Tag: courts

US says Russia rejected ‘substantial’ proposal to free two jailed Americans | Politics News

Washington says ‘no higher priority’ than effort to secure release from Russia of Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan.

The United States has said Moscow rejected what it said was a “substantial” proposal to secure the freedom of Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich and former US Marine Paul Whelan who are jailed in Russia over alleged spying.

“We have made a number of proposals, including a substantial one in recent weeks,” US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters on Tuesday.

“That proposal was rejected by Russia,” he said, without going into further detail on the offer.

Miller said that Secretary of State Antony Blinken and President Joe Biden would keep trying to find a way to free the pair, considered “wrongfully detained” by the State Department.

The designation means the US considers the charges against the two men to be bogus and politically motivated.

“They never should have been arrested in the first place. They should be released immediately,” Miller said.

“There is no prior higher priority for the secretary of state. There is no higher priority for the president.”

The United States, despite a sharp deterioration of ties since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, arranged a prisoner swap with Moscow a year ago that brought home basketball star Brittney Griner in exchange for jailed Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in July that it was in contact with the US about prisoner swaps but that such discussions needed to take place in “complete silence”.

Gershkovich was arrested during a reporting trip at the end of March and accused of spying, charges he and the Wall Street Journal deny.

The 32-year-old has been held in custody pending trial and a Moscow court last week extended his detention until January. He faces as long as 20 years in prison if found guilty.

Gershkovich’s sister in October urged the Biden administration to remain focused on trying to bring him home from a Russian prison, and expressed concern that the Middle East crisis may distract Washington from hostage diplomacy in other countries.

Whelan worked in security for a US vehicle parts company when he was arrested in Moscow in 2018. The former Marine was convicted of espionage in 2020 and jailed for 16 years. Whelan says the evidence against him was falsified and he and the US government have denied he is a spy.

Whelan’s family said last week that he had been assaulted in prison.

The 53-year-old was punched in the face and forced to defend himself at a sewing workshop in a high-security penal colony in Russia’s Mordovia region southeast of Moscow, his brother said in a statement.

The Mordovia regional prison service confirmed the attack to the Interfax news agency and that guards had intervened. Both men were taken to the medical bay with Whelan suffering an abrasion beneath one of his eyes.

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Former US ambassador accused of acting as covert agent for Cuba | Espionage News

Former ambassador to Bolivia charged for allegedly collaborating with Cuban intelligence services over several decades.

The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) has charged a former US ambassador to Bolivia for allegedly working with Cuban intelligence services as an undercover agent for several decades.

In court papers unsealed on Monday, the DOJ alleged that Manuel Rocha had taken part in “clandestine activity” with the Cuban government since at least 1981, sharing false information with the US and meeting with Cuban operatives.

The 73-year-old former ambassador worked in the US Foreign Service for 25 years, holding top posts in South American nations such as Bolivia and Argentina.

The case against Rocha “exposes one of the highest-reaching and longest-lasting infiltrations of the United States government by a foreign agent”, Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement explaining the charges.

“Those who have the privilege of serving in the government of the United States are given an enormous amount of trust by the public we serve,” Garland said.

“To betray that trust by falsely pledging loyalty to the United States while serving a foreign power is a crime that will be met with the full force of the Justice Department.”

The DOJ has charged Rocha with acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government. US law requires those acting on behalf of foreign governments to register with the DOJ.

The Associated Press news agency reported that Rocha was arrested on Friday as part of a counterintelligence probe by the FBI, the US domestic intelligence agency.

The AP reported that Rocha was charged in a federal court in Miami, Florida, and that he is expected to appear in court on Monday.

The website of the US Department of State says that Rocha was sworn in as ambassador to Bolivia on July 14, 2000.

In 2002 he intervened in Bolivia’s presidential race, warning that the US would cut off aid if Bolivians elected Evo Morales, a left-wing candidate and former coca leaf grower.

Rocha’s speech, interpreted as an effort to shape the outcome of an election in a region where the US has a long history of subterfuge and interference, angered Bolivians and helped propel Morales to victory.

Since retiring from government service, Rocha has started a new career as the president of a Dominican gold mine owned partly by Canada’s Barrick Gold that has been accused of environmental degradation, the AP reported.

The company has also faced allegations that it was complicit in extrajudicial killings in Tanzania.

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Legia Warsaw fans appear in UK court over violence before Aston Villa match | Football News

Police file charges against 46 people over unrest outside the stadium as Villa and Legia trade blame.

British police say 46 men have been charged after “serious disorder outside” Villa Park in the build-up to a Europa Conference League football match in which authorities said five officers were injured.

“Of those, 43 have been charged with a public order offence, while two have been charged with assaulting police officers and another has been charged with possession of a knife,” West Midland’s Police said in a statement on Saturday.

The unrest occurred on Thursday ahead of kickoff in a game between Aston Villa and Legia Warsaw. Villa won the match 2-1.

Five police officers sustained minor injuries. Two police dogs and two police horses are also recovering from injuries.

“Those charged are aged between 21 and 63, and around 40 are believed to be from Poland. A small number are believed to be UK residents,” West Midland’s Police said.

Police said all apart from one of the men were due in court on Saturday, and a special court had been set up at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court to begin hearing the cases on Saturday morning.

Legia Warsaw fans let off flares as they clash with police officers outside Villa Park [Paul Childs/Action Images via Reuters]

On Friday, Aston Villa filed a complaint with UEFA over the conduct of Legia Warsaw officials and the “unprecedented violence” of the Polish team’s fans.

More than 1,000 Polish fans arrived at the stadium but were not given their tickets.

The Warsaw club had been upset that local officials who license all stadium events required the ticket allocation be reduced from 1,700 to 1,000 in response to disorder by Legia fans at a game against AZ Alkmaar in the Netherlands on October 5.

“Due to the inability to authenticate and distribute tickets effectively, Legia Warsaw returned the tickets to the host club,” Legia Warsaw said in a statement on Saturday.

“We emphasise that none of the individuals detained by the police had tickets for the match. Therefore, we strongly object to Legia Warsaw being blamed for Thursday’s incidents in Birmingham.”

In Friday’s statement, Villa said Legia Warsaw had been informed of the ticket allocation details four weeks before the match, adding that the Polish team’s officials had refused to confirm if they would accept their allocation until 4pm on Thursday.

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Sandra Day O’Connor, first woman to sit on US Supreme Court, dies at 93 | Courts News

The former justice served from 1981 until 2006, during a time of transition for the nation’s highest court.

Former US Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, a pivotal figure on the nation’s highest court during a period of transformation and the first woman appointed to that role, has died at the age of 93.

In a statement on Friday, the court said that O’Connor died in Phoenix, Arizona, from complications related to dementia and respiratory illness. She served on the Court from 1981 until 2006.

“A daughter of the American Southwest, Sandra Day O’Connor blazed a historic trail as our Nation’s first female Justice,” Chief Justice John Roberts said in the statement.

O’Connor was appointed by Republican former President Ronald Reagan in the early 1980s, as the United States began a shift to the right and conservative groups fought to transform the country’s judicial landscape in their favour.

US Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor holds up a copy of the US Constitution that she carried with her on September 17, 2005 [File: Matt York/AP Photo]

The former justice was known as a relatively moderate figure, focused on reaching consensus and frustrating critics from both left and right. Her middle-of-the-road approach often made her a key vote in close decisions.

Despite her personal conservatism, O’Connor helped reaffirm the 1973 decision Roe v Wade, which made abortion a constitutional right in the United States.

“Some of us as individuals find abortion offensive to our most basic principles of morality, but that can’t control our decision,” O’Connor said in court, reading a summary of the decision in Planned Parenthood v Casey. “Our obligation is to define the liberty of all, not to mandate our own moral code.”

She was also part of a majority that handed the contested 2000 election to former President George W Bush, in a controversial decision that halted a recount effort that could have reversed Bush’s victory in the key state of Florida.

US President George W Bush greets retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor after presenting her with a medal during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington DC on February 10, 2008 [File: Yuri Gripas/Reuters]

O’Connor retired in 2006 during Bush’s second term and was replaced with the more rigidly conservative Samuel Alito as the already conservative court continued a shift to the right.

When the Supreme Court, with a 6-3 conservative majority forged after decades of organising by the conservative judicial movement, overturned Roe v Wade in June 2022, Alito authored the majority opinion.

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US says Indian gov’t official directed plot to assassinate Sikh activist | Courts News

US federal prosecutors charge 52-year-old Indian man for alleged involvement in murder-for-hire conspiracy.

Authorities in the United States have said that an Indian government official directed a failed plot to assassinate a Sikh separatist on US soil, as they announced charges against a man accused of orchestrating the attempted murder.

On Wednesday, federal prosecutors said that Nikhil Gupta, a 52-year-old Indian man, had worked with an Indian government intelligence and security worker in a clandestine effort to kill a Sikh activist in New York.

Prosecutors did not name the Indian official or the target, but described the target as a critic of the Indian government and an advocate for an independent Sikh state in the Punjab region, home to a large number of Sikhs and once the site of a movement to create Khalistan – a Sikh homeland independent from India.

Gupta was arrested by Czech authorities in June and is awaiting extradition.

“The defendant conspired from India to assassinate, right here in New York City, a US citizen of Indian origin who has publicly advocated for the establishment of a sovereign state for Sikhs,” said Damian Williams, the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan.

Prosecutors said that Gupta allegedly planned to pay an assassin $100,000 to carry out the killing.

The charges have come a week after a senior member of the administration of President Joe Biden said that the US had thwarted a plot to kill a Sikh separatist in the US, and two months after Canadian authorities accused the Indian government of involvement in the assassination of a Sikh activist in Canada.

That official said Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who says he is a dual citizen of the United States and Canada, was the target of the foiled plot.

India’s embassy in Washington was yet to comment on the charges.

New Delhi has rejected allegations that it was behind the June murder of Canadian Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, but Canadian authorities have stood firmly behind the claim and pulled dozens of diplomats from India in response.

“The news coming out of the United States further underscores what we’ve been talking about from the very beginning, which is that India needs to take this seriously,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa on Wednesday.

According to US prosecutors, the official recruited Gupta in May 2023 to orchestrate the assassination. Gupta had previously told the official he had been involved with trafficking drugs and weapons.

Gupta next reached out to someone he believed was a criminal associate for help hiring a hitman, but that associate was actually a US Drug Enforcement Administration undercover agent, prosecutors said.

The day after Nijjar was killed, Gupta wrote to the undercover DEA agent saying Nijjar “was also the target” and “we have so many targets,” according to prosecutors.

Gupta faces two counts of murder-for-hire and murder-for-hire conspiracy. He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years if convicted.

India has described Sikh separatism as a national security threat, and fought a brutal campaign against armed separatists seeking the establishment of a Sikh state in Punjab, commonly referred to as Khalistan, in the 1980s.

While India has continued to crack down on activists who support Khalistani separatism, analysts have said that the movement has long ceased to be a serious force in India.

​​”The Modi government has consistently hyped up the Khalistani threat to India,” Hartosh Bal, executive editor of The Caravan magazine in India, previously told Al Jazeera.

“I think, again, because it suits them domestically to talk about security threats to the Indian nation, rather than the actual measure of threat on the ground from the movement.”



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Matthew Mahrer, who made threats against NYC synagogue, is Jewish, kin of a Holocaust survivor: lawyer

One of two men accused of plotting to attack New York City synagogues is Jewish and the grandson of a Holocaust survivor, his attorney claimed in court Saturday.

Matthew Mahrer, 22, was ordered held on $150,000 bail at his arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court on charges of criminal possession of a weapon though his lawyer asked that he be released on his own recognizance.

“There are a lot of questions here,” defense attorney Brandon Freycint said of Mahrer, who has allegedly been diagnosed with autism, bipolar disorder, anxiety and ADHD.

“My client is of Jewish heritage. He resides with his parents and his grandfather is actually a 93-year-old Holocaust survivor — and my client is a part-time caretaker,” Freycinet said.

Mahrer and pal Christopher Brown were busted Friday on the Long Island Rail Road with brown carrying weapons and a Nazi armband, according to police sources. 

Cops searched Maher’s searched seized a loaded handgun with an extended magazine and a bulletproof vest from Mahrer’s Upper West Side apartment that he and a buddy allegedly planned to use in a synagogue attack, prosecutors said.

Christopher Brown, who has a history of mental illness, made recent threats to synagogues in the New York area with Mahrer.
NYPD

Mahrer’s defense attorney, Brandon Freycinet, argued that his client has no criminal history and said he’s of “Jewish heritage.”

But Mahrer had no criminal record and his parents had cooperated with cops, his attorney said. The accused had spent time in homeless shelters before moving in with his parents about a year ago, the attorney added.

“Based on that, judge, my client should not be implicated in anything involving hatred towards his own people and his own religion,” he said.

Assistant District Attorney Emilio Hernandez said Mahrer and Brown traveled to Pennsylvania together and bought the gun “with intent to use it in an attack at a synagogue.”

The FBI and NYPD had been on the trail of Mahrer and Brown, a “diagnosed schizophrenic” who recently told family members that he wanted to go to New York and buy a gun, sources said.

“The parents of this defendant alerted police officers to the existence of a firearm within the backpack of the defendant inside the defendant’s apartment,” Hernandez said.

Prosecutors claimed the pair were aware that police were looking for them and decided to leave the firearm in the backpack in the apartment.

Mahrer’s parents were in the gallery for the arraignment. As the defense attorney spoke of her son, her husband wrapped his arm around her shoulder. 

“He’s not what they are saying he is,” his mom told The Post outside the court. His father declined to comment.

Mahrer is due back in court Wednesday.

Brown, 21, is charged with making terroristic threats, aggravated harassment and criminal possession of a weapon, the NYPD said. He was not arraigned Saturday.

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