accounts of diamond merchants as though it
were their
profits and is later transferred to Colonibia.
Sophisticated diamond deals are made between various parties with the
aiin of "releasing" large amounts of money on the side. Sums of less than
$10,000 are
deposited in various bank accounts, converted into travelers' checks
and then transported to their final destination.
But in spite of the ingenuity, undoubtedly one of the most popular and
successful ways to launder money is through Jewish religious
institutions, such as yeshivas and synagogues. Since the majority of the
47th Street gold and
diamond merchants are religious Jews the process is made easier. The
Jewish religious institutions badly need funds. The Colombian drug traders
can be
generous. They transfer their drug money as donations, which go to the
Jewish religious institutions one way and come out by the other way back to
the
donors. On the way, the synagogue or yeshiva obtains a respectable
percentage for its pious uses. Everyone is happy, the drug barons who
launder their
money quickly and efficiently and the synagogue or yeshiva which makes
easy money.
The first laundering operation in which a Jewish institute in New York
was involved was exposed in 1984. A ring which laundered about $23 million
while
making a profit of $2 million operated at the oldest yeshiva in the
city, Tifereth Yerushalayim, located in Manhattan. The laundering was
performed for the
Kali cartel. The contact man was David Va'anunu, mentioned in the
context of the Prism affair, who worked with the cartel's major launderer,
Jose Satro.
The yeshiva's representative was a very pious Hassid, Mendel
Goldenberger, who daily received cash from Va'anunu and deposited the money
in the
yeshiva's accounts.
Goldenberger, who claimed not to have known the source of the money,
was convicted of forging bank documents and given five years' suspended
imprisonment. Va'anunu was convicted, sentenced to eight years'
imprisonment but released much earlier after he became an informer for the
DEA. Later, as
was stated, he ran into trouble again and fled the US. Nine persons
were convicted in that affair, including Rabbi Israel Eidelman, Vice
President of the
yeshiva and some of its dignitaries. Tiferet Yer-ushalayim faced
financial difficulties at that time. It leaders attempted to maintain the
students by paying them
from the laundered drug profits.
The phenomenon, incidentally, is very common among New York Jews. Many
Jewish congregations are dying because their members are leaving the city or
their former neighborhoods. Thus, the congregations are losing their
sources of income and facing large debts. In that situation the road is
short for the
synagogue or yeshiva to launder drug money as a pious duty, since it
means easy money and lots of it. "Laundering money is extremely beneficial
to the
yeshivas and other Jewish religious institutions," said a source close
to the investigation. "They are in a difficult situation and therefore they
turn a blind eye to
the drug problem. They don't ask what the source of the money is as
long as it keeps coming in."
The attitude of the pious Jewish community, according to the same
source, is: "Drugs are sold anyway. As long as it does not harm our own
community and
only does good for it, it doesn't matter if we benefit from drug
trade." The role of the Israelis is, in many cases, to make the connection
between the religious
Jewish communities of New York and the Colombians.
The Colombians are more satisfied with this method of laundering than
with any other because, for political reasons, it is a relatively secure way
of which it
could be initially assumed that it was not going to be forcibly
investigated by the US authorities. Only in July 1990 the situation began to
change.
The Federal authorities renewed an investigation of some Williamsburg
Hassids, owners of jewelry shops on 47th Street, who were suspected of
laundering
drug money. The investigation focused on the brothers Naftali, Naiklosh
and Yitzhak Slilesinger, and on Ya'akov Shlesinger (Naftali's son) and Milon
Jakloby, his nephew. The investigators found evidence of close
connections between the Slilesingers and the Andonian brothers, members of a
Colombian
family accused of laundering, almost one billion dollars. The
Shlesingers were suspected of laundering money by means of a subsidiary
called Bali, through
checks drawn from the account of "Camp Yereim" ["Camp of the Pious]" -
a Hassidic summer camp in the Catskills.
Camp Yereim denies any connection with these checks. On April 7 of this
year, Rabbi Abraham Lau, a prominent Hassid from "Magen Abraham" synagogue
in Los Angeles was convicted of conspiring to launder drug money. Lau
is married to the niece of the Satmar Rebbe, Moshe Teitlebaumi, who wields
enormous political influence in New York State.
Unfortunately, Lau told an undercover FBI agent about a "sacred
network" of Satmar Hassids in which other Orthodox Jews had also
participated. The
"sacred network", whose membership was strictly limited to pious Jews,
operated in the 47th Street area in New York and was capable of laundering
up to
$5 million weekly, thanks to its widespread contacts with Jewish
charitable institutions.
Unfortunately, law enforcement agents in New York do not believe that
the "sacred network" and the many other Jewish laundering rings have any
sanctity.
In the past year the Federal activity concerning Israelis and Jews on
47th Street has greatly increased. The investigators now employ the services
of many
Hebrew translators since the rings, even if composed of native American
Jews, employ only "the sacred language" for their operations.
Aharon Sharir is, undoubtedly, the major Israeli launderer. He was born
in Iraq about 45 years ago, immigrated to Israel with his family at the age
of one
year, graduated from an Israeli high school, served with distinction in
the army and became an expert in fixing delicate mechanical instruments used
to mend
gold jewelry. In 1979, Sharir came to New York on a tourist visa with
$6,000 in his pocket. He went into the gold business, established a small
plant for
manufacturing gold jewelry and did well. Then, through another Israeli
diamond trader, he discovered the laundering business. Sharir reached a
laundering
activity of about $160,000 per day, six days per week (laundering is
not done on the Sabbath), but in 1985 his wings were clipped when he was
accused of
having swindled a New York bank to the tune of $3 million. He quickly
returned the money and was sentenced to a fine and a suspended prison
sentence.
In 1988 Sharir's laundering activities reached amazing heights. His
gold shop on 47tll Street became one of the greatest laundering centers in
the entire US.
"Three times a week," Sharir told the court at one of the many trials
in which he is now testifying, "we received the cash. It used to arrive in
canvas sacks, in
cardboard boxes or in suitcases. Sometimes there were a million dollars
in one shipment."
Roy Lopez, representing the Colombian cartels, would arrive from Miami
equipped with a document sent from Colombia which contained detailed coded
instructions about where to send the money. "Even with automatic
money-counting machines it was difficult to count the money," Sharir
testified. "It arrived in
bills of 5, 10 and 20 dollars. The bills, most of which had been used
to sniff cocaine, had a strong odor of coke. A real stink. My employees
could not stand
it. Every 2-3 hours they had to take a break, go out for some fresh
air, so as not to get ill."
Sharir's role was to see to it that the money would be transported out
of the US and arrive in the bank accounts of the Colombian cartels in Panama
and in
Colombia. For that purpose he deposited money into his bank accounts,
as though it was his profits from the shop, purchased assets for the use of
the drug
cartels, bought and sold gold at inflated prices from merchants who
were part of the conspiracy and concealed money through various
manipulations.
Finally, all the money was turned into checks drawn on the accounts of
Jewish religious institutions. Sharir received from the Colombians 6 percent
of the
turnover for his labors. Within a short period of time he moved with
his family to a luxurious house in Woodmere, on Long Island. He purchased a
luxury
Jaguar car, showered his wife Miryam with expensive jewels and donated
lavishly to Jewish charities.
The troubles began in late 1988. In December his shop was raided by
American customs and internal revenue agents, after they received notice
from his
banks concerning the volume of his deposits. They brought dogs to sniff
out drugs, carried out a meticulous search of the offices and took away cars
fall of
documents. Sharir did no lose his cool. While the agents were milling
around his offices, he managed to conceal $600,000 which were in his bank
account at
the time and to transfer the money to a safe place. Simultaneously,
Sharir fell out with his Colombian operators who claimed that he stole $26
million of their
drug money. Sharir, who denied the accusation, hired an Israeli
professional investigator, Lihu Ichilov, to solve the mystery. Ichilov soon
became Sharir's
partner. He flew to Panama, established two dummy corporations there,
opened bank accounts and improved the laundering routes.
Following the Federal agents' raid on his offices Sharir did not give
up.Within two weeks he opened two other offices on 47th Street and resumed
work.
When asked by one of his lawyers how he had expected to escape the
attentions of the law, Sharir replied: "I changed my system and believed
that now, with
God's help, I would never be caught." Sharir's new system included
Rabbi Yosef Crozet whom we discussed earlier. Crozer's big mouth brought
Sharir
down, and he was arrested in March 1990. Crozer also led to Sharir
confessing to having laundered $200 million. His wife Miryam was arrested
together
with him. Sharir, under the pressure of the interrogation, agreed to
cooperate in exchange for his wife's release and the cancellation of the
charges against her.
The prosecution agreed.
It was an extremely good deal as far as the prosecution was concerned.
For three months Sharir fed the Federal investigators with most valuable
information
concerning the Jewish laundering industry. The information included
names, methods of operation, codes, and bank accounts. Sharir led them to
the exposure
of what is termed the new "cocaine triangle".
His information led to the incrimination of more than 35 Jewish
launderers, the capture of $10 million and the breakup of numerous Jewish
laundering rings.
Among others, Sharir incriminated the biggest laundering shark in the
history of the US, Stephan Scorkia. The information given by Sharir, who
testified at his
trial, directly led to his conviction. Scorkia was charged with
laundering $300 million, and was sentenced to 660 years' imprisonment.
Sharir is now enrolled in the US witness protection program. He lives
under an assumed identity, has been released on bail, travels under heavy
security
between New York, Rhode Island, Arizona and other states, testifies in
criminal trials and goes on.
His wife Miryam divorced him shortly after the affair erupted. She
refuses to comment on the matter and told the Daily News: "I have no
intention of talking. I
divorced Aharon in order to distance myself from him and from his
friends, and that is exactly what I am doing."
Sharir was directly responsible for the flight of at least 35
Colombians from the US back to Colombia. One of the escapees was Duvan
Arbolda, one of the
Kali cartel's major launderers. Arbolda was charged in a Manhattan
court of laundering on a vast scale, following Sliarir's testimony. Afler he
completes his
testifying, Sharir himself will stand trial.
The prosecution will agree to a very low sentence, but this does not
improve his chances of survival. "At present, Aharon Sharir heads the Kali
cartel's
wanted list," said an American customs official. Charges have also been
served against Lihu Ichilov, Sharir's partner. However, Ichilov fled to
Israel on the
eve of his trial, in January 199 1. That was the period of the Gulf War
and the judge, Richard Owen, who tried Ichilov in absentia, said: "Mr.
Ichilov
apparently prefers to face the horror of Scud missiles falling on
Israel than the American justice system."
Note 1. The Satmar Hassidic sect fiercely opposes Zionism. The present
rabbi's uncle and predecessor (the position of a rabbi among the Hassids is
limited
to the members of "the sacred family"), Yoel Taitelbaum, had published
learned books in which Zionism was described as an invention of Satan,
Israeli
victories (especially the one in the Six Day War) were attributed
solely to the direct help given to the Israeli army, while the Holocaust was
being "justified" as
the Divine punishment of the Jews for the sin of some of them becoming
Zionists. The present rabbi, although formally continuing the teachings of
his uncle,
has the most amicable relations with the Israeli government.
=====================
CODOH - Box 439016/P-111, San Diego, CA, USA 92143
David Irving's Reply to Jeffrey Shallit's "Lies of Our Times"
Installed: 5/16/98, 6: 00 PM, PST
Last updated July 21, 1997
Calendar of Conspiracy: A Chronology of Anti-Government Extremist
Criminal
Activity, January to June 1997
A Militia Watchdog Special Report
INTRODUCTION
The following is a chronology of some of the events surrounding
anti-government criminal activity in the United States
during the first half of the year 1997. It illustrates both the scope
of such activity-from large-scale acts of terrorism to local
acts of harassment and intimidation-and its geographic extent-from
major cities like Los Angeles and New York to remote
rural areas in Texas and Montana. The chronology is not comprehensive.
Although all major events are included, no
systemized reporting system exists for smaller scale events. As a
result, arrests or convictions for charges such as placing
bogus liens, impersonating a public official or committing similar
offenses are considerably underrepresented in this report.
Such activities occur with a high level of frequency across the nation.
More than thirty-three states are listed in this report;
however, incidents are occurring in every state.
JANUARY
January 2, South Dakota: In Rapid City, South Dakota, "freeman" Bill
Huseby is bound over for trial. He is charged with
sending false documents to the Pennington county Sheriff's Office, a
former judge, and a private citizen; also, three
misdemeanor charges.
January 6, Washington: Seattle resident Richard Frank Burton, arrested
with eight other individuals last July on various
weapons and conspiracy charges, pleads guilty in U.S. District court to
one count of conspiracy and three other charges. His
wife, Caitlin Hansen, pleads guilty to one count of destroying and
concealing evidence. A third individual, Theodore Carter,
pleads guilty to one conspiracy charge and agrees to testify against
his fellow defendants. The three are part of a mixed
group of militia members and "sovereign citizens."
January 6, Oklahoma: Three common-law court advocates plead guilty in
Tulsa, Oklahoma, to a federal conspiracy charge.
Kenny Moore, Colleen Moore and Wayne Gunwall had filed bogus liens on
IRS agents to the amount of $7 million, and had
issued "citizens arrest warrants" against several federal officials.
The trial of another defendant, Dan Meador, begins on
January 8.
January 10, Oklahoma: Dan Meador is convicted of obstructing justice
and illegally communicating with a member of a
federal grand jury (see above).
January 13, Virginia: Two Mechanicsville, VA, residents are sentenced
to eighteen months in prison on tax evasion charges.
Jerry Martin and his wife Sadie Martin, Christian Identity adherents,
were "sovereign citizens" who denied the legal
existence of the United States.
January 16, Oregon: Common law court activist Charles Stewart, leader
of a Portland, Oregon group, tries "in absentia"
seven IRS agents at his Kangaroo court. Two weeks later, the "court"
rules that four of the agents should pay fines of
$100,000 each for seizing a Portland home. However, it was up to the
man whose home was seized to collect the money.
January 22, Georgia, North Carolina: District Attorney Albert Taylor,
Jr., prosecutor for the Enotah Circuit in Georgia, requests
and receives a "writ of non molestando" to stop a "sovereign citizen,"
Melvin Julius Robinson, from harassing him.
Robinson's actions included filing a $100 million frivolous lawsuit
against him and demanding that Taylor appear before the
"Our One Supreme Court" of Franklin, North Carolina. In response,
Taylor dusted off an ancient writ that probably had never
been used in the state to restrain Robinson from using the legal
process to "molest, vilify, obstruct, or hinder" the lawful
discharge of official duties.
January 24, Missouri: Five common law court advocates in Lincoln
County, Missouri, are sentenced to two years in prison
and a $5,000 fine, and a sixth, Dennis Logan, is sentenced to seven
years in prison and a $5,000 fine. The defendants were
charged with tampering with a judicial official-specifically, filing a
$10.8 million bogus lien against a judge to force him to
drop a speeding case involving the daughter of one of the defendants.
Nine other defendants, also convicted, have yet to be
sentenced.
January 24, Minnesota: Michael Moeller is charged in Winona County,
Minnesota, of making terroristic threats. Moeller, a
militia sympathizer, threatened to blow up the headquarters of the
state Department of Natural Resources, where he formerly
worked.
January 28, Wisconsin: Sally Minniecheske, the wife of Wisconsin Posse
Comitatus leader Donald Minniecheskie, is
sentenced to nine months for disorderly conduct, obstructing an officer
and fleeing arrest. The charges stemmed from a
1995 incident during a property seizure in which Minniecheskie
threatened a police chief and led him on a car chase through
Tigerton, Wisconsin. The Minniecheskies have been involved in
anti-government activities in Tigerton for more than twenty
years.
January 30, Pennsylvania: In Philadelphia, Christian Identity minister
Mark Thomas is indicted on conspiracy charges
related to the armed robberies committed by the "Midwestern Bank
Bandits," who dubbed themselves the "Aryan
Republican Army." Also arrested is Michael Brescia. Brescia and Thomas
bring the total number arrested for these robberies
to six.
January 30, Mississippi, Tennessee: Armed militia members from
Mississippi precipitate an unexpected standoff near
Memphis, Tennessee, when they show up to halt the eviction of two
Southaven residents from their home. Local officials
back away from the eviction and say they will pursue the matter in
court some more.
FEBRUARY
February 6, California: Two California men are found guilty of fraud in
San Jose for passing bogus checks created by the
Montana Freemen. The jury finds Robert Young guilty of conspiracy,
three counts of bank fraud, two counts of mail fraud,
and one count of filing a false claim with the IRS. Frank Pepper is
convicted on two counts of mail fraud. Two other
defendants, Leonard Ferrier and Dawn Onalfo, had plead guilty before
the trial.
February 10, Connecticut: Nena Frankle and John Barney are arrested by
local police on charges of interfering with police
and criminal trespass, after they resisted attempts by authorities in
Connecticut to take possession of their foreclosed
residence. Frankle and Barney are members of a group of Connecticut
common law court advocates and tax protesters
which advocates such resistance.
February 10, Ohio: Peter Langan is convicted in federal court in
Columbus, Ohio, of five felonies related to 1994 armed
robberies of banks in Columbus and Cincinnati. Langan is the leader of
the "Midwestern Bank Bandits," who claimed to
engage in armed robbery to support their revolutionary struggle.
February 14, Missouri: The remaining seven common law court activists
of the thirteen convicted earlier in Missouri receive
their sentences: six activists sentenced to two years in prison and a
seventh activist to seven years. All additionally must pay
a $5,000 fine.
Ca. February 15, Washington: Charles Miller and three other men are
arrested in Washington on sixteen counts of
conspiracy to defraud banks, mail fraud, and interstate transportation
of stolen property. Another accomplice, Kathleen
Cottam, was arrested earlier and pled guilty. The suspects had obtained
bogus money orders from Montana Freeman
leader LeRoy Schweitzer in 1995 and had been using them to buy cars and
motor homes in Washington. Charles
Christenson, Kurt Gilson, and Veryl Knowles were also arrested.
February 15, Ohio, Washington, Arkansas, Montana, Utah: Near
Wilmington, Ohio, Chevie and Cheyne Kehoe, two brothers
from Washington, engage in two shootouts with local police during and
following a routine traffic stop. A bystander is
wounded. The Kehoes, Christian Identity adherents with ties to Aryan
Nations and other white supremacist groups, avoid an
intensive manhunt and vanish along with their families. Their mobile
home is later found near Casper, Wyoming. Chevie
Kehoe is wanted for questioning in connection with the murders of an
Arkansas gun dealer with ties to the militia movement,
and his family.
February 18, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Aryan Nations leader Mark
Thomas pleads guilty to plotting seven bank robberies
and using the cash to further the cause of white supremacy in
connection with the Midwestern Bank Bandits.
February 20, Georgia: Three Georgia militia members receive stiff
sentences for their roles in a conspiracy to build pipe
bombs for use against the federal government. Bob Starr is given 8
years, one month; while James McCranie and Troy
Spain are sentenced to six ? years in prison each.
February 20, Minnesota: Three Minnesota residents receive convictions
for attempting to pass bogus checks obtained from
the Montana Freemen. Marilyn Kerkvliet and Robert Leffler are convicted
of eight counts of mail fraud and passing
counterfeit checks each. Ronald Kerkvliet is convicted of a single
count of mail fraud.
February 21, Montana, North Carolina: The first conviction arrives for
members of the Montana Freemen, who held off
authorities for 81 days in the spring of 1996. Russell Landers and an
associate, James Vincent Wells, are convicted of seven
and twelve federal fraud and conspiracy counts, respectively, ending a
trial marked by combative behavior by Landers. The
two used bogus money orders to purchase vehicles to drive back to
Montana.
February 21, Washington: Supporters of the Washington militia/freemen
defendants on trial in Seattle file a $1.76 billion lien
against the judge, John Coughenour, and five prosecutors.
February 24, Texas: Local authorities in Texas issue an arrest warrant
for Rick McLaren, leader of the secessionist
common-law group, "The Republic of Texas," after McLaren failed to
appear for a preliminary hearing on a 1995 burglary
charge. However, authorities take no steps to arrest McLaren, who is
barricaded in a remote West Texas settlement.
February 28, Washington: The Washington militia/freemen explosives
conspiracy case ends in a mistrial. The mistrial is
declared on federal conspiracy charges against seven people, while four
defendants are convicted of weapons charges.
Washington State Militia founder John Pitner is convicted of possession
and transfer of machine guns. John Lloyd Kirk and
Marlin Lane Mack is convicted of possession of unregistered destructive
device. Gary Marvin Kuehnoel is convicted of
possession of a machine gun. Jururs can not reach verdicts on
additional weapons charges against Kirk and his wife Judy
Carol Kirk, and against Kuehnoel. Kuehnoel is found innocent of three
counts of possession of unregistered firearm. An
eighth defendant previously had pled guilty.
MARCH
March 1, Wisconsin: $2 million cash bond is ordered for Wisconsin man
charged with hiring a hit man to murder his
estranged wife and her father. James Schuman, the man charged, is a
member of Wisconsin Militia.
March 2, Washington, Idaho: Trial begins for Charles Barbee, Robert
Berry and Jay Merrell, Christian Identity white
supremacists part of a bank-robbing gang in Spokane, WA, area
associated with the Phineas Priesthood.
March 2, Ohio: Ohio Aryan Nations member Morris Gulett is arrested for
ramming a Dayton police cruiser then fleeing.
March 3, New Hampshire: New Hampshire militia leader pleads guilty to
federal charges of stealing $100,000 in equipment
from Fort Devens Army base. Fitzhugh MacCrae, member of Hillsborough
County Dragoons, admits to three counts. He is
the second Dragoon to plead guilty.
March 3, Texas: "Republic of Texas" member John Albert Crain files $27
million lawsuit over three traffic tickets in San
Angelo. The atmosphere between "Republic of Texas" members and the real
government of Texas grows increasingly
tense.
March 4, Texas: Pecos County Sheriff Steve Bailey warns he may have to
use extreme measures to arrest Richard
McLaren, "ambassador" for the Republic of Texas, for warrants on
burglary and failure to appear in court. McLaren is holed
up in a housing resort west of Fort Davis, Texas.
March 6, Wisconsin: Federal prosecutors go to court to stop two
Milwaukee area men, Robert Raymond and Robert
Bernhoft, from selling their "De-Taxing America Program."
March 9, Oregon: Salem, Oregon, Militia leader Michael Cross is
sentenced to five years on probation for pleading guilty to
criminal mistreatment after receiving $25,000 gift from an elderly
foster-care resident.
Ca. March 9, Texas: Members of extremist group Republic of Texas begin
"impeachment" proceedings against Richard
McLaren as the group, under pressure from law enforcement authorities,
fragments.
March 10, California: Elizabeth Broderick of Palmdale, California, is
sentenced to nearly seventeen years in prison on 28
charges related to selling more than 8,000 fraudulent "Comptroller
Warrants" with a face value of more than $800 million.
Several accomplices also receive prison sentences in subsequent weeks.
March 12, Connecticut: "Sovereign citizens" John Barney and Nina Barney
of Salisbury, CT, appear in court on charges of
criminal trespass and interfering with police. They are members of a
common law court and they refuse to vacate the
properties where they live despite having hundreds of thousands of
dollars worth of unpaid loans.
March 13, Washington, Idaho: FBI agents arrest a fourth suspect, Brian
Ratigan, in the Spokane bombings, about the same
time as the prosecution rests in the trial of three other suspects.
March 13, Oklahoma: Former Tulsa opera singer Carol Elizabeth Howe is
indicted in Federal court in Tulsa, accused of
willfully making a bomb threat, possession of a non-registered
destructive device and conspiracy. James Dodson Viefhous,
already in custody, is also indicted. The two are founders and members
of the National Socialist Alliance of Oklahoma, as
well as part of the Aryan Intelligence Network. They left a message on
this phone network that bombs would be detonated in
15 US cities unless action was taken by December 15 by "white warriors"
against the government of the U.S.
March 13, Ohio, Pennsylvania: Aryan Republican Army members Scott
Stedeford and Peter Langan plead not guilty to
conspiracy charges related to bank robberies they carried out. Both
have been previously convicted on armed robbery
charges. Mark Thomas, an Aryan Nations leader in Pennsylvania,
previously pled guilty to the charges. Thomas and
another defendant are cooperating with government investigators; a
fifth defendant, Michael Brescia, is jailed and awaiting
trial. Another suspect committed suicide in jail.
March 17, Montana, Indiana: Joe Holland, leader of the North American
Volunteer Militia, is sentenced in Missoula, Montana, to 10 years in prison
for jury tampering and advocating violence. He is also indicted on charges
in Indiana.
March 17, Texas: Texas officials issue two more (civil) arrest warrants
against Republic of Texas members Robert Kesterson ("secretary of state")
and Carolyn Carney ("secretary of inter-agency coordination").
March 17, California: California "Patriot" Timothy Paul Kootenay, is
sentenced to 300 days in county jail and four years' probation after
pleading guilty to purchasing assault rifles with bogus money orders issued
by Family Farm Preservation, a "patriot" group linked with the Posse
Comitatus.
March 19, Arizona: Six members of the Arizona Viper Militia are
sentenced to jail terms for conspiracy to make bombs. The
longest sentence is nine years. All had pled guilty. The number
eventually increases to 10 who plead guilty. Two do not and
will go to trial.
March 21, Ohio: The FBI and ATF jointly post a $60,000 reward for
information leading to the arrests of Aryan Nations
members Cheyne and Chevie Kehoe for shooting at police officers in Ohio
in February. The Kehoe brothers are thought to
have fled back to their Spokane area origins.
March 21, Alabama: Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals unanimously
affirms the capital murder conviction of a "patriot,"
George Sibley, Jr., found guilty in the 1993 shooting death of an
Opelika police officer. His common-law wife, Linda Lyon
Block, is also on death row for the same offense.
March 25, North Carolina: Dunn, North Carolina, resident Arvalee McLamb
is fined $5,000 and sentenced to five months in
prison after pleading guilty to failing to file a federal income tax
return. McLamb had ties to the Montana Freemen; he is also
charged in a federal indictment of various crimes committed in
connection with James Vincent Wells and Montana Freeman
Russell Landers. McLamb and Wells belonged to an extremist group
innocuously called 'The Civil Rights Task Force."
March 25, Kansas: Two Kansas residents are convicted in Tulsa for
passing Montana Freemen checks. Bill and Karen
Hanzlicek were found guilty of conspiracy, bank fraud, mail fraud and
passing a counterfeit check.
March 26, Florida: In Stuart, Florida, John Foster, is charged with
obtaining $662,000 in bogus checks from the Montana
Freemen and using them to pay off the IRS and his mortgage company.
March 26, Ohio: In Columbus, Ohio, common law court activist Larry
Russell is found guilty of escape and sentenced to 1 ?
years in prison. He fled Ohio following a failed attempt to arrest him
for driving without a license, after which he was charged
with assaulting a police officer and escape, but was arrested at the
Alaska border and extradited.
March 27, Nevada: Nevada militia man Harry Tootle is convicted on
charges of drawing a gun on a security guard, then
resisting arrest.
March 27, Arkansas, Missouri: Arkansas citizen Robert Joos is convicted
of resisting arrest and carrying a concealed
weapon during a confrontation with Missouri State Highway Patrol
troopers in 1994. The troopers were attempting to arrest
him near his church commune (the "Sacerdotal Order of the David
Company") in connection with a 1987 misdemeanor
conviction involving a false court summons served to a trooper. Law
enforcement authorities are still searching for Timothy
Thomas Coombs, wanted for shooting and seriously wounding a state
trooper in retaliation for Joos' arrest.
March 29, South Carolina, Oregon: In Anderson, SC, Embassy of Heaven
member Frank Lewis stages a seven day hunger
strike when arrested for driving without a license and operating an
uninsured vehicle. This is one of many hunger strikes
staged by members of the group, which preaches against all forms of
government interference. The Embassy of Heaven
issues fake drivers licenses, plates, and registrations for its
members; these are purchased by people all over the country. In
late winter, Embassy of Heaven members are evicted from their "church"
in Sublimity, Oregon, for nonpayment of county
taxes.
March 30, Michigan: Kalamazoo, Michigan, militia member Brendon Blasz
is arrested and indicted on suspicion of making
pipe bombs and other illegal explosives. Blasz and his "small militia
band" planned to bomb the federal building in Battle
Creek, an IRS building, a television station and federal armies,
according to an affidavit by an informant. The Michigan
Militia claims to have expelled them in 1995.
APRIL
April 2, Washington, Idaho: The jury hearing Spokane bank bandits case
convicts the three defendants on illegal weapons
charges and stolen vehicle charges, but deadlocks on the more serious
bank robbery and bombing charges when a sole
jury member, sympathetic to the right-wing extremists, refuses to
convict.
April 3, California: A Berkeley, California, woman, Mary Margaret Lund,
is convicted of using bogus checks to purchase a
motorhome in January 1996. She passed more than $223,000 worth of bad
checks.
April 5, Montana: Fourteen of the infamous "Montana Freemen" are hit
with a 40-count indictment that will take the place of
earlier indictments against them. Charges include multiple counts of
conspiracy bank fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, false
claims, threats to public officials and weapons charges. A second
indictment charges eight people with helping fugitives
escape arrest.
April 7, Washington: Gary Kuehnol, one of the seven Washington
militia/freemen charged with conspiracy (see above),
pleads guilty to a charge of transferring a machine gun to a federal
informer. He will not face new conspiracy charges as a
result of the agreement. Another participant, Caitlin Hansen, earlier
pled guilty to obstruction of justice and was sentenced to
three years of probation. Six still await a new trial.
April 8, Montana: Pre-trial hearings begin for the Montana Freemen.
April 8, Washington: A Clark County, Washington, motorist is arrested
with 2 loaded handguns, a bogus license plate, and a
concealed weapons "permit" issued by the "State Militia." Jed Carson
was cited on suspicion of operating a vehicle with
illegal plates, carrying loaded weapons in a vehicle, driving without a
license and failure to provide proof of insurance. The
plate read "SOV, 064-MNE, States of America united, America the
Republic." His "sales contract" for his vehicle was from
the "British West Indies," a non-existent country.
April 11, New York: A jury convicts New York city police officer Jose
Lugo on tax charges related to nonpayment of taxes on
$163,000 of income. Ten other police officers have been convicted on
similar charges; four more are facing prosecution.
The officers apparently got the idea from Indiana militia leader Joe
Holland and other tax protest leaders.
April 19, Idaho: New militia group forms in Idaho County, Idaho, called
the "Idaho Mountain Boys." Its leader warns that if the
county enforces building codes, the militia will be ready to intervene.
April 20, Texas: Republic of Texas leader Richard McLaren vows war if
authorities try to arrest him. "Once they make the
move," he says, 'we'll have millions of Americans on our side -
including every militia in the country. We're talking war
here."
April 20, Montana: Marc and Cheryl Andrea, of Florence, Montana, are
indicted for recruiting 125 Missoula area residents
into a California-based tax protest organization.
April 22, Texas: Republic of Texas member Jo Ann Canaday Turner (see
above) is arrested on two counts of contempt of
court for filing a fraudulent lien in violation of a court order and
for not attending a hearing.
April 22, Ohio: Ohio Aryan Nations member Larry Wayne Harris receives a
probation sentence after pleading guilty to a
single count of wire fraud for obtaining samples of bubonic plague.
April 23, Texas: The FBI arrests three men and one woman for planning a
bomb attack on a gas refinery northwest of Fort
Worth. The planned bombing was to divert attention from an armored car
robbery that would finance their extremist activities.
The suspects have Klan ties.
April 23, California: White supremacist Todd Vanbiber of Winter Park is
injured while making a pipe bomb; the weapon
blows up in his face. Investigating authorities find materials linking
Vanbiber to the neo-Nazi National Alliance, as well as 14
unexploded pipe bombs.
April 27, Texas: After police arrest Republic of Texas "chief of
security," Bob Scheidt, on weapons possession charges,
Republic of Texas members ordered by Richard McLaren storm a nearby
residence, firing shots, to kidnap two neighbors as
hostages. The incident begins a standoff. The two hostages, a man and
his wife, were vocal opponents of McLaren.
April 28, Texas: After twelve hours of captivity, Joe and Margaret Ann
Rowe are released by Republic of Texas members
after authorities swap jailed ROT member Bob Scheidt for the two.
Formal charges are filed against six ROT members, from
engaging in organized criminal activity to aggravated kidnapping with a
deadly weapon.
April 28, California: A huge blast in a Olivehurst, California, home
leads to the arrest of sympathizer William Goehler (a
convicted rapist), charged with possessing explosives. Goehler suffered
a neck injury in the blast at his home, while his wife
and one of this children were slightly injured. The explosive material
was in a tree outside the home. Goehler is associated
with the Twin Cities Free Militia. The previous year, he traveled to
Jordan, Montana, to show his support for the Montana
Freemen.
April 28, Texas: Leaders of the other factions of the splintered
Republic of Texas group, Archie Lowe and David Johnson,
distance themselves from Richard McLaren.
April 28, Texas: A Texas Ranger assault team arrives at Ft. Davis,
Texas. About 200 law enforcement officers surround
McLaren's location, where close to 10 Republic of Texas members are
holed up.
April 29, Texas: Two armored personnel carriers arrive at Ft. Davis.
They are named "Bubba One" and "Bubba Two."
April 30, Texas: Texas Rangers arrest seven individuals in two vehicles
at a truck stop in Pecos, Texas, with a supply of fully
automatic assault weapons and some explosive materials. The individuals
were on their way to join Richard McLaren. A few
others are also stopped in following days, but the massive action
predicted by McLaren does not occur. Meanwhile, McLaren
and authorities talk sporadically by fax and phone. McLaren eventually
breaks off negotiations.
April 30, California: Following the arrest of William Goehler (see
above) on explosives charges, two associates of his, Kevin
Quinn and Vernon Weckner, were arrested in Yuba City, California, and
500 pounds of the volatile explosive petrogel were
found. Weckner is one of the central militia organizers in northern
California; he also is a common law activist and a tax
protester.
MAY
Ca. May 1, Oregon: Common law court advocates Dick Lancial and Thor
Lancial are indicted by a grand jury in Multnomah
County, Oregon, on multiple counts of forgery and simulating the legal
process for their common law court activities.
May 1, New York: Bronx-area extremist blows his hand off in his
apartment booby-trapped with homemade bombs. The
man, John Saperstein, an unemployed construction worker, had at least
five bombs in his apartment. Neighbors indicated
that Saperstein talked a lot about the "Patriots of America" and the
militia.
May 1, Colorado: Federal agents arrest Colorado militia leader Ron Cole
(the "Colorado First Light Infantry") and two other
militia members on weapons charges in the Denver suburb of Aurora,
Colorado. Authorities seize weapons and explosives
materials. Ron Cole, who claims to be a militant Branch Davidian, has
been one of the more vocal militia leaders in recent
months. Police find six fully automatic AK-47 rifles, three land mines,
75 pounds of rocket fuel, a pipe bomb, and much
ammunition.
May 1, Florida: Brevard County (FL) militia member Brian Edward Lanier
is arrested after making threats that he would kill
himself on the state seal and blow up an insurance building. He was
held on an outstanding warrant from another county for
a 1989 aggravated assault.
May 1, Texas : Police negotiators send Richard McLaren a "final offer"
and threaten to move in to arrest them. They also cut
off power to his trailer.
May 2, California: Police investigating the Yuba County explosives ring
of Vernon Weckner, Kevin Quinn, and William
Goehler, arrest three more men, Jason Fox, Edward Whitlow and Robert
Scott Deaver, charged with possessing explosives.
The six plead not guilty.
May 2, Texas: Republic of Texas member Robert Scheidt surrenders to
authorities surrounding McLaren's "embassy."
Meanwhile, police units move closer to the compound. Richard McLaren
issues a plea for "reinforcements" and he and four
followers fax their wills to state police.
May 2, Washington: Richard Frank Burton, who pled guilty to possessing
pipe bombs and other charges in connection with
the Washington militia/freemen bombmaking conspiracy, is sentenced to
46 months in prison.
May 3, Colorado: Arsonists destroy IRS offices in a building in
Colorado Springs, spray-painting "AAR" or "ARA" inside the
building. They cause more than $1 million in damage.
May 3, Texas: Most of the remaining Republic of Texas members surrender
to authorities. Richard McLaren, his wife Evelyn,
and three followers (Richard Otto, Greg and Karen Paulson), walk out of
their hideout after signing a "cease-fire" agreement
with Texas Rangers. Two members, Richard Keys and Mike Matson, decided
not to surrender and fled into the Davis
Mountains. Authorities began a search with bloodhounds, helicopters,
and troopers on horseback. Police find more than 60
pipe bombs at the "embassy."
May 5, Texas: One or both of the two Republic of Texas fugitives fire
shots at bloodhounds, wounding two of them, in the
remote Davis Mountains. Later that day, police shoot and kill one of
the two fugitives. The other apparently escapes.
Meanwhile, Richard and Evelyn McLaren are indicted on charges that
could bring up to hundreds of years in prison.
May 8, Texas: Five more Republic of Texas members are arrested as part
of McLaren's scheme to issue $1.8 billion in
bogus warrants: Jasper Edward Baccus, Joe Louis Reece, Steven Craig
Crear, Erwin Leo Brown, and Mark Anthony
Hernandez. Also arrested is Republic of Texas leader Robert Kesterson,
on three counts of contempt of court out of Travis
County, where he filed bogus liens and other documents in violation of
a judge's order. Donald Joe Varnell was another
member arrested on contempt of court charges. State authorities also
filed suit against Carolyn Carney for nonpayment of
taxes. Other leaders, including Archie Lowe and Darrell Franks, are
also charged with contempt.
May 9, California: LA police arrest five militia members, seizing a
grenade launcher, hand grenades, hand grenade
components, automatic assault rifles, body armor, night vision goggles,
and over 100 different types of weapons. Arrested
are Glenn Yee, a reserve police officer, Alvin Ung, Mark Grand, Timothy
Swanson and Raymond Durand. None have any
previous criminal history. Police say more arrests are expected; the
suspects were allegedly planning to attack several
Southern California targets. Durand is later said not to be associated
with the militia suspects, but rather a separate case.
May 10, California: A seventh man, Daniel Sparhawk, is arrested in
connection with the Yuba explosives case, on charges of
possessing two tubes of petrogel. His girlfriend, Tina Lorene Terrell,
is also arrested, bringing the total number to ten.
May 12, New Hampshire: New Hampshire militia leader Brian Chabot pleads
guilty to his role in theft of $100,000 worth of
military equipment (see above). Chabot is the third of three to plead
guilty.
May 16, Wisconsin: Three members of anti-tax group in Wisconsin are
given a 20-count indictment charging them with tax
fraud. These members of Sovereign Citizens for Liberty, Frank A.
Wysocki, Alan Cooper and Robert Iacoe, sold "untax"
packages to gullible people.
May 17, Oregon: Portland, Oregon, area resident James Bell, active in
militia and common law court groups, is arrested by
the IRS for obstructing the IRS. Among other things, Bell devised a
project called "Operation LocatIRS" to learn the home
addresses of IRS employees in order to intimidate them. He is also
suspected of having used a chemical called mercaptan
in a March 16 stink-bombing of an IRS office. Bell is more well known
for his Internet essay "Assassination Politics," which
proposed a system of rewards for people who predict the deaths of
government officials.
May 19, Montana, North Carolina: Russell Dean Landers and Vincent
Wells, two of the Montana Freemen defendants, are
sentenced in Wilmington, NC, on charges of conspiring to commit bank
fraud, intimidate IRS agents and transport stolen
property across state lines.
May 20, Pennsylvania: In federal court in Philadelphia, Michael Brescia
pleads guilty to charges of conspiracy and armed
robbery and agreed to testify against fellow members of the Aryan
Republican Army.
May 21, Oklahoma: Tax protester Wayne Gunwall of Ponca City, Oklahoma,
is sentenced to 15 months in prison for
conspiring with two others to harass IRS agents. The other defendants,
Kenney Moore and Colleen Moore who, like
Gunwall, pled guilty to one of the counts, have not yet been sentenced.
May 22, Connecticut: A Connecticut judge postpones the attempted
kidnapping trial of "patriot" leader James "Bo" Gritz and
his son James R. Gritz until September.
May 23, Oklahoma: Wayne Gunwall and Howard M. Boos are convicted in
federal court on a three-count indictment of
conspiring to file multimillion-dollar liens against IRS agents (see
above, below).
May 27, Florida: In Tampa, Florida, Emilio Ippolito, his daughter, and
six followers, members of the "Constitutional Common
Law Court," go on trial on charges of conspiracy and obstruction of
justice. Ippolito is the leader of one of the most prominent
common law courts in the nation.
May 29, West Virginia: A "colonel" in the West Virginia Mountaineer
Militia pleads guilty to making a bomb for other militia
members who were plotting to bomb an FBI fingerprint facility. Edward
Moore is one of seven defendants in the case; he
faces up to ten years in prison.
May 30, Washington: Gary Kuehnoel, one of the Washington
militia/freemen defenders (see above), is sentenced to 27
months in jail for illegal possession of a machine gun, and ordered to
pay a $6,000 fine. The sentence was part of an
agreement in which all other charges were dropped.
JUNE
June 2, Oklahoma, Colorado: In Denver, Colorado, Timothy McVeigh is
convicted for his role in the bombing of the federal
building in Oklahoma City in April 1995. He is later given the death
penalty.
June 4, Florida: A Jacksonville jury acquits Florida "patriot" and
ostrich farmer William Law of 21 counts of defrauding
people by placing bogus liens on people involved with his divorce. The
jury believed the argument of Law's lawyer that Law
did not defraud anyone because no one would believe the liens were
real.
June 5, Arizona: Trial begins for remaining Arizona Viper Militia
defendants, Charles Knight. Viper Christopher Floyd still
awaits trial.
June 5, Oklahoma: A federal judge sentences two Oklahoma common law
activist Dan Meador to 16 months in prison, three
years supervised release and a $2,000 fine for obstructing justice and
illegally communicating with a grand jury. Meador's
case was linked to the case involving Kenney and Colleen Moore and
Wayne Gunwall.
June 12, West Virginia: The second of seven defendants, Jack Phillips,
in the Mountaineer Militia case agrees to plead guilty
to a charge of conspiracy to make bombs.
June 12, West Virginia: FBI affidavits reveal that the Mountaineer
Militia considered killing Jay Rockefeller and Alan
Greenspan, as well as their families, in a "holy war" against the
federal government.
June 16, Washington, Ohio: Cheyne Kehoe, wanted since February for a
shootout with police in Ohio, surrenders in
Washington. He will be extradited to Ohio.
June 16, Utah: John Chaney is sentenced in Provo, Utah, to life in
prison for aiding in the rape of his daughter. When he
appeared for sentencing, he ordered bailiffs to arrest the judge for
treason, but the bailiffs did not respond. Chaney, a
common law court activist and member of an extreme Mormon sect, was
convicted in April on three counts of aiding and
abetting in the rape of his (then 13-year old) daughter at the hands of
one of his followers. He has launched numerous
lawsuits against Utah judges for conspiring against his religious
freedom.
June 17, Utah, Ohio: Chevie Kehoe is arrested in Cedar City, Utah,
after Cheyne Kehoe reveals to authorities where he is.
June 23, Washington, Idaho: The second trial for the accused "Spokane
Bank Bandits" begins. Robert Berry, Charles
Barbee and Verne Jay Merrell are once again defendants. The fourth
defendant will have a separate trial in September.
June 23, Arizona: Arizona Viper Charles Knight is convicted of
conspiracy to make or possess unregistered destructive
devices.
June 24, California: Todd Vanbiber, the Orange County, California, man
who blew himself up while constructing a pipe
bomb (see above), pleads guilty to two federal explosives violations.
Vanbiber was a member of the neo-Nazi National
Alliance.
June 26, Colorado: Barry Taylor is convicted in Adams County, Colorado,
of using bogus "freemen" checks to pay off his
debts. Taylor is one of 12 indicted Coloradans and the first to go to
trial.
June 27, Utah: Former Montana Freeman standoff participant Gloria Ward
is found guilty of four counts of Social Security
fraud. Ward had been claiming Social Security survivor's benefits as
the mother of the man's child, despite having sued
another man whom she claimed was the real father. She faces up to
twenty years in prison.
June 30, California: In Ventura County, Isabel Oxx is evicted from her
home, ending a long ordeal in which she lost title to
her house after using a "freeman" check to pay off her mortgage. She
will go to trial in early July on federal charges of jury
tampering in connection with the case of Elizabeth Broderick (see
above).
3. Dissidents - victims of the Jewish Extremists' global totalitarian
power (Israeli military assault against the Western democracy)
(Thousands or maybe millions of people are persecuted by Jewish
totalitarian machine all over the world. Persecutions include kidnapping,
executions, assassinations, batteries, and administrative, financial and
other terror)
CONTENT:
Jewish Extremists' Global Conspiracy Victims in Ukraine, Canada, and
Other Countries
Ivan Demenyuk's Case
(For GUNINS case go here:
[http://www.total.net/~leog/Rights/LevGunin/intro.htm]
[http://www.total.net/~leog/Rights/LevGunin/Mother.htm])
(For Ivan Demenyuk's case look here: [http://www.ukar.org])
Morley Safer Letter 5 9Apr99 Who blew the hands off Maksym Tsarenko?
The sort of powerful story that neither you nor Rabbi Bleich were able
to find is one of
a Russian summer-camp councillor who had his hands blown off by
Ukrainian
nationalists for using the Russian language within Ukraine; or one of a
Jewish
summer-camp councillor having his hands blown off by Ukrainian
nationalists for using
Hebrew or Yiddish within Ukraine. Such things do not happen within
Ukraine to either
Russians or to Jews - they happen only to Ukrainians.
April 9, 1999
Morley Safer
60 Minutes, CBS Television
51 W 52nd Street
New York, NY
USA 10019
Morley Safer:
Who Blew The Hands Off
Maksym Tsarenko?
The photograph above shows Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma bestowing
the Order of
Yaroslaw the Wise on Maksym Tsarenko. My free translation of the text
which explains
the photograph is as follows:
Among the first recipients of the Order, awarded on the fourth
anniversary of the national independence of Ukraine, were leading
Ukrainian workers in the fields of culture, art, and law: O.
Basystiuk, A. Mokrenko, and F. Burchak.
On this same day, the president of Ukraine also bestowed this mark
of distinction, "for valor" upon twenty-year-old student at the
Vynnytsia Pedagogical Institute, Maksym Tsarenko.
During the summer holidays, Maksym was working as a councillor at a
summer camp for young girls near Yevpatoria, Crimea.
Haters of Ukraine, who rush to propose the view that Crimea is not a
peninsula attached to Ukraine, but rather is an island unconnected
to Ukraine, reacted with hostility to this summer camp, especially
provoked by the Ukrainian language spoken by the Ukrainian children,
which dared to resound even within Ukrainian Crimea. The hatred
mounted to such an irrepressible degree that it provoked the bandits
to the most egregious crime: they constructed an explosive and threw
it into the window of the children's dormitory. Ten or so children
could have been killed by the explosion. But the young Ukrainian
councillor showed no confusion as to his duty. He picked up the
bomb, shielding it with his own body, and jumped out of the
building. Unfortunately, the bomb went off, seriously wounding
Maksym.
The best local surgeons fought for several days to save the boy's
life. Thanks to them, the youth's life was spared. Unfortunately,
it was not possible to save his hands.
No one can accuse the recipient of not having earned his award.
Ukrainian awards, in contrast to Soviet, are fully deserved.
(Ukrainian-language newspaper, Novyi Shliakh (New Pathway) of
7Oct95, based on the earlier report in Ukrains'ke Slovo, (Ukrainian
Word), Kyiv, No. 37, 14Sep95)
The above story of Maksym Tsarenko compels me to ask - not for the
first time - who
is in danger in Ukraine? The Western media urge us to accept that it is
Jews and
Russians who are in danger, threatened by Ukrainian nationalists. That,
for example,
is the conclusion of your infamous 60 Minutes broadcast The Ugly Face
of Freedom of
23Oct94. However, you came back from your brief visit to Ukraine with
no data to
substantiate such a claim. Almost a year ago, the Ukrainian Archive has
requested
both of you and of Rabbi Bleich the evidence backing your report of
violence against
Jews, and neither of you has as yet condescended to reply,
strengthening the
suspicion that your story was fabricated.
The sort of powerful story that neither you nor Rabbi Bleich were able
to find is one
of a Russian summer-camp councillor who had his hands blown off by
Ukrainian
nationalists for using the Russian language within Ukraine; or one of a
Jewish
summer-camp councillor having his hands blown off by Ukrainian
nationalists for using
Hebrew or Yiddish within Ukraine. Such things do not happen within
Ukraine to either
Russians or to Jews - they happen only to Ukrainians. It is the story
of Ukrainians
being persecuted within Ukraine that you could have richly documented
and broadcast
to the world. The story of Maksym Tsarenko can be found multiplied many
times over -
the torture-murders of Ukrainian activist Volodymyr Katelnytsky and his
mother in
their Kyiv apartment providing a recent example. The contrasting story
of Jewish or
Russian victimization within Ukraine is bogus - and yet that is the
story that you
unscrupulously chose to broadcast.
Lubomyr Prytulak
cc: Rabbi Bleich, Ed Bradley, Jeffrey Fager, Don Hewitt, Steve Kroft,
Andy Rooney,
Lesley Stahl, Mike Wallace.
Morley Safer Letter 9 15May99 Who murdered Volodymyr Ivasiuk?
But in the meantime, those who come too near to the truth concerning
what happened to
Volodymyr Ivasiuk have been the victims of an unusual number of
accidents. One man's
wife unexpectedly hangs herself, another man throws himself from a
balcony, still
another drowns, yet another falls under the wheels of a car.... But
remember, butchers,
God's punishment will descend even upon you!
May 15, 1999
Morley Safer
60 Minutes, CBS Television
51 W 52nd Street
New York, NY
USA 10019
Morley Safer:
Who Murdered
Volodymyr Ivasiuk?
Volodymyr Ivasiuk is best known as a composer and poet,
author of the widely popular song Chervona Ruta whose first
two lines appear below as he wrote them in his own hand,
which song more than anything else made him beloved
throughout Ukraine, and even beyond the borders of Ukraine.
On top of that, Volodymyr was a man of many talents, having
earned a degree in medicine, and having demonstrated talent
in art, photography, and cinematography.
However, having reached his prime
showing so much promise, it was not
given Volodymyr Ivasiuk to develop his
talents further. He was dead at the age
of 30. To the right is a photograph of
his funeral procession, attended by
thousands of mourners despite the
suppression by the state of the
publication of information concerning
his burial, despite official warnings to
not attend funeral services, and despite
the calling of Komsomol meetings, which
carried mandatory attendance, on the
same day. The magazine Halas, on whose
information I rely in the present
letter, states that Rostyslaw Bratun who
was the first to step forward and speak
at Volodymyr's funeral lost his job two
months later. Words spoken at the
funeral by the Sichko family landed them
in prison.
To the right is a second photograph
showing the statue that was eventually
erected in Volodymyr Ivasiuk's memory.
And just how did Volodymyr Ivasiuk meet
his end? His death certificate which
appears below states that he died on
24-27 April 1979 from mechanical
asphyxiation caused by hanging in a
noose, and attributes the hanging to
suicide.
The details of Volodymyr Ivasiuk's death, however, do not support the
official view that
he killed himself:
They waited and searched for Volodya for 24 days. Following the
mysterious disappearance of the composer, the search for him was not
disclosed to the public, the explanation being given that such an
announcement would create a disturbance. However, the mass media are
daily used not only to help locate people, but sometimes even their
pets. [...]
It was not until May 18, 1979 that Volodymyr Ivasiuk's body was
accidentally discovered in the heavy forest near the village
Briukhovych near Lviv.
One couldn't bring oneself to believe it. The parents were allowed to
identify their son only on the following day, even though it was only a
five-minute walk from the apartment where Volodya lived to the morgue;
and the identification was conducted with gross violations of law. The
father was allowed to view the body only after he repeatedly telephoned
the Oblast Procurator threatening to send a telegram of complaint to
the General Procurator of Ukraine. The local authorities eventually
gave in with the exasperated reply: "Take your son home, and look at
him there at least a hundred years!" His death certificate reported
that he died 24-27 April 1979 at the age of 30. The cause of death:
mechanical asphyxiation. Hanging from a noose - suicide. The death
certificate was issued on May 21, 1979, and even back then, a mere
three days after the body had been discovered, without any evidence or
investigation it had been written in black and white that Volodymyr
Ivasiuk had committed suicide.
There immediately arises the question that if the composer had indeed
hung himself on 24-27 April, and was not found until 18 May, whether he
could have remained hanging from a tree for 21-24 days. Volodya
weighed 80 kg (176 lb), such that hanging for so long, the noose would
have cut into his neck to the depth of the bones. Also during May the
weather was warm and dry. The body would have decomposed during this
interval, and from it would have emanated an intolerable odour. All
these substantiating signs were missing, and missing too were the
autopsy photographs.
On May 22 of every year let us remember that Volodymyr Ivasiuk became
another innocent victim of a totalitarian regime.
M. Masly, Volodymyr Ivasiuk: Light and Shadow of a Legend, Halas
(Clamor), 3Jun97, pp. 11-12, as translated by Lubomyr Prytulak.
Halas is a Ukrainian-language magazine which reviews popular music and
is published in Kyiv. The section commemorating Volodymyr Ivasiuk in
the 3Jun97 issue was sponsored and supported by Coca Cola Ukraine.
And truly, the administration hated him while he was alive, and feared
him once he was dead. Volodya's mother, Sophia Ivanivna Ivasiuk met
with the first secretary of the Lviv administration, V. Dobryk to plead
with him to permit a monument to be placed on the grave of her son.
"The war took from me my father and three brothers. My sister's
husband did not return from the front," wept the woman, "and now my son
too has been lost. Do I not after all that have the right to
consecrate his memory?" In reply, Dobryk (what evil irony that such a
soulless individual should have a name denoting goodness) pressed a
concealed button and said in Russian to the lackey who entered, "Take
that lady out." Following this visit, Sophia Ivanivna Ivasiuk received
the "insult in the name of Dobryk." She has been in ill health ever
since.
Sooner or later will arrive the day when truth will emerge victorious.
But in the meantime, those who come too near to the truth concerning
what happened to Volodymyr Ivasiuk find themselves the victims of an
unusual number of accidents. One man's wife unexpectedly hangs
herself, another man throws himself from a balcony, still another
drowns, yet another falls under the wheels of a car.... But remember,
butchers, God's punishment will descend even upon you!
M. Masly, Volodymyr Ivasiuk: Light and Shadow of a Legend, Halas
(Clamor), 3Jun97, p. 12, as translated by Lubomyr Prytulak.
Mr. Safer, you went to Ukraine determined to come back with a story of
Ukrainians
persecuting Russians and Jews. You failed to find any substantiation
for such a story.
You failed to find any Russian composer and poet who had been found
hanging in a forest
under mysterious circumstances. You failed to find any Jewish composer
and poet who had
been found hanging in a forest under mysterious circumstances. And you
were not
interested in a Ukrainian composer and poet who had indeed been found
hanging in a
forest under mysterious circumstances. You went to Ukraine determined
to prove that
Ukrainians persecute Russians and Jews, and you reported that story to
tens of millions
of 60 Minutes viewers despite a lack of evidence, and despite plentiful
evidence that it
is Russians and Jews who persecute Ukrainians, as they have done
throughout history.
In your 23Oct94 60 Minutes broadcast The Ugly Face of Freedom, then,
you sided with the
strong against the weak. You sided with the oppressors against the
oppressed. You
sided with the butchers against the butchered. You sided with those who
hang composers
and poets and against Volodymyr Ivasiuk.
Lubomyr Prytulak
cc: Yaakov Bleich, Ed Bradley, Jeffrey Fager, Don Hewitt, Steve Kroft,
Andy Rooney,
Lesley Stahl, Mike Wallace, Simon Wiesenthal.
Morley Safer Letter 10 17May99 Who murdered Volodymyr Katelnytsky?
It is conceivable that had you not broadcast The Ugly Face of Freedom,
Volodymyr
Katelnytsky would be alive today. And it is all the more conceivable
that had you used
the opportunity of your broadcast to defend Ukrainians against their
oppressors,
Volodymyr Katelnytsky would be alive today.
May 17, 1999
Morley Safer
60 Minutes, CBS Television
51 W 52nd Street
New York, NY
USA 10019
Morley Safer:
Who Murdered Volodymyr Katelnytsky?
The death of Volodymyr Katelnytsky
My source is a Ukrainskyi Holos (Ukrainian Voice) article mailed to me
by someone that
knew Volodymyr Katelnytsky. The citation that is hand-written on the
article is "4-20
August, 1997, p. 1."
The Ukrainskyi Holos article reports that Volodymyr Katelnytsky was
tortured to death in
his apartment in Kyiv, Ukraine on the night of 7-8 July 1997. His
mother, Lykeria, who
was 81 years old, was tortured and died before the eyes of her son; her
body was found
with 21 stab wounds. When Katelnytsky's sister tried to enter the
apartment in which
the crime had been committed, she was roughed up by Kyiv police. Some
members of the
Katelnytsky family were arrested. The murders are considered to have
been politically
motivated. Volodymyr Katelnytsky's funeral was attended by some two
thousand mourners.
The life of Volodymyr Katelnytsky
Volodymyr Katelnytsky was a professional journalist. He was active in
the Ukrainian
Orthodox Church, Kyiv Patriarchate, was head of the Brotherhood of St.
Andrej
Pervozvanyi in Kyiv, and supervised the tour of the chief cities of
Ukraine by
Metropolitan Wasyl in May 1993. He was also active politically, serving
as Deputy Head
of the Ukrainian Christian Democratic Party. In Canada and the United
States, he may be
best remembered for the role he played as President of the Committee
for the Defense of
John Demjanjuk.
Also prominent among Volodymyr Katelnytsky's activities was the
dissemination of a
Ukrainian version of what happened at Babyn Yar, similar, I believe, to
the version
advocated on the Ukrainian Archive. One result of Volodymyr
Katelnytsky's Babyn Yar
activities is that he was sued for them by Jewish organizations in
Ukrainian court, that
in his defense he brought forward historical aerial reconnaissance
photographs showing
that none of the activities said to have taken place at Babyn Yar was
visible from the
air - not visible, that is, were signs of the execution and burial of
33,771 Jews, or
the later disinterment and burning of their bodies. As a result of his
convincing
defense, the court acquitted Volodymyr Katelnytsky of the charges
brought against him.
Who murdered Volodymyr Katelnytsky?
As we have no direct evidence of who murdered Volodymyr Katelnytsky, we
can only perform
a Cui bono? analysis which will at least tell us where to start
looking. That is, if it
is the case that the three most prominent events in Volodymyr
Katelnytsky's life were:
(1) that he defended John Demjanjuk, (2) that he contradicted the
Soviet-inspired
Holocaust version of the Babyn Yar story, and (3) that he was tortured
to death along
with his mother, then it would take a mental paralysis with which I
have not as yet been
seized to refuse to consider the first two of these events as possibly
having caused the
third.
I don't accuse you of having failed to cover the Katelnytsky
assassination.
As you broadcast the Ugly Face of Freedom on 23 October 1994 and
Volodymyr Katelnytsky's
assassination did not take place until 7-8 July 1997, I obviously do
not accuse you of
having failed to cover the Katelnytsky assassination in your broadcast.
But I do accuse you of having missed the big story of which
Katelnytsky's
assassination is but one piece.
However, the persecution and assassination of Ukrainians did not begin
in 1997. It
began hundreds of years earlier, carried right up until your broadcast
in 1994, and
continued through 1997 to this day. What I do accuse you of, then, is
ignoring a
centuries-long stream of evidence attesting to the persecution of
Ukrainians, and of
broadcasting instead the story of the persecution of Russians and Jews
even in the
absence of evidence. Your investigations in Ukraine failed to turn up
anything like a
story of a prominent Russian activist being tortured to death in his
apartment, whether
along with his mother or alone. And your investigations in Ukraine
failed to turn up
anything like a story of a prominent Jewish activist being tortured to
death in his
apartment, whether along with his mother or alone. The story that you
would have been
able to document, but that you chose to ignore, is that Ukraine is a
nation which is
ruled by Russians and Jews, and in which Ukrainians are routinely
persecuted and
murdered.
And I do accuse you of having helped cause Katelnytsky's assassination.
But even though you could not have covered Katelnytsky's assassination
in 1994, you
could have in 1994 avoided giving encouragement to assassins who were
at that time
plotting such assassinations. Instead, you did give encouragement to
Katelnytsky's
assassins by demonstrating to them that the world press can be counted
upon to continue
broadcasting anti-Ukrainian calumnies even while Ukrainians were being
victimized in
their own land. It is conceivable that had you not broadcast The Ugly
Face of Freedom,
Volodymyr Katelnytsky would be alive today. And it is all the more
conceivable that had
you used the opportunity of your broadcast to defend Ukrainians against
their
oppressors, Volodymyr Katelnytsky would be alive today.
Lubomyr Prytulak
cc: Yaakov Bleich, Ed Bradley, Jeffrey Fager, Don Hewitt, Steve Kroft,
Andy Rooney,
Lesley Stahl, Mike Wallace, Simon Wiesenthal.
Morley Safer Letter 11 30Jun99 Who murdered Vadim Boyko?
We cannot believe that his death was just pure accident; although it is
reported that
8,000 people a year in the former Soviet Union die due to their
television sets exploding,
we all believe that Vadim would have survived this kind of accident.
June 30, 1999
Morley Safer
60 Minutes, CBS Television
51 W 52nd Street
New York, NY
USA 10019
Morley Safer:
The conclusion that you offered in your 23Oct94 60 Minutes broadcast
The Ugly Face of
Freedom was that Ukraine is a place where Jews and Russians are
oppressed by militant
Ukrainian nationalists, and where they are the targets of Ukrainian
violence. The
closest that you came to substantiating this claim was to broadcast
Rabbi Bleich's
allegation that an elderly Jewish couple had been attacked and robbed
somewhere in
Western Ukraine. However, this allegation was devoid of substantiating
detail, and my
request for specifics (both in my letter to you of 24May98, and in my
letter to Rabbi
Bleich of 23May98) was answered with silence. I repeat that request to
you now - please
inform me of the details of this attack, which minimally would include
the time, the
place, the names of the victims, and the address where a police report
is available. If
you do not have such information, please retract the allegation.
You must be aware that I. M. Levitas, Head of the Jewish Council of
Ukraine as well as
of the Nationalities Associations of Ukraine has questioned whether
such an attack on
the two elderly Jews ever took place. Levitas's doubt was first
expressed in an open
letter to you, and I reminded Rabbi Bleich of it in my letter to him of
23May98, of
which you were mailed a copy. In view of I. M. Levitas's doubt, and in
view of your and
Rabbi Bleich's silence in response to my request for particulars, the
impression grows
daily stronger that you and Rabbi Bleich made the incident up.
The chief purpose of the present letter is to demonstrate to you yet
again that your
conclusion which I summarize in my first sentence at the beginning of
the present letter
is exactly backward. Ukraine is not a place where Ukrainians attack and
murder, it is a
place where Ukrainians are attacked and murdered, as has been the case
for the last
three hundred years, at least. Below is documented one further instance
in support of
this conclusion. It is the story of Vadim Boyko, member of parliament,
and popular
television investigative journalist. I would have expected that the
story of Vadim
Boyko would have appealed to you, and for that reason that you might
have included it in
any broadcast that you prepared about Ukraine, as his life - at least
up to the final
moments - was not unlike your own:
February 23, 1992
Journalist's notebook in Ukraine
by Marta Kolomayets
Kiev Press Bureau
A colleague's tragic death
"He was a man engaged to a young Ukraine," said Volodymyr Yavorivsky,
as
he bid farewell to Vadim Boyko, who died tragically on February 14, at
the age of 29.
Hundreds of mourners crowded into the third floor atrium of the
Ukrainian State Television and Radio headquarters, tearfully passing
each other on the steps Vadim so often bounded, rushing to the studios
where he recorded his popular television programs.
Now, on February 17, the mourners paid their last respects to Vadik (as
he was affectionately known), searching for a reason why such a
promising, talented life was cut short. As slow dirge-like music played
over the loudspeakers, they filed past the closed coffin, sewn up in
black cotton and laden with bunches of carnations of all colors.
At the foot of the coffin stood a black and white photo of the young
journalist and politician. An enlarged copy of the same photo,
decorated with a black mourning band, hung above the coffin. To the
left, the newly adopted Ukrainian national flag, also decorated with
black bunting, kept guard over its native son. Wreaths from the
Ukrainian Parliament, co-workers and friends surrounded the coffin.
Perhaps as a carryover from the Communist-atheist state of the past,
the
wake of devoid of all Christian symbols and rites.
Vadim's father sat at the foot of the coffin, numb to the proceedings.
As a few speakers addressed the crowd, he wiped tears away from his
weary, red eyes. Vadim's mother was too weak to make the trip from the
family's home in Svitlovodsk to Kiev.
Mykola Okhmakevych, the stagnant, Communist head of the State
Television
and Radio, whose removal has been pressed for by both democratic
deputies and workers of the television station, said a few uninspiring
words. Often harshly criticized by Vadim and his colleagues, Mr.
Okhmakevych now spoke of how Vadim had always loved his job. An angry
mourner, who saw this hypocrisy, cried out: "He loved Ukraine above
all. He loved Ukraine, say it."
We all descended the steps with Vadim for the last time. The coffin was
then placed in a vehicle for Vadim's journey home to Svitlovodsk,
Kirovohrad Oblast, his final resting place.
x x x
It has been almost a week now since my phone rang just before midnight,
on Valentine's Day, February 14. It was my friend and colleague Dmytro
Ponamarchuk. Yet his voice sounded different.
"I don't know how to say this, Marta. Vadim Boyko burned to death
tonight." I could not believe what I was hearing: "What is this, a
cruel joke?"
Dmytro, working at the radio station, had been called about a fire at
Vadim's apartment; the fire department reported that his television had
blown up. Dmytro arrived at the scene just an hour or so after the
reported fire, only to find Vadim's body sprawled across the floor,
burned beyond recognition. There was nothing left of his apartment, a
dormitory-type dwelling in a building that housed quite a number of
State television and Radio workers.
News of Vadim's death spread quickly among fellow journalists - many of
whom had attended Kiev State with Vadim, many of whom worked with him
on
numerous projects.
He was an elected democratic deputy from Kremenchuk, Poltava Oblast. He
had come from the neighboring town in Kirovohrad oblast, just across
the
Dnipro River, arriving in the capital city of Kiev in the early 1980s
to
obtain a college education.
And from then on, he gained popularity as the founder and host of
"Hart," one of the first serious investigative shows on Ukrainian
television, reporting on everything from Chornobyl to Shcherbytsky.
After he was elected a deputy to the Ukrainian Parliament in March
1990,
he was appointed vice chairman of the standing parliamentary Committee
on Glasnost and the Mass Media, a job he took very seriously, often
going to Moscow to discuss problems of disinformation in Ukraine, as
presented by central television.
But Vadim never forgot his first vocation - journalism - and he would
often join his colleagues, including a few of us foreign
correspondents,
on the press balcony of Parliament during the sessions to give us some
inside news or highlights of his commission's work.
He was our friend, and with his death, our circle has been broken. Many
of us - Ukrainian journalists and foreign correspondents, as well as a
few of his close friends outside this journalistic fraternity - spent
last week trying to come to terms with the tragedy that has struck us.
We cannot believe that his death was just pure accident; although it is
reported that 8,000 people a year in the former Soviet Union die due to
their television sets exploding, we all believe that Vadim would have
survived this kind of accident.
We have gone through the story over and over. Most of us saw him in
Parliament on Wednesday afternoon; he was excited and invigorated by
new
opportunities: he was applying for a National Foundation internship for
the spring in Washington, D.C., he was going to travel on business with
Ukraine's deputy prime minister. His dancing blue eyes were smitten
with the possibilities of new TV shows and programs in an independent
Ukraine.
None of us saw Vadim in Parliament on Thursday or Friday, February
13-14; he missed a few meetings he had scheduled on Friday.
Currently, there are many rumors flying around Kiev surrounding Vadim's
death, based on political, business and personal motivations.
Parliamentary committees have promised to work on an investigation,
although no special committee has been formed to investigate what many
democratic deputies, among them Les Taniuk and Stepan Khmara, have
labelled as murder. Some speculate that Vadim's TV work in Chornobyl
may have triggered an early death...
On Friday, February 14, Nezavisimaya Gazeta (Independent Newspaper) in
Moscow ran an interview with Vadim on journalists' responsibilities and
cooperation between Moscow and Kiev.
"At this time, we (referring to Russian and Ukrainian journalists) can
be friends, if we are honest to the end. We are currently living in a
commonwealth, the root of the word is found in the word "druh,"
friend... We will never become true friends, until we journalists
understand that we are the ones who can, who have the responsibility to
stop our peoples from total degradation, from the catastrophe that can
occur between our peoples," he said. "If we cannot prevent this we stop
being journalists. We will become persons who today do their work and
tomorrow, one by one, are destroyed."
Vadim's deep sense of responsibility, his courage and commitment to the
truth will always be admired by his friends and colleagues. And we are
all committed to learning the truth.
Given the suspicious circumstances surrounding his death, I can only
hope that his last interview prophecy did not become self-fulfilling.
Mr. Safer, you travelled to Ukraine looking for stories of persecution
and violence
against Jews and Russians, you failed to find the evidence, but you
broadcast the story
anyway. All the while, you were surrounded by stories of persecution
and violence
against Ukrainians, but that plentiful evidence you ignored. In other
words, you went
to Ukraine not to discover its reality, but to confirm your prejudice.
You played the
role not of journalist, but of propagandist. Given the opportunity to
make a
contribution toward protecting the lives of journalists in Ukraine by
broadcasting the
story of Vadim Boyko, you declined. Showing anything on 60 Minutes that
might win
sympathy for Ukrainians was contrary to your plan.
Had you managed to find a Jewish member of parliament and television
broadcaster who had
died in Ukraine under mysterious circumstances, then you would have had
one small piece
of evidence for the anti-Ukrainian conclusions that you offered. Had
you managed to
find a Russian member of parliament and television broadcaster who had
died in Ukraine
under mysterious circumstances, then you would have had one small piece
of evidence for
the anti-Ukrainian conclusions that you offered. However, you found
neither of these
things. In Ukraine, death under mysterious circumstances is reserved
for prominent
Ukrainians, which conclusion you had no interest in broadcasting.
Below, I identify four incidents which I have brought to your attention
either in three
earlier letters, or in the present one. Although the first two cases
occurred before
your broadcast of 23Oct94, and the second two occurred after, all serve
to support the
conclusion that within today's Ukraine, it is Ukrainians who are the
targets of
violence:
Date of my letter
Subject of my letter
Date of Attack
Violence that you should have reported in your 23Oct94 The Ugly Face of
Freedom
15May99
Who murdered Volodymyr Ivasiuk?
April 1979
30Jun99
Who murdered Vadim Boyko?
February 14, 1992
Violence that you might have caused by your 23Oct94 The Ugly Face of
Freedom
09Apr99
Who blew the hands off Maksym Tsarenko?
Summer 1995
17May99
Who murdered Volodymyr Katelnytsky?
July 7-8, 1997
As the first two of the above attacks occurred prior to your 23Oct94
broadcast, then
your fault is that you neglected to report them. And as the second two
attacks occurred
after your 23Oct94 broadcast, then your fault is that you may have
helped cause them.
That is, your 23Oct94 broadcast, The Ugly Face of Freedom, served to
demonstrate to
Ukraine's assassins not only that violence against Ukrainians would go
unreported in the
world press, but also that even as Ukrainians continued to be
butchered, the world press
would portray them - the victim Ukrainians - as themselves butchers.
You did not
yourself wield any knife or pull any trigger or tighten any garotte,
but you informed
those that were predisposed to do so that they might expect impunity if
they did. For
this reason, I consider you to have blood on your hands, some of it
Maksym Tsarenko's,
and some of it Volodymyr Katelnytsky's.
Lubomyr Prytulak
cc: Yaakov Bleich, Ed Bradley, Jeffrey Fager, Don Hewitt, Steve Kroft,
Andy Rooney,
Lesley Stahl, Mike Wallace, Simon Wiesenthal.
Morley Safer Letter 12 01Jul99 Who murdered Borys Derevyanko?
The plainest moral to be drawn from the Derevyanko-Hurvits story is
that when a
muckraking Ukrainian editor takes on a corrupt Jewish politician, the
Ukrainian editor
ends up dead.
July 1, 1999
Morley Safer
60 Minutes, CBS Television
51 W 52nd Street
New York, NY
USA 10019
Morley Safer:
The Committee to Protect Journalists described the contract killing of
Ukrainian editor
Borys Derevyanko thusly:
Borys Derevyanko, Vechernyaya Odessa
Date of Death: August 11, 1997
Place of Death: Odessa
Derevyanko, editor in chief of Vechernyaya Odessa, a popular and
influential thrice-weekly newspaper, was fatally shot at point-blank
range on his way to work on the morning of August 11 near the Press
House, where the newspaper's offices are located. Colleagues believe
the killing of Derevyanko, who was editor of Vechernyaya Odessa for 24
years, was related to the newspaper's opposition to the policies of
Odessa's mayor. The chief regional prosecutor declared the murder a
contract killing and launched an official investigation. Local
authorities announced in September that they had arrested a suspect,
described as a professional assassin, who confessed to killing
Derevyanko, but they gave no details about his confession.
I would add that the Odessa mayor which the above account neglects to
name was the
corrupt Eduard Hurvits, who was particularly threatened by Borys
Derevyanko's opposition
because of municipal elections that were coming up in 1998. The comment
concerning the
arrest of an assassin gives a misleading impression - in today's
Ukraine, contract
killings are never solved, and those who order them are never punished.
Today, Borys Derevyanko is dead, and Eduard Hurvits, barred by his
corruption from
holding the office of mayor of Odessa, continues his criminal career as
a member of the
Ukrainian parliament. Photographs of Derevyanko and Hurvits are shown
below:
Newspaper editor
Borys Derevyanko
Odessa Mayor
Eduard Hurvits
The table which I began in my letter to you of 30Jun99 can now be
elaborated with
another entry:
Date of my letter
Subject of my letter
Date of Attack
Violence that you should have reported in your 23Oct94 The Ugly Face of
Freedom
15May99
Who murdered Volodymyr Ivasiuk?
April 1979
30Jun99
Who murdered Vadim Boyko?
February 14, 1992
Violence that you might have caused by your 23Oct94 The Ugly Face of
Freedom
09Apr99
Who blew the hands off Maksym Tsarenko?
Summer 1995
17May99
Who murdered Volodymyr Katelnytsky?
July 7-8, 1997
01Jul99
Who murdered Borys Derevyanko?
August 11, 1997
As the conclusion of your 23Oct94 60 Minutes story, The Ugly Face of
Freedom, was that
Ukraine is a place in which Ukrainians practice violence against Jews,
it is highly
relevant that Borys Derevyanko is Ukrainian and Eduard Hurvits is
Jewish. You went to
Ukraine looking for evidence of Ukrainians harming Jews, you failed to
find such
evidence, but you broadcast your conclusion anyway. The true story that
you would not
broadcast, and that was readily documentable, is that Ukraine is a
place in which Jews
harm Ukrainians. The plainest moral to be drawn from the
Derevyanko-Hurvits story is
that when a muckraking Ukrainian editor takes on a corrupt Jewish
politician, the
Ukrainian editor ends up dead. That is the reality of Ukraine. It was
the reality of
Ukraine when you visited it in 1994, it was the reality of Ukraine
before 1994, and it
has been the reality of Ukraine since 1994.
As in earlier letters, I fault you for not reporting such incidents as
are in the above
table that took place before 1994, and I fault you for precipitating
such incidents that
took place after 1994. Thus, to the blood that is already on your
hands, I add the
blood of Borys Derevyanko. You had the opportunity in your 1994
broadcast to come out
on the side of the victims against the butchers, but you preferred to
side with the
butchers against the victims, and Borys Derevyanko has been one of the
casualties of
your decision.
Lubomyr Prytulak
cc: Yaakov Bleich, Ed Bradley, Jeffrey Fager, Don Hewitt, Steve Kroft,
Andy Rooney,
Lesley Stahl, Mike Wallace, Simon Wiesenthal.
Michaud refuses to apologize,
Bouchard facing PQ split
WebPosted Thu Dec 21 08:51:59 2000
QUEBEC CITY - A controversy within the Parti
QuĘbĘcois has escalated and could threaten the
leadership of Premier Lucien Bouchard.
It began last week when an influential member of
the PQ, who wants to run in a byelection, made
comments about the Holocaust.
Bouchard demanded the comments be withdrawn.
Yves Michaud refused.
Now people within the PQ are taking sides.
On Wednesday, as the
National Assembly was
wrapping up for the
Christmas break, the
controversy took a
sharp turn for the worse.
Michaud said he has no
reason to apologize.
"I have never said or written anything that
minimizes the Nazi horror against the Jews," he
said. "What you are doing to demonize a member
of your party is a dishonour and not worthy of a
premier."
"Michaud said he was fed up with Jews always
saying they're the only people to have suffered, and
I won't have it," said Bouchard.
Michaud has been around the PQ a long time. He
is a committed, hardcore sovereigntist, part of a
faction in the party that's often doubted Bouchard's
commitment.
Last week, on radio, and at a commission studying
the French language, he said Quebec's Jews were
intolerant, voting as they do en masse against
sovereignty, and they believe they're the only
people to have suffered throughout history.
Michaud wants to be a PQ candidate in an
upcoming byelection, but Bouchard's answer came
Tuesday after a meeting with his caucus. Withdraw
either your remarks, or your candidacy.
Michaud will do neither. And now, he's gathering
powerful support.
He has the backing of Bouchard's predecessor,
Jacques Parizeau, and some influential
sovereigntist groups. They say his remarks were
inelegant, inopportune, but not anti-Semitic.
Bouchard in the meantime says the sovereignty
movement must show the world it will not tolerate
Michaud's opinions. He has the backing of his
caucus, but in some cases, it sounds almost
reluctant.
Now, an emerging question: Can a split become
an irrevocable rupture costing Bouchard the
leadership?
He asked his party to think about it over the
holidays. But there's no apparent solution.
In February, the party must choose its byelection
candidate and right now, both sides seem locked
into their positions facing a deadline they cannot
avoid.
POSTED AT 4:04 AM EST Wednesday, December 20
Bouchard courts confrontation
By RHęAL SęGUIN
Globe and Mail Update
Quebec - Premier Lucien Bouchard is prepared to
put his leadership on the line if the Parti QuĘbĘcois fails to support
him on several
contentious issues, including his intention to ban a prominent PQ
member from running in
a by-election next spring.
"He is prepared to take on the party," said a senior party member. "We
get the sense that if
the party executive goes against him on the Yves Michaud affair, on
language or on his
strategy for achieving sovereignty, the party will shatter. The mood is
such that we may be
looking at a confrontation between the leader and the party. He warned
us it could be
fatal."
The source said this means that Mr. Bouchard could resign.
Shareholder-rights activist and party member Yves Michaud, who had
hoped to stand for
the PQ in a by-election next spring, caused a furor earlier this month
with his comments
about Jews and ethnic voters.
The party executive will meet in the new year to hear Mr. Michaud
defend himself and
decide whether to bar his candidacy. It will be the first in a number
of showdowns within
the party.
In February, it must take a position on toughening the province's
language laws and define
a strategy to achieve sovereignty. Mr. Bouchard has made it known that
he will not tolerate
any radical position on language, and has warned members to be patient
about another
referendum.
He has also said he favours blocking Mr. Michaud's candidacy.
The Premier will have to deal with the mounting frustrations or face a
confrontation.
The split within sovereigntist ranks blew up in public this week as
prominent separatist
leaders, including former premier Jacques Parizeau and Bloc QuĘbĘcois
Leader Gilles
Duceppe, said Mr. Bouchard's PQ caucus had no right to support a motion
in the National
Assembly reprimanding Mr. Michaud.
"The Parti QuĘbĘcois is divided in the same way Quebec society is
divided," party
vice-president Marie Malavoy said Tuesday. "The party didn't close the
door on his
candidacy ... but we have to discuss it as soon as possible."
Mr. Michaud outraged the Jewish community for stating that Jews were
not the only ones
in the history of humanity to suffer. He also said there is an
anti-sovereignty ethnic vote,
pointing to 12 polls in the Montreal suburb of CĆte-Saint-Luc, which
has a high
concentration of Jewish residents, where everyone voted against
sovereignty in the 1995
referendum. He also called the B'nai Brith, an influential
Jewish-rights organization,
extremist and anti-sovereigntist.
Mr. Duceppe said Tuesday that he disagreed with Mr. Michaud's comments,
but that the
National Assembly had no business condemning him for them. "It could be
very
hazardous, if not dangerous, for the National Assembly to hand out
blame like that," he
said. "It is one thing to ask a member of the National Assembly to
apologize or withdraw
what he said, like we do in Ottawa. But when it's not a member of that
assembly, I think
there are tribunals that can judge whether it was correct or not."
In a full-page letter in Le Devoir Tuesday, 30 prominent
sovereigntists, including Mr.
Parizeau, accused the National Assembly of attempting to gag Mr.
Michaud and denying
him his right to freedom of speech.
"We the undersigned, consider there is a real misuse of the role of the
National Assembly,
a serious attack on the rights and freedoms of citizens and a violation
of the Charter," they
wrote in French. It is "a flagrant act of injustice and a stunning show
of arbitrary authority of
which every citizen can from now on fear of becoming the victim."
In interviews Monday, Mr. Parizeau compared Mr. Bouchard's defence of
the National
Assembly's position to the type of authoritarian actions taken in the
era of premier Maurice
Duplessis. "When I was young the Duplessis regime was in place. And a
system that
demands that you either believe or die with pressures to adopt this or
that, you can be sure
that I can see a throwback to that era. And that is why I protest," he
said. "What Mr. Michaud
said was clumsy, especially from someone who wants to be a candidate.
But there is
nothing in what he said to make a fuss about."
At least two PQ caucus members, Diane Barbeau and Jean-Claude St-AndrĘ,
have
expressed regret about supporting the motion in the National Assembly.
However, cabinet ministers and most caucus members refused to comment.
Mr. Bouchard
staunchly defended the National Assembly's reprimand Tuesday.
"My view is that he [Mr. Michaud] should not be a candidate for the
Parti QuĘbĘcois," Mr.
Bouchard said after a caucus meeting. "If he withdraws [his remarks],
it will clear the air
and we could take a second look at it."
He condemned Mr. Michaud's comparison of the suffering of Jews and the
plight of
Quebec sovereigntists. "When we know how an entire people was treated,
how they were
treated worse than cattle, people who were separated from their
families, their children
taken from them, jammed into trains and transported like garbage to
concentration camps
where after incredible suffering they were thrown into gas chambers and
the ovens, we
cannot speak lightly of these matters," he said.
Although Mr. Michaud said he did not mean to make light of the
Holocaust, Mr. Bouchard
said perception was created.
He also criticized Mr. Michaud for "resurrecting the spectre of the
ethnic vote", in effect
denouncing remarks made by Mr. Parizeau on the night of the 1995
referendum. Mr.
Parizeau blamed "money and the ethnic vote" for that loss.
"I am convinced this is an attack against people who don't deserve to
be treated this way,"
Mr. Bouchard said.
====================
<><><><><><><><><><>
++++++++++++++++++++