US JUSTICE IS AN ASS

Judge: Prosecutors can’t show Rittenhouse link to Proud Boys

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Kyle Rittenhouse appears in court for a motion hearing in Kenosha, Wis., on Friday, Sept. 17, 2021. Rittenhouse traveled from his home in Antioch, Ill., about 20 miles (32 kilometers) to Kenosha on Aug. 25, 2020, after seeing a post on social media for militia to protect businesses. Rittenhouse faces multiple charges in the August 2020 shootings in Kenosha. (Sean Krajacic/The Kenosha News via AP)

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A judge ruled Friday that prosecutors can’t argue that a man who shot three people during a protest against police brutality in Wisconsin is affiliated with the Proud Boys or that he attacked a woman months before the shootings, bolstering his position as he prepares for a politically charged trial.

Kyle Rittenhouse is set to stand trial beginning Nov. 1 on multiple counts, including homicide. The 18-year-old argues he opened fire in self-defense after the men attacked him. Prosecutors say they have infrared video from an FBI surveillance plane that shows Rittenhouse followed and confronted the first man he shot.

Kenosha was in the throes of several nights of chaotic demonstrations after a white police officer shot Jacob Blake, a Black man who was paralyzed from the waist down. Rittenhouse traveled from his home in Antioch, Illinois, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) to Kenosha on Aug. 25, 2020, in response to a call on social media to protect businesses there.

Rittenhouse shot Joseph Rosenbaum, Anthony Huber and Gaige Grosskreutz with an AR-style semiautomatic rifle, killing Rosenbaum and Huber and wounding Grosskreutz. Conservatives across the country have rallied around Rittenhouse, raising $2 million to cover his bail. Black Lives Matter supporters have painted him as a trigger-happy racist.

During a hearing Friday on several motions, Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger asked to argue at trial that Rittenhouse subscribes to the Proud Boys’ white supremacist philosophies and violent tactics. Binger pointed out that Rittenhouse was seen at a bar with members of the white nationalist group’s Wisconsin chapter in January and traveled to Miami days later to meet the group’s national president.

Binger also asked the judge to allow evidence that Rittenhouse attacked a woman in June 2020 as she was fighting his sister. He also wants to show jurors video from 15 days before the shootings in which Rittenhouse said he would like to shoot some men he thought were shoplifting from a pharmacy.

Binger said Rittenhouse’s affiliation with the Proud Boys, the fight and the video show Rittenhouse’s propensity toward violence. He described Rittenhouse as a “chaos tourist” and “teenage vigilante” who came to Kenosha looking for trouble.

Rittenhouse attorney Corey Chirafisi countered that none of the events are relevant to the shootings. Nothing shows Rittenhouse was connected to the Proud Boys on the night of the protest or that the shootings were racially motivated, Chirafisi said, pointing out that Rittenhouse and the men he shot were white.

Kenosha County Circuit Judge Bruce Schroeder agreed with the defense about the June fight and interactions Rittenhouse has had with the Proud Boys. He deferred a decision on the pharmacy video but said he was inclined to exclude it.

It was during discussion about that video that Binger said prosecutors have infrared surveillance footage that he said shows Rittenhouse chasing Rosenbaum, who was the first person Rittenhouse shot.

Rittenhouse attorney Mark Richards maintained it was Rosenbaum who started chasing Rittenhouse, yelling out, “Kill him!” He said Rosenbaum cornered Rittenhouse in front of a row of cars in a parking lot and threw a bag at him before trying to grab Rittenhouse’s gun.

Binger said the surveillance footage shows Rittenhouse chasing Rosenbaum with a fire extinguisher before Rosenbaum turned to confront him. Binger said Rosenbaum was probably trying to push the barrel of Rittenhouse’s rifle away.

After Rittenhouse shot Rosenbaum, people in the streets began chasing him. Video from the night of the protests shows Rittenhouse shot Huber after Huber hit him with a skateboard and tried to grab his gun. Grosskreutz then approached Rittenhouse with a gun and Rittenhouse shot him.

Schroeder denied a defense request to argue that Rosenbaum was trying to steal Rittenhouse’s rifle because Rosenbaum was a sex offender and couldn’t legally possess a firearm.

He delayed ruling on defense requests to dismiss a charge that Rittenhouse possessed his gun illegally because he was a minor and to allow testimony from an expert on police use-of-force. He set another hearing for Oct. 5.

___

Associated Press writers Michael Tarm in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and Doug Glass in Minneapolis contributed to this report.

CAPITALI$M IS ADDICTION

Use of OxyContin profits to fight opioids formally approved

FILE - This Feb. 19, 2013, file photo shows OxyContin pills arranged for a photo at a pharmacy in Montpelier, Vt. A judge formally approved a plan Friday, Sept. 17, 2021 to turn OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma into a new company no longer owned by members of the Sackler family and with its profits going to fight the opioid epidemic. A U.S. bankruptcy court judge signed the plan Friday, more than two weeks after giving it preliminary approval. (AP Photo/Toby Talbot, File)

A judge formally approved a plan Friday to turn OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma into a new company no longer owned by members of the Sackler family and with its profits going to fight the opioid epidemic.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain officially confirmed the reorganization Friday, more than two weeks after he announced he would do so pending two largely technical changes to the plan presented by the company and hashed out with lawyers representing those with claims against the company.

His confirmation took more than six hours to read in court earlier this month, and the written version is 159 pages long, full of reasoning that appeals courts can consider later. Several states among other parties have already appealed the decision.

The deal resolves some 3,000 lawsuits filed by state and local governments, Native American tribes, unions, hospitals and others who claimed the company’s marketing of prescription opioids helped spark and continue an overdose epidemic linked to more than 500,000 deaths in the U.S. in the last two decades.

The plan will use company profits and $4.5 billion in cash and charitable assets from members of the Sackler family to pay some individual victims amounts expected to range from $3,500 to $48,000, and help fund opioid treatment and prevention programs across the U.S.

Members of the Sackler family are also required to get out of the opioid business worldwide in time.

Millions of company documents, including communications with company lawyers, are to be made public.

The changes are to take effect when the bankruptcy process is finalized; the earliest that could be is in December.

The attorneys generals from the states of Connecticut, Maryland, Washington and the District of Columbia, as well as the U.S. Bankruptcy Trustee have all announced appeals. Their chief objection is that members of the wealthy Sackler family would be granted protection from lawsuits over opioids.

For many people in recovery from opioid addictions or who have lost loved ones to overdoses, the deal is infuriating.

Ellen Isaacs, a mother whose son died from an overdose, filed court papers requesting Drain not accept the plan. At a hearing on Monday, she gave a passionate some sometimes tearful 40-minute speech on her request. Like other activists, she asserted that Sackler family members — who have never been charged with criminal wrongdoing — are getting away with crimes, and that politicians and courts are not doing enough to end the opioid epidemic.

“The attorneys are playing games on paper and humans are dying,” she said.

Drain said the money from the settlement would help avert more deaths, even if it will come too late for Isaacs’ son.

“I did not become a judge to get things wrong,” he told her.

He stood by his confirmation of the plan.

At the hearing, Drain also said he would approve a request from Purdue to use nearly $7 million to start setting up the funds that will distribute settlement money to victims, government entities and others. He also, for the third year, approved a plan of incentive payments for Purdue executives if they meet certain goals.

US Study: Rising number of parents refuse HPV vaccine for adolescent children



Growing numbers of parents and caregivers are refusing the HPV vaccine for their adolescent children, according to a study of the newest data available. File Photo by rawpixel/Pixabay

Sept. 17 (UPI) -- An increasing number parents in the United States are refusing to vaccinate their adolescent children against HPV because of concerns about the safety of the shot, a study published Friday by JAMA Network Open found.

Just over 23% of parents surveyed in 2018, the most recent year for which data is available, said they would not have their adolescent children inoculated against HPV, or the human papillomavirus, citing safety concerns, the data showed.


Three years earlier, 13% of responding parents said they would reject the vaccine on behalf of their children.

The increase in HPV vaccine refusal coincided with a 33% decline in the number of vaccine-related side effects reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention over the same period, according to the researchers.

"This growing perception that the vaccine is not safe seems unfounded when we look at vaccine safety surveillance data," study co-author Kalyani Sonawane told UPI in an email.

"The HPV vaccine has been around for more than a decade -- it can prevent six HPV-associated cancers. Multiple studies suggest that it is safe" said Sonawane, an assistant professor of management, policy and community health at UTHealth School of Public Health in Houston.

HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States, with 43 million cases in 2018 alone, the CDC estimates.

RELATED HPV vaccination is lowering U.S. cervical cancer rates

Most of these infections occur in people in their late teens or early 20s, and those with the virus are at increased risk for cancers of the vagina, penis, anus and throat, given that it is spread through sexual contact, according to the agency.

The Food and Drug Administration approved the first HPV vaccine, Gardasil, in 2006, before green-lighting an improved version, called Gardasil 9, in 2014.

The newer version of the vaccine is designed to protect against nine types of HPV, and it has been shown as nearly 90% effective at preventing persistent infection, genital warts, vulvar and vaginal precancerous lesions, cervical precancerous lesions, and cervical cancer, according to the FDA.

RELATED Too few young men have received HPV vaccine, experts say

The CDC recommends HPV vaccination at age 11 or 12, and those who are not inoculated by that age recommended to get the shot until age 26.

While the vaccine has been approved for use by people up to age 45, the agency recommends people older than 26 discuss it's necessity with their doctors.

Up to two-thirds of those eligible to receive the HPV vaccine in the United States have done so, the CDC estimates, though public health officials believe that about 80% will need to be inoculated to limit the spread of the virus, Sonawane said.

For this study, Sonawane and her colleagues analyzed data on more than 39,000 responses to a national survey of parents and caregivers that assessed their attitudes toward vaccination for their children.

They focused on survey responses collected between 2015 and 2018, and compared them with reports of vaccine-related side effects recorded by the CDC over the same period.

Over the four-year period, HPV vaccine hesitancy rose in 30 states, with the largest increases -- more than 200% -- seen in California, Hawaii, South Dakota and Mississippi.

Parental attitudes toward vaccines, such as the measles-mumps-rubella shots currently recommended for children, have remained relatively consistent in recent years, with nearly 90% supporting their use, according to Pew Research.

However, over the past year, vaccine hesitancy has been at the forefront of the pandemic response in the United States, as more than half of the respondents to another Pew survey feel that there is too much pressure on people to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

Just under 64% of those eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine nationally are fully vaccinated, CDC figures show.

While the new data on HPV vaccine hesitancy predates the COVID-19 pandemic, some researchers have suggested that overall vaccine hesitancy in the United States has played a role for those not yet vaccinated against the coronavirus.

"Vaccine hesitancy was acknowledged as one of the top 10 threats to public health by the World Health Organization in 2019 and anti-vaccination communities in the U.S. are more active than ever," Sonawane said.

"We believe that exposure to misleading claims regarding HPV vaccine safety on online forums and through mainstream media might have led to an increase in HPV vaccine hesitancy," she said.

Google honors green tea researcher Michiyo Tsujimura with a new Doodle



Google is paying homage to educator and biochemist Michiyo Tsujimura with a new Doodle. Image courtesy of Google

Sept. 17 (UPI) -- Google is celebrating educator and biochemist Michiyo Tsujimura, who researched the nutritional benefits of green tea, with a new Doodle.

Google's homepage on Friday features artwork of Tsujimura studying green tea inside of a lab. The Doodle was created in honor of her 133rd birthday.

Tsujimura was born on this day in 1888 in the Okegawa, Saitama Prefecture of Japan. She studied Japanese silkworms at Hokkaido Imperial University in 1920 before she transferred to Tokyo Imperial University to study the biochemistry of green tea.

Tsujimura worked with Dr. Umetaro Suzuki, who had previously discovered vitamin B1. The duo found that green tea contained high amounts of vitamin C.

Tsujimura isolated catechin, a bitter ingredient of tea in 1929 and then later isolated the more bitter compound tannin. The findings helped her form her doctoral thesis titled "On the Chemical Components of Green Tea."

The researcher graduated as Japan's first woman doctor of agriculture in 1932 and became the first Dean of the Faculty of Home Economics at Tokyo Women's Higher Normal School in 1950.

A stone memorial made in honor of Tsujimura is located in Okegawa City.

Russian art trove and its tortured history comes to Paris

Issued on: 18/09/2021 - 12:08Mikhail and Ivan Morozov, born into a textile dynasty in the 1870s, went to Paris and came back with treasures that were barely recognised as such at the time, including French painter Pierre Bonnard 

GEOFFROY VAN DERHASSELT AFP

Paris (AFP)

The line-up at the Louis Vuitton Foundation's new exhibition in Paris reads like a who's who of artistic giants from the Belle Epoque: Van Gogh, Picasso, Monet, Matisse, Cezanne...

What is most surprising is that they all come from one collection -- a pair of Russian brothers from the late 19th century who just happened to have an absurdly good eye for who would become the geniuses of their generation.

Mikhail and Ivan Morozov, born into a textile dynasty in the 1870s, went to Paris and came back with treasures -- Manet, Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec, Rodin -- that were barely recognised as such at the time.

Indeed, Mikhail was the first to bring Van Gogh and Gauguin paintings to Russia.

Some 200 of their portraits, sculptures and photographs will be on show at the Louis Vuitton Foundation from Wednesday, on loan from Russian museums.

They had a torturous route through the 20th century -- surviving revolution and years hidden away after World War II.

The new exhibition in Paris has also had its troubles, delayed three times by the pandemic and finally starting a year late.

But it promises to be another successful borrowing from the Russian archives, following the museum's mammoth success with the Shchukin exhibition in 2016-17.

That show -- a similar treasure trove compiled by a contemporary of the Morozov brothers -- drew 1.29 million visitors to the Louis Vuitton Foundation, which it said made it the most successful show in France for half a century.

No doubt much attention will go to the work by Van Gogh, who gets a room apart for his little-known late work "Prisoners Exercising", featuring a familiar ginger-haired figure staring at the viewer, a self-portrait snuck into the grim setting.

- Exile and recovery -

Mikhail Morozov's high living brought him an early death at 33, though he had already amassed 39 masterpieces.

His brother Ivan picked up the baton and became one of the world's great collectors.

But it all came crashing down with the Communist revolution of 1917 in Russia.

Ivan was reduced to being "assistant curator" of his own collection as his home became a state museum, before soon fleeing into exile.

Later, the paintings were sent into hiding in the Ural mountains when the Nazis invaded in 1941.

They spent years out there, fairly well preserved by temperatures that often fell to minus-40 degrees, and it was only in the late 1950s that the Soviet government dug them out and sent them to the Tretyakov, Pushkin and Hermitage collections.

"The Morozov Collection: Icons Of Modern Art" is at the Louis Vuitton Foundation until February 22.

© 2021 AFP

'Frankenstein' first edition sells for a record $1.17 million at auction



Auction house Christie's said an 1818 first edition of Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" sold for $1.17 million in an auction, said to be a new world record for a printed work by a woman. Photo courtesy of Christie's

Sept. 15 (UPI) -- A first edition of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein set a new world record for a printed work by a woman when it was auctioned for $1.17 million.

The three-volume copy of Frankenstein, which still bears its original boards from its 1818 printing, had been projected to sell for $200,000 to $300,000 by auction house Christie's, but the sale closed with a top bid many times that estimate

The sum was reported by Fine Books Magazine to be a new world record for the highest price fetched by a printed work by a woman.

Christie's said the edition was one of only 500 printed in Frankenstein's first run, and the copy sold was the first to be offered for auction since 1985.

Sotheby's to auction only remaining first-run, private copy of U.S. Constitution



The Goldman Constitution is seen at Sotheby's in New York City on Friday. The auction house estimates the document will fetch $15-$20 million on Nov. 23. 

Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

Sept. 17 (UPI) -- The only remaining copy of the original printing of the U.S. Constitution in private hands is expected to fetch up to $20 million when it heads to auction in November, Sotheby's announced Friday.

The auction house in New York City put the historical document on display Friday to mark Constitution Day, 234 years after it was written. The document will be on display through Sunday.

Philanthropist and educator Dorothy Tapper Goldman, who is the only private owner of a first-edition copy, is selling it to benefit her foundation, which is dedicated to educating the public on democracy.

"The Goldman Constitution ranks as one of the most rare and coveted historical documents that has ever come to auction," said Selby Kiffer, international senior specialist in Sotheby's Books and Manuscripts Department.

"To present a document of this significance in an auction during Sotheby's Evening sales this November spotlights how critical the Constitution remains as a foundational source for our understanding of democracy and the American spirit, which will always have universal appeal that transcends categories."

The Goldman Constitution is seen at Sotheby's in New York City on Friday. Philanthropist Dorothy Tapper Goldman, who is the only private owner of a first-edition copy, is selling it to benefit her foundation, which is dedicated to educating the public on democracy. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI

The auction house estimates the Goldman Constitution will fetch $15-$20 million. It's one of only 11 known copies of the official printing of the document that was produced for delegates of the Constitutional Convention and the Continental Congress.

The document will go up for auction Nov. 23, followed by a group of another 80 constitutional and related documents. An online sale starting that night and running Dec. 2 will include more rare works.

Goldman said her copy of the Constitution was one of her husband's "dearest possessions."

"When it passed to me, I felt an incredible sense of responsibility to care for it, to share it, and to promote our nation's Constitutional principles," she said.

"Through the sale of the collection, we look forward to continuing to contribute to our mission of civics education and a greater understanding of the founding documents."

Pfizer recalls anti-smoking drug Chantix due to potential carcinogen
By HealthDay News

Pfizer announced Friday it is recalling all lots of its anti-smoking drug Chantix due to levels of a potential carcinogen in the medication, though the company said it poses no immediate risk for users. 

File Photo by ChameleonsEye/Shutterstock

Pfizer is expanding the recall of its anti-smoking drug Chantix, also known as varenicline, the company announced Friday.

The nationwide recall of all Chantix 0.5 mg and 1 mg tablets was prompted because they may contain levels of a nitrosamine, N-nitroso-varenicline, that are at or above levels approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Long-term ingestion of N-nitroso-varenicline may be linked to a "theoretical potential increased cancer risk in humans," the company said, adding that no immediate risk to patients taking Chantix exists.

"The health benefits of stopping smoking outweigh the theoretical potential cancer risk from the nitrosamine impurity in varenicline," Pfizer said in its statement.

Nitrosamines are common in water and foods -- including cured and grilled meats, dairy products and vegetables -- so everyone is exposed to some level of these chemicals.

Patients taking Chantix should consult with their doctor about other treatment options. So far, Pfizer has received no reports of adverse events tied to this recall, the company stated.More information

For more on the Chantix recall, visit the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Copyright © 2021 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Study Links Chantix to Suicide Risk, but FDA Disagrees

https://www.webmd.com/smoking-cessation/news/20111103/study-links...

Study Links Chantix to Suicide Risk, but FDA Disagrees. Researchers Say Anti-Smoking Drug Is Linked to Risk of Suicide; FDA and Drugmaker Disagree. Nov. 3, 2011 -- Just over a week after federal ...

• Estimated Reading Time: 4 mins

Foes, allies send fuel to ease crisis in Lebanon

By Dalal Saoud

A woman prepares dinner in her kitchen by candlelight Saturday in Beirut, Lebanon, where fuel shortages have led to power blackouts.

 Photo by Nabil Mounzer/EPA-EFE

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- Fuel shipments have begun arriving in Lebanon, the efforts of foes and allies, to ease a shortage that has crippled life for months with limited electricity and gasoline.

Tankers from Iraq and Iran are rolling in, while the United States is sponsoring long-term solutions by transporting natural gas from Egypt.

Dozens of trucks carrying Iranian diesel crossed Thursday from Syria through an unofficial border crossing into northeastern Lebanon in the first delivery organized by the powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah.

The convoy was greeted by a jubilant crowd that lined the road in Al Ain village, including women clad in black and children, waving Hezbollah flags. Men fired gunshots and rocket-propelled grenades.

Banners that read "You Broke Their Siege," "From Victory to Victory" and "Thank you Islamic Iran, Thank You Assad's Syria" were raised.

Instead of docking in Beirut as Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah previously threatened in clear defiance of the United States and Israel, the first ship carrying the Iranian fuel to Lebanon headed to the Syrian port of Banyias to discharge its shipment. The move was meant to avoid "provoking anyone," Nasrallah said Monday, announcing the arrival of more such ships carrying petrol and diesel.

The fuel will be distributed free of charge to government hospitals, orphanages, nursing homes, municipalities, civil defense and the Lebanese Red Cross. Other institutions, including mills, bakeries and some private hospitals, will receive the rest at "below cost."

Lebanon received another boost when the first shipment of Iraqi fuel, which will help increase electricity availability by four to six hours a day, arrived in Lebanon on Wednesday.

Last July, Lebanon and Iraq finalized a fuel barter deal under which Baghdad will provide the state-run Lebanese electricity company, Electricite du Liban, with 1 million tons of heavy fuel oil over a one-year period.

The Iranian and Iraqi fuel will help ease Lebanon's acute fuel crisis. However, it will not solve the country's chronic power shortages or fix its acute electricity problem.

Transporting Egyptian natural gas through the Arab Gas Pipeline and possibly Jordanian electricity has recently emerged as a more secure long-term option.

Discussions to secure the Egyptian gas to Lebanon through Syria have been underway for months, with apparent acceptance from Washington and Jordan, which has excess electricity production capacity, the driving force behind it.

The discussions began to take formal shape when a Lebanese ministerial delegation visited Damascus on Sept. 4, with the implicit approval of Washington, for the first time in a decade. The energy ministers of Jordan, Egypt, Syria and Lebanon met in Amman a few days later to discuss the gas and electricity transit to Lebanon.

That would not have been possible without U.S. willingness to loosen restrictions under the 2019 Caesar Act that sanctions any dealing with the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Walid Khadduri, a Beirut-based oil and gas expert, said efforts to help Lebanon solve its energy crisis is being "worked on several levels."

"While Iraq and Iran oil have come, the gas from Egypt will take some time," depending on the status of the pipeline in Syria, Khadduri told UPI. "The gas from Egypt is the best option because you cannot smuggle gas and mafias cannot store it. It will go directly to the power station" in Deir Ammar in northern Lebanon.

He explained that the Iraqi agreement is for one year, and theoretically the 1 million tons of fuel oil should cover enough of Lebanese fuel demands but "don't know how much it will be smuggled to Syria, stored or stolen by the mafias."

Lebanon's severe fuel shortages have been partly blamed on smugglers who actively sneaked the country's subsidized supplies into Syria.

While the Iranian fuel was reportedly paid for by Lebanese Shiite traders close to Hezbollah and the Iraqi fuel will be in exchange for Lebanese medical services, the cost of the Egyptian gas will be covered through the World Bank, which closely coordinates with the United States on the matter.

"So Lebanon is not paying anything," Khadduri said. He, however, noted that "nobody gives oil for free."

Although the new fuel sources will not fulfill Lebanon's whole needs, it will close "a big gap" and the long queues at the gasoline stations and power cuts will be less.

Khadduri added that the three fuel sources came at the same time with different groups: the United States on one hand securing the gas from Egypt via the World Bank; Iraq signing a barter agreement with Lebanon; and Iran, through Hezbollah, securing diesel fuel and gasoline.

"It is rather strange that they are taking place at the same time and didn't start earlier," he said. "It is more than a coincidence... it is a competition with each one taking a different role: one gasoline, one gas and one heavy fuel... and so it is complementary."

Riad Tabbarah, Lebanon's former ambassador in Washington, said "there is an agreement" to avoid Lebanon's total collapse and "not let things go out of control and lead to militias re-emerging and a war with Israel."

"Would the Iranian ships [carrying fuel to Lebanon] cross the Suez Canal, sail in the Mediterranean Sea and reach the Baniyas port in Syria while trucks move the fuel from Syria to inside Lebanon... all that without an agreement?" Tabbarah told UPI. "Why they [the United States] turned a blind eye on that at a time Israel continues to bombard Iranian positions in Syria?"

He referred to "a new situation to ease things in the region within an international framework, but this has nothing to do with Iran-U.S. nuclear negotiations, which are at a much higher level, dealing with issues such as the ballistic missiles."

Tabbarah said the Egypt gas deal has been in the making for months and was being "arranged at different levels."

"Everyone plays its role, and when Nasrallah's turn came, he brought the Iranian fuel to Lebanon," he said.

Beating video puts Bulgaria police violence in spotlight

Issued on: 18/09/2021 - 

CCTV footage showing Bulgarian student Evgeni Marchev, 23, being beaten by police at a demonstration has put the issue under the spotlight

 Nikolay DOYCHINOV AFP

Sofia (AFP)

A series of blows and then blackness: Bulgarian student Evgeni Marchev was taking part in his first demonstration in Sofia when police detained and beat him until he lost consciousness.

The incident in July 2020 passed largely unnoticed until last month when CCTV footage of it was shown in parliament and then published in the media.

Despite a long history of police violence going unpunished in the EU country, the images have caused deep shock.

Marchev's case -- like others before it -- may well have remained overlooked.

Since 2000, the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has condemned Bulgaria in 46 cases related to the use of force by police or inadequate investigation of alleged abuses.

Only Romania, whose population is three times bigger than Bulgaria's 6.9 million people, did worse, with 64 condemnations.

However in response to police violence during mass anti-graft protests just over a year ago, Bulgaria's parliament has set up a committee to look into it.

Thousands rallied mainly in Sofia against three-time prime minister Boyko Borisov who has been in office for almost a decade.

He has since been unable to clinch another term after two elections this year returned a fragmented parliament with no one party able to form a coalition government.

A snap poll has been set for November to try to resolve the political crisis.

- 'You will die' -

On July 10, 2020, Marchev attended one of the big anti-Borisov demonstrations with friends in front of the prime minister's office.

When suddenly bottles were hurled at police, they responded by grabbing the 23-year-old and other protesters from the crowd to drag them into the shadows of the government building, where they handcuffed and beat them with fists and kicks, the CCTV showed.

"A policeman kept saying: 'You will die.' I was terrified," Marchev, who remotely studies European law at a Dutch university, told AFP.

The incident in July 2020 went largely unnoticed until CCTV footage of it was shown in parliament and published in the media

 Handout BULGARIAN PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE ON POLICE VIOLENCE/AFP

He blacked out and was hospitalised with concussion.

The beating still haunts him today, he said, adding that he didn't do anything to provoke the police.

Probing the protest violence a year later, lawyer and parliamentary committee chairman Nikolay Hadjigenov dug out CCTV footage -- previously unseen by the public -- of Marchev's arrest.

The video shown in the committee and released to the media "sincerely shocked" the country, Hadjigenov said.

Sofia prosecutors responded saying a probe had been opened in late 2020 into three out of 15 initial complaints of police violence during the protests.

The chief prosecutor Ivan Geshev also denounced the "unacceptable violence", although he had previously defended police actions during the protests that also targeted him personally.

- 'Old totalitarian reflex' -

Lawyer Mihail Ekimdjiev, who has represented many Bulgarian victims of police violence at the ECHR, said impunity stemmed from the country's communist past.

The prosecution has long showed "solidarity (with the police) in line with the old totalitarian reflex", he told AFP.

The signal, he said, was to discourage protests, adding it was clear that "anyone who finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time can be mistreated by those who are supposed to protect us."

Bulgaria's parliament set up a committee to probe police violence during last year's mass anti-graft protests

 Nikolay DOYCHINOV AFP

Past cases have seen police cleared or freed due to the statute of limitations expiring.

They included a Roma man who died in detention in 1998, another Roma who choked during an arrest and a man killed when police fired grenades at his house while trying to arrest him.

The ECHR condemned Bulgaria in all three cases.

"What clearly distinguishes Bulgaria (from other countries with police violence) is the impunity," said Krasimir Kanev, chairman of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee human rights group.

- No longer 'alone' -

The parliamentary committee this week published a list of proposals to reform law and order and end police impunity, including introducing checks and controls.

But it will now fall to MPs elected later in the year to take up the proposed changes.

Marchev says he doesn't hold out much hope from any prosecution probe but is relieved a public discussion is now under way.

Before the video sparked an outcry, he had spoken out about the beating and said he'd felt "alone".

Before the video sparked an outcry, Marchev said he'd felt 'alone' Nikolay DOYCHINOV AFP

Other victims did not, often "for fear" of jeopardising their work and future, he said.

"I had started to ask myself if I had not been exaggerating," he said, having faced accusations in the media and on social networks of "slandering police and staining Bulgaria's image".

But, he insisted, he did not regret his actions. "The battle will be long, the road to true democracy is strewn with many difficulties."

© 2021 AFP