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.

Free Political Prisoner - Julian Assange

ꕤ SUPPORT https://justice4assange.com/ FREE JOURNALIST JULIAN ASSANGE [CLICK image to ENLARGE] [CLICK image to ENLARGE] USA & Allies Use of paramilitary death squads Torture of Iraqis Indiscriminate killing of civilians Deliberate civilians killings Large-scale, unreported killing of civilians (eg machine-gunning bus) 2007 US Army helicopter gunning civilians (incl. press) Secret drone strikes US special ops offensive ops in Pakistan Cover-up of massacres US govt systemic wrongdoing & wide-scale deception Violation of INTERNATIONAL LAW Extraordinary rendition (kidnappings & illegal transfers) Illegal torture of detainees US threatening Italian govt to influence court case re CIA kidnapping CIA Black Sites Extra-judicial killings by 'black' unit Afghanistan (kills incl. civilians) Violation of 1949 UN Convention - spying on leadership of United Nations GMOs proposed military-style trade war v. European countries opposing GMOs US diplomats working directly for GM companies (eg Monsanto) NOT AN EXHAUSTIVE LIST --------------------------------------------------------------- Source Vincent Warren Director, Centre for Constitutional Rights - 1 Vincent Warren Director, Centre for Constitutional Rights - 2 Vincent Warren Director, Centre for Constitutional Rights - 3 Ryan Gallagher Link | Slate --------------------------------------------------------------- ꕤ

CIA Kidnapping - Egyptian Imam Osama Mustafa Hassan Nasr (Abu Omar) - Italy Reduces CIA Sentences

ꕤ Article SOURCE as marked The Guardian   Italian president reduces sentences in CIA kidnapping case Sergio Mattarella shaved two years off the sentence of a former CIA base chief convicted in absentia in the 2003 abduction of an Egyptian terror suspect Friday 25 December 2015 02.17 AEDT Last modified on Wednesday 30 December 2015 00.02 AEDT Italy’s president has shaved two years off the sentence of a former CIA base chief convicted in absentia in the 2003 extraordinary rendition abduction of an Egyptian terror suspect. With the decree, announced Wednesday night by the presidential palace, President Sergio Mattarella reduced to seven from nine years Robert Seldon Lady’s sentence. Mattarella also wiped out the three-year sentence handed down by a Milan court to another US defendant convicted in absentia, Betnie Medero. The palace said Italy’s head of state above all took into consideration Barack Obama’s ending the practice of extraordinary renditions, which Italy and the European Union consider “incompatible with the fundamental principles of a state of law”. In all, 26 Americans were convicted in absentia in the kidnapping of Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr. Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, was kidnapped while walking to noon prayers at a Milan mosque on 17 February 2003. He had been under investigation in Italy for allegedly recruiting jihadi fighters. Prosecutors claimed CIA operatives snatched him with the help of two Italian intelligence officers, drove him to Aviano air force base, and then flew him to a Nato base in Germany en route to Cairo, Egypt. When Nasr emerged from an Egyptian prison four years later, he claimed he had been tortured. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/24/italian-president-reduces-sentences-in-cia-kidnapping-case TeleSurTV Italian President Pardons CIA Kidnappers Published 24 December 2015 [ extract ] [ ... ] The CIA's former Milanese station chief Robert Seldon Lady and another U.S. national, Bernie Medero, were pardoned by President Sergio Mattarella for their role in the 2003 kidnapping. More than 20 CIA agents were convicted in absentia, with Lady facing the longest prison term of nine years. None of the agents ever served any time behind bars, though Lady and others risked arrest under international warrants if they traveled to Europe. Lady himself was temporarily detained in Panama in 2013 over the conviction, but fled the country before Italian authorities could process an extradition request. The presidential pardon means Medero can now travel freely to Europe, though an Italian official told Reuters that Lady could still risk arrest in the European Union as his pardon only reduced his sentence from nine years to just two. The convictions against Lady, Medero and others in Italy were the first of their kind against CIA agents involved in Washington's extraordinary rendition program. The controversial program saw hundreds of suspected militants kidnapped by the CIA, transported to secretive prison sites and tortured. Many of the victims had no ties to extremist groups and the program was widely condemned by human rights groups. Rendition was officially shelved in 2008. http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Italian-President-Pardons-CIA-Kidnappers-20151224-0001.html ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- COMMENT No way known have they shelved that program.  I'm betting the lawlessness continues. The Italian sentencing is a joke.  Why even bother when it's all a farce? So, when's Italy going to pardon the other 24?  lol ꕤ

Assange - Aussie Govt Does Nothing ... Oh, & ... Sweden Law Firm CIA Collaboration

Two good articles regarding Assange Although I hate simply putting up links to articles without summarising them for myself with masses of insane highlight (in the vain hope I'll remember everything), in this case, I might have to post links for these two lengthy articles or I'll be highlighting forever ... with an impatient, clammy 'mouse-hand'.  Yew! Australian government denies Julian Assange effective diplomatic assistance Article 1 Article:  'The futility of regret' April 29, 2015 By Kellie Tranter  - here. What stood out for me: Senator David Leyonhjelm didn't even get the embassy straight.  Er ... how many years has it been?  And: " ... he failed to acknowledge that Assange was granted asylum only after a formal assessment by the government of Ecuador in relation to the current and future risks of persecution and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in the United States in response to his publishing activities and political opinions." [Article 1 - here] How bad is that? And it gets worse.  No response from the following senators: Senator Xenophon Senator Lazarus Senator Muir Senator Madigan    [Article 1 - here] By this stage, I bet you're thinking:  I'd hate to be an Aussie in trouble abroad.  Eh? The author concludes that Australia: " ... has simply asserted that it has provided appropriate assistance, but it has taken no active steps to look at what its ally the United States has been trying to engineer, or to objectively assess Assange’s situation in relation to the allegations being made against him purely on the basis of his personal position as an Australian citizen. This represents a profound failure on the part of the Australian government in terms of its obligations to one of its citizens." [Article 1 - here]  Yikes!  Thomas Bodstrom collaborated with CIA! Article 2 Article:  'According to the UN International Covenant on Civil & Political Rights, Assange’s detention should be ended' 30 Apr, 2015 By Admin - here. The following really caught my attention in the second article, concerning Sweden's legal manoeuvres: " ... the case was reopened after a petition to the prosecutor office of Ms Marianne Ny by the law firm Bordström & Borgström. [11] Lawyer Thomas Bodström, in his role of ex Minister of Justice, has been identified by Eva Franchell (press secretary for the late Minister for Foreign Affairs, Anna Lindh) as directly implicated in the collaboration with CIA over the illegal extradition (so called secret extraordinary renditions) of prisoners from Sweden. [12] Bordström has been reported to the Swedish Parliament ’s constitutional committee over the extraordinary renditions to the CIA in 2001. For this Sweden has already been sanctioned by the United Nations for infringement on the UN Torture Ban. [13] At that time (10 August 2010), the U.S. government had requested the countries participating in the US-led military occupation of Afghanistan to initiate prosecution of Assange, the WikiLeaks founder. [14]"  [Article 2 - here] That's pretty shocking, wouldn't you say? Anyway, I'll leave those that are interested to check out the articles themselves, at the links provided.

CIA Torture Report

CIA TORTURE REPORT What to do when too scattered to immerse oneself in social media escapism? Well, try to sleep.  Try, try and try again.  And if that fails, go play with the blog ... Hey, the CIA Torture Report is out - here (PDF - 525 pages) - finally published 9 December 2014. I'll forever associate CIA torture and the report with Obama's fairly ho-hum, casual: "We tortured some folks" The report's whittled down & heavily censored.  But what I read of the highlights 'most gruesome moments' (DailyBeast) (see also Guardian)  was enough to make me quite angry and disgusted. The treatment of the man that froze to death on the floor, naked and chained is beyond belief. Torture of people isn't something we usually give much thought to.  It's in the realm of maybe action-thriller movies and something we perhaps ever so vaguely figure 'might' happen in the underbelly of real life or, if we're pressed to stop to think about it, may have cynically shrugged and thought, yeah, bound to happen in some nasty underworld. But even if we could vaguely conceive of people maybe getting tortured in the course of lifestyle choices, such as a life of crime or a path of political dissidence, it would not enter our heads that agents of  democratic governments would subject living, captive, beings to torture -- and subject them to excesses of brutal torture repeatedly -- over the course of weeks of life-threatening and soul-destroying abuse. The 'enhanced interrogation' the US dished up to captives is reminiscent of torture harking back to Nazi Germans or the torture perpetrated by psychopathic sadists getting off on controlling and debasing helpless victims (which is, thankfully, quite rare among the general public, but maybe common among the CIA and cohorts by the look of things). So here we have representatives of the American state -- the symbol of the 'free, democratic world' -- sexually violating captives and subjecting them to insane, prolonged torture and even death, while America's preaching freedom, democracy, peace and moral superiority ... often at the point of a gun. That US allies were complicit in this violation of human rights and of international laws (they apparently only pay lip service to) is just as disgusting, mind-boggling and demoralising. Source:  Open Societies Foundations The above map is from the Open Societies Foundation Report -  'Globalising Torture: CIA Secret Detention & Extraordinary Rendition 2013 - here [PDF - 216 Pages]. Extraordinary Rendition:  abduction & extra-judicial transfer of persons from one country to another Just having a quick look at 'Globalising Torture', I note that Australia rates a mention because an Australian national went through the rendition and torture mill (2001-2005) before being released with no charge and finally getting an undisclosed settlement from the Australian government in 2010. The Australian government put on a bit of a show afterwards with an 'inquiry'.  But this was essentially the government investigating itself and (unsurprisingly) no wrongdoing was found. Nor did they find evidence of involvement of Australian officials: The inquiry seemingly did not investigate the statements of an Egyptian intelligence officer who alleged the involvement of Australian officials in Habib’s detention in Egypt, with Thom claiming that Habib did not provide the inquiry with a copy of the statements. The ECHR ordered Poland to pay restitution to abductees who were taken to a CIA black site in Poland & tortured.  Poland had denied culpability and had been planning to appeal the court's decision: In July 2014 the European Court of Human Rights condemned the government of Poland for participating in CIA extraordinary rendition, ordering Poland to pay restitution to men who had been abducted, taken to a CIA black site in Poland, and tortured.   Poland is appealing the decision. [wikipedia] But the cat's out of the bag now:  RT News reports that Poland had received hush money to host CIA prisons and that former President Aleksander Kwasniewski confirmed hosting CIA black sites (but had denied authorising torture).   Oh, and Poland was pissed that the US can't keep a secret.  Ah, well, you get that.  No honour among thieves (or violators). Anyway, there's 54 countries in the 'Globalising Torture' report and:  Russia's not in it!   Bring out the dancing girls & play the can-can. Moving away from the dancing girls and getting back to the subject of torture, this is some interesting information about US government funding of countries that commit torture: TOP 10 - USA AID COUNTRIES - THAT COMMIT TORTURE: 1. Israel – $3.1b 2. Afghanistan – $2.2b 3. Egypt – $1.6b 4. Pakistan – $1.2b 5. Nigeria – $693m 6. Jordan – $671m 7. Iraq – $573m 8. Kenya – $564m 9. Tanzania – $553m 10. Uganda -$456m Source:   http://leftfootforward.org/2014/01/top-ten-us-aid-recipients-all-practice-torture/ Having had a quick look at the CIA Torture Report (which I haven't read in full), the first thing I noticed was the eye-watering $81 million (plus $1 million legal indemnity) paid by the USG to the 'brains' of the torture program (which I'm pretty sure I could have devised for waaay less that fee).  What an obscene amount of taxpayer money to disburse on torturing, sexually violating and freezing people.  Oh, and I left out 'rectal feeding' or 'rectal rehydration'.  It is basically an enema -- an infusion of liquid poured into the rectum.  Liquid or ... liquefied food in the case of CIA-style 'rectal rehydration': One CIA cable released in the report reveals that detainee Majid Khan was administered by enema his “‘lunch tray’ consisting of hummus, pasta with sauce, nuts and raisins was ‘pureed and rectally infused’”. One CIA officer’s email was in the report quoted as saying “we used the largest Ewal [sic] tube we had”.  [Guardian] Daily Caller running a headline 'Former CIA Director Michael Hayden Says Rectal Feeding Not Torture, It's a Medical Procedure'.  Guess they need to have a look at the Guardian article above.  Far from 'medical' the way CIA goons applied it.  Shame on Daily Caller 'Crapper'  (hey, that's kinda apt given the subject).   Would you believe Hayden tried to deny it was a rectal procedure: Blitzer: Is that rectal though? Hayden: No, it’s not. And I’m not prepared to tell you why one method was chosen ... Wonder if the paper's having a quiet lend of us in that article ... or are Americans really, really, dumb and likely to fall for the comedic denials? Well, that's the long awaited CIA Torture Report.   I've not read either of reports in full yet or paid very close attention to the articles, but I may go back and check things out more thoroughly.  Notice the US media is big on repeating "Torture Is Not An American Value" ('TINAAV').  That's a distancing thing (that's not America, that's those bad, bad torture progam tailors).  It's also a positive spin thing in the headlines.  TINAAV repeated thousands of times in the media provides a counterbalance to 'CIA Torture Report Sparks World Outrage' [Sky Australia] type reporting.  That's my take on it, but I'm no media expert, so you might think otherwise. There's probably thousands of things that could be said.  OK, I'm exaggerating.  There are things that ought to be said in this post.  But I'm not sure I could be bothered (I'm just a blogger for fun).  And I'm running out of steam having done yet another all-nighter without sleep. Should probably point out that the report from Open Societies Foundations looks pretty good and is rather a surprising contribution to have come across, because I've been very suspicious of anything NGO related and anything associated with George Soros, as I see NGOs as instruments of influence and 'take-over'. Oh, now I remember what I wanted to say:  the CIA Torture Report will not change a thing.   Nobody is calling for military, political & economic leadership of Nazi Germany America to be held to account and tried before an international court of law. So, it will be business as usual for the US and for countries within the US sphere of influence (and we're taking over 50 countries involved in these CIA torture activities at last count in 2013). It's also worth mentioning that this is why we should make every effort to protect and support whistle-blowers (Bradley/Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden) and journalists and publishers (Julian Assange & WikiLeaks) who have taken enormous personal risk, and taken on world powers (yep, USA and friends, the same guys that were involved in kidnap, unlawful deportation and torture),  to disclose the truth of government wrongdoing and cover-up. That over 50 governments have joined the US in criminal activity in violation of international laws should ring alarm bells like crazy.  That, and the fact that anybody can be grabbed off the street in a democracy, and shipped off for USA torture anywhere in the world. It should also concern those who have watched their government clamp down on the free press and watched in dismay as governments rushed through laws that infringe on civil liberties, justified in the name of 'national security' and 'war on terror' (or merely European Union cohesion, in the case of the European Arrest Warrant) by governments that clearly cannot be trusted to adhere to principles of justice and democracy. The CIA Torture Report ought to be an impetus for voters to demand transparent and accountable government. -----------------    Freedom & democracy eroded by infringements on: * right to freedom from mass surveillance;  * right to privacy;  * right to freedom of information; * right to freedom from government censorship * right to open, public trials;  * right to presumption of innocence; * right to freedom from extradition without evidence; * right to transparent government;  * right to accountable government.  [Excuse any typos.  No sleep.  Very tired.]