which had begun with his abduction in Italy and continued with his transfer abroad.” Nasr had moved to Italy in 1998 and was granted political asylum three years later. Although Italy has convicted CIA agents for their role in the extraordinary rendition, the Italians have not requested they be extradited.    [Comment:  some of the CIA figures have been 'pardoned', so all is 'forgiven' and this was really a farce so that Italy, Germany and the Americans can pretend they're law abiding states.] Ferdinando Pomarici, a former Milan prosecutor who worked on the Abu Omar case, said on Wednesday that the ruling was a blemish on Italy’s justice system, in which “no one could ever say they had been deprived of their constitutional rights.” (Rosie Scammell is Rome correspondent for RNS) http://www.religionnews.com/2016/02/24/italy-faces-fine-over-cia-abduction-of-egyptian-cleric/ ---------------------- ---------------------- COMMENT The US makes sure that it is not held accountable for the crimes it commits -- crimes against entire countries (eg illegal bombing Serbia; illegal invasion Iraq; massive civilian casualties Afghanistan; 500,000 dead children Iraq; destruction of Libya; proxy attack on Syria; destabilising Africa and Middle East (plus loss of life, displaced persons etc) and so on. Actual crimes. IRAQ - 500,000 Dead Children 'WORTH IT' But the US has 'unsigned' itself from the Rome Statute, has bullied other countries into granting the US immunity to commit crimes against humanity, and has signed into law authorised military attack on any nation that attempts to bring the US (and their partners in crime) to justice. But it has locked up a Russian businessman on the basis of a *theoretical* possibilities catch-all, in what is described as a politically motivated violation -- without allowing retrial, where he obviously has a case for retrial or he wouldn't have a lawyer presenting it, after 8 years in prison. Free Viktor. The Americans consider that they *have* jurisdiction around the world and they'll  extend their jurisdiction beyond borders, no mater what it takes. Check out their over 30 CIA agents kidnapping and illegal transfer for torture from what is supposed to be a sovereign state:   Italy (above). The US regime snatches targets (often *wrong* targets) off the streets! That's what the mafia does. But I bet the mafia isn't making mistakes.  So not only is the US regime lawless; it's incompetent as well.

Israel Nukes Whistleblower Mordecai Vanunu - Shopped to Mossad by Sydney Morning Herald, ASIO & ASIS

ꕤ Article SOURCE EXTRACT ONLY - CONTINUE AT SOURCE http://mailstar.net/vanunu.html Peter Myers / MailStar Ari Ben-Menashe on the Capture of Mordecai Vanunu Selections by Peter Myers, September 15, 2001; update November 21, 2015. My comments are shown {thus}. Write to me at contact.html. You are at http://mailstar.net/vanunu.html. Ben-Menashe was a former Israeli intelligence officer. The Sydney Morning Herald, & The (Melbourne) Age, as well as Australia's spy agency ASIO, played a part in the capture of Vanunu. The Sydney Morning Herald alerted ASIO, which alerted ASIS, which alerted Mossad. The BBC produced a TV documentary about Vanunu's capture, and Israel's secret nuclear weapons program, titled "Israel's Secret Weapon". Transcript, BBC World Service, 29 June 2003, Part 1: http://electronicIntifada.net/v2/article1665.shtml. Part 2 of the transcript is at http://electronicIntifada.net/v2/article1667.shtml. (1) Mordecai Vanunu - caught by a Honey Trap (2) Mossad posing as "Palestinian Terrorists"; and a special flight to Tehran of Israeli air-force pilots disguised as civilians. (3) Gordon Thomas, writer of political thrillers - a disinformation agent? (4) Israeli Recruiter of Convicted Spy Pollard Reemerged on American Soil (5) Robert Fisk on Vanunu's importance (6) Gordon Thomas discloses Mossad's role in the "Monica Lewinsky" scandal (7) Daniel Halper: Israelis tried to blackmail Bill Clinton with Lewinsky tapes to force spy release (1) Mordecai Vanunu - caught by a Honey Trap Mordecai Vanunu was lured by a "honey trap", after which he was jailed (in Israel) for 18 years (11 solitary); and he never even got the honey. Ari Ben-Menashe, Profits of War: The Sensational Story of the World-Wide Arms Conspiracy, Allen & Unwin, Sydney 1992. {p. 200} ... My only experience with it was the so-called "Vanunu affair" in 1986. EXTRACT ONLY - CONTINUE AT SOURCE http://mailstar.net/vanunu.html ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- COMMENT Thought this article was cool. Only had a quick skim of it. Article demonstrates why independent whistleblower publishers such as WikiLeaks are important. After Vanunu's experience, potential whistleblowers would be crazy to attempt leak vital data to untrustworthy (and treacherous) corporate media, or to untested publishers. Is anybody else appalled that the Australian daily newspapers and intelligence authorities basically condemned a whistleblower to Mossad kidnapping, 18 years prison and 11 years of solitary confinement (ie torture)? Note also, Australian authorities handed over those young Australians who were busted for drugs in some country they got executed in, eventually. Bali Nine in Indonesia. Bali Nine: Australian Federal Police unapologetic for tip-off that led to Chan and Sukumaran executions By political reporters Jane Norman and Anna Henderson Updated 4 May 2015, 8:32pm Australian Federal Police Commissioner Andrew Colvin says it is possible future investigations could result in an Australian facing the death penalty overseas, even though the AFP's guidelines have been strengthened since the arrest of the Bali Nine drug smugglers. [ ... ] Commissioner Colvin defended the AFP's decision to inform Indonesian authorities about the drug syndicate, saying the AFP did not have enough evidence to arrest the Australians before they left for Indonesia. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-04/afp-says-more-australians-could-face-death-penalty-over-drugs/6442084 Australian law enforcement authorities have as good as killed those kids themselves, in their haste to notify the Indonesians. The distinctly unAustralian attitude of Australian law enforcement, intelligence services, and politicians -- all public servants -- probably also explains, to some extent, why the Australian authorities have not challenged (let alone publicly and vigorously challenged) the political persecution of award-winning Austrlian journalist, whistleblower publisher, Julian Assange. It is the inaction (and, really, negligence) of  these Australian authorities that has enabled the 5-year British political persecution and detention of Julian Assange, who is obviously targeted for extradition and 'live burial' (ie. decades long incarceration, at a minimum) in the exposed criminal state, otherwise known as:  United States of America. Australians should be outraged that the politicians and sundry other public servants, that are appointed by Australians to serve Australian interests, do not serve the interests of all Australians, of democracy and of justice, first and foremost. Julian Assange Editor, WikiLeaks Justice4Assange WikiLeaks Site WikiLeaks Twitter BOOK:  The WikiLeaks Files (2015) Link | here PS ...  just reading re the 2003 Vanunu BBC documentary.  I'm not the only one describing incarceration as entombment: "He was buried alive ..." [re Vanunu] ꕤ

Foreign Service Updates - Rwanda Intelligence - Kenya Kidnapping

Kenya KIDNAPPED: Jean Chrysostome Ntirugiribambe (Rwandan nat.) = investigator of key defence cases at UN tribunal for Rwanda - International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) ALLEGEDLY amid mounting evidence Rwandan President Paul Kagame’s intel services behind the abduction *crackdown on Rwandan refugees & dissidents *8mths after Kenya kidnapping of another high profile Rwandan asylum seeker {Emile Gafirita} *Emile Gafirita was to testify French enquiry - 1994 downing plane carrying fmr Rwandan president / event genocide spark Allegation kidnapping facilitated by: 1) Lt Col James Burabyo = military attaché at the Rwandan embassy Uganda (under the instructions of Jack Nziza) 2) Francis Mutiganda, external intelligence services chief Jack Nziza = “... notorious figure that has worked in Rwandan intelligence for decades and played a crucial role in killing, abducting and torturing perceived opponents of Kagame” ------- Lt Colonel Mutiganda = purportedly much-feared individual = recently worked in UN peacekeeping = oversees Rwanda external intelligence = allegedly directed a killing squad in Rwanda Rwanda external intelligence: = purportedly: “... long suspected of carrying out murderous operations abroad in conjunction with Rwandan embassies.” UN department of peacekeeping DPKO = did not vet properly = DPKO unwilling to fire Mutiganda b/c Rwanda troop contributions to peacekeeping op Mutiganda & Nziza work under authority of National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) Lt General Karenzi Karake = head of NISS = was arrested London last month on a European arrest warrant issued by a Spanish court = Karake now faces possible extradition to Spain for having allegedly organized the murders of three Spanish nationals in the late 1990s in Rwanda. = also is accused of having ordered large-scale massacres of Hutu civilians following the genocide. SOURCE http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/politics/another-rwandan-is-kidnapped-in-africa-kagame-agents-suspected/article/438050 --------------------- COMMENT *** Karake got arrested on an EAW in London / Tzipi Livni (Israel) avoided arrest for alleged war crimes - three (3) times, incl. In London

RUSSIA: Russian Roman Seleznev - Kidnapped by US

Valery Seleznev, a prominent Russian lawmaker and the father of Roman Seleznev who was arrested on bank fraud and other charges earlier this week in the United States, speaks to the media during a news conference in Moscow, Russia, Friday, July 11, 2014. Family members of a Russian man charged with hacking in the United States insist he is innocent and fear incarceration will kill him. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Indicted Russian's family say he's innocent

1 hour ago  •  By NATALIYA VASILYEVA


MOSCOW (AP) — Family members of a Russian man charged with hacking in the United States insist he is innocent and fear he will die in custody if he doesn't have his medication.

Roman Seleznev, son of a prominent Russian lawmaker, was arrested on bank fraud and other charges this week. U.S. authorities allege he hacked into computers at hundreds of businesses including the Phoenix Zoo.

Seleznev's father, Valery, told reporters at a televised news conference Friday that his son, who was left brain-damaged after a 2011 bombing in Marrakech, will die without his medicine.

The son appeared in court Monday on the Pacific island of Guam and was ordered detained until a hearing July 22. He was arrested by the U.S. Secret Service over the weekend, according to documents in federal court in Seattle.

"There are no medical services there at all, treatment is not available," Seleznev said. "He will die."

Don Hall, a U.S. Marshals Service spokesman in Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands, said Guam authorities have staff to handle medical issues.

"The U.S. Marshals Service is adamant about ensuring that detainees receive all necessary medical care and prescribed medication," Hall said.

Guam, an unincorporated U.S. territory with a population of 161,000, has a public hospital, several public health clinics and a naval hospital. Detainees usually receive medical attention at the naval hospital, Police Chief Fred Bordallo said.

Roman Seleznev was being held in a federal facility at Agana Lockup, Guam Dept. of Corrections Officer Joe Saloma said Saturday.

Prosecutors in Guam moved this week to have Seleznev transferred to Washington state, but a judge has not issued a ruling. Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd Greenberg in Seattle said Seleznev would not be brought to Seattle until after the July 22 hearing.

Seleznev, known by his nickname of "Track2," is accused of carrying out a scheme to hack into retailers' computers, install malicious software and steal credit card numbers from 2009 to 2011.

He is accused of marketing and selling those credit card numbers on "criminally inspired websites" and using servers in the U.S., Russia, Ukraine and elsewhere.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has accused Washington of kidnapping Seleznev. U.S. officials have declined to say how or where he was apprehended.

Seleznev's girlfriend, Anna Otisko, said she was with him when he was grabbed by unknown men at Maldives Airport and put on the plane. Otisko said he was never wealthy and the vacation in the Maldives was a luxury for them.

___

Doug Esser in Seattle and Jennifer Sinco Kelleher in Honolulu contributed reporting.

[Source:  The Southern Illinoisian - here.]
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US Accused of 'Kidnapping' Russian Hacker Roman Valerevich Seleznev Following Arrest
David Gilbert
By David Gilbert
July 8, 2014 12:31 BST


Russian Hacker Roman Seleznev Kidnapped by US Claims Russia

The US Secret Service would not say if arrested Russian hacker Roman Valerevich Seleznev was also involved in the high-profile breach of US retailer Target earlier this year.

Russia has accused the US of violating a bilateral agreement and "kidnapping" the son of a member of Russia's parliament after it arrested 30-year-old Roman Valerevich Seleznev.

The Russian media is reporting that Seleznev is the son of Russian MP Valery Seleznev who told the Itar-Tass news agency he had not been able to speak to his son but added: "This is a monstrous lie and a provocative act."

Reacting to the arrest, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on its website:

"We consider this as the latest unfriendly move from Washington. This is not the first time the US side, ignoring a bilateral treaty ... on mutual assistance in criminal matters, has gone ahead with what amounts to the kidnapping of a Russian citizen."

Kidnapping

Seleznev, who was indicted in March 2011 on charges including bank fraud, causing damage to a protected computer, obtaining information from a protected computer and aggravated identity theft, was arrested by the Secret Service on 5 July in an airport in the Maldives.

Seleznev was transported to Guam where he appeared in court on Monday, and will be held there until his next hearing in two weeks. If found guilty of the bank fraud charges alone, Seleznev faces up to 30 years in jail.

Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson said in a statement: "This important arrest sends a clear message: despite the increasingly borderless nature of transitional organized crime, the long arm of justice – and this Department – will continue to disrupt and dismantle sophisticated criminal organisations."

Credit cards ...

[FULL article - ibtimes.co.uk - here.]
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COMMENT

"Grabbed by unknown men..." doesn't sound right.
Don't authorities who carry out arrests even bother to identify themselves?

Guessing the arrestee could prove useful in terms of future attempts (if any eventuate) to leverage a Snowden-for-son swap.