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Sabtu, 15 Juni 2019

10th suspect in David Ortiz case headed to court Saturday, prosecutor says - The Boston Globe

On Friday, Santo Domingo’s top prosecutor said he will push for a 40-year prison term for the alleged shooter, Rolfi Ferreras Cruz. Such punishment is the maximum allowed under Dominican law for crimes committed with a firearm, the prosecutor’s office said.

“He’s not going to see the sun for the next 40 years,” Milciades Guzmán, the top prosecutor, told television reporters in Spanish.

Late Friday, Dominican authorities indicted nine suspects, including the 25-year-old Cruz, in connection to the shooting, The indictments mean authorities can hold the suspects for up to a year while investigators look into what they say was an orchestrated hit on Ortiz.

Ortiz, 43, is hospitalized at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston where he was taken Monday for treatment.

Dominican authorities have not said who ordered the attack on Ortiz or what the motive might have been, though they have indicated that they expect to provide more details next week. Officials have said the alleged hit men were paid about $7,800 to murder Ortiz, who is revered in his native country, as well as in Massachusetts.

Documents recently submitted by prosecutors shed light on Cruz’s movements following the shooting at Dial Bar and Lounge.

At about 9:30 p.m. Sunday, 10 minutes after the shooting, Cruz arrived at the home of a man he knew holding a gun and looking scared, according to the documents obtained by the Globe.

Cruz told the man, identified by police as Juan Carlos Reynoso, that he had escaped from people who had tried to attack him and managed to grab their gun.

Reynoso said he called Cruz a taxi and Cruz left, according to the documents.

Cruz has reportedly claimed from jail that Ortiz wasn’t his intended target, saying he was confused about his target because he had only been told the color of the man’s clothing.

A spokesman for prosecutors has rejected Cruz’s assertions, which were broadcast by Dominican media outlets.

Authorities allege Cruz was taken to the bar last Sunday on a motorcycle by Eddy Vladimir Feliz Garcia, 23, who fell from the bike following the shooting, was beaten by civilians, and then arrested. Garcia’s lawyer has said his client unwittingly picked up Cruz as a fare.

After the shooting, police found surveillance footage showing Garcia and Cruz, huddling with five other men in a silver car on a street near the bar. The vehicle was driven by Oliver Moises Mirabal Acosta, who is accused of taking possession of the firearm used in the attack and then giving it to another suspect.

Those same men had been seen talking together in the neighborhood of Las Caobas at 5:30 p.m., about four hours before Ortiz was shot.

The documents indicate that police believe the plot to shoot Ortiz was hatched from inside a prison with two inmates, Jose Eduardo Ciprian Lebron and Carlos Rafael Alvarez, communicating with Acosta, Luis Rivas-Clase, 31, and another person to recruit people to participate in the attack.

Aimee Ortiz can be reached at aimee.ortiz@globe.com. Follow her on twitter @aimee_ortiz.

Laura Crimaldi can be reached at laura.crimaldi@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @lauracrimaldi.

Maria Cramer can be reached at mcramer@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @globemcramer.

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https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/06/15/prosecutor-vows-seek-year-term-for-alleged-shooter-ortiz-case/Cwi6BNWHxyGQGdtNUy9VoN/story.html

2019-06-15 18:33:45Z
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Brazilian Judge Says The Man Who Stabbed Jair Bolsonaro Will Not Be Convicted - NPR

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Adélio Bispo de Oliveira, who confessed to stabbing Jair Bolsonaro, sits after being detained following the attack in September 2019. Brazil Military Police /AP hide caption

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Brazil Military Police /AP

A Brazilian judge has acquitted a man who stabbed then-presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro. The judge ruled that Adélio Bispo de Oliveira was mentally ill and ordered him held in a mental facility indefinitely, The Associated Press reports.

Jair Bolsonaro was campaigning for president on Sept. 6, 2018 in Juiz de Fora, about 115 miles north of Rio de Janeiro, when he was attacked. NPR's Philip Reeves reported that Bolsonaro was sitting on a supporter's shoulders when an assailant plunged a blade into his stomach. "The man reportedly told investigators he was acting on the orders of God," Reeves reported.

The attack damaged Bolsonaro's intestines and required a two-hour surgery to stop internal bleeding. After the attack, Bispo confessed and Bolsonaro won the October elections, despite spending three weeks of the campaign in hospital, NPR reported. Voters supported the retired army captain's anti-corruption message, despite his record of disparaging women, the LGBT community and people of color.

Judge Bruno Savino ruled Friday that Bispo would be held in a mental facility within the federal prison system, the AP reports.

"The hospitalization will last for an indefinite period until medical experts have proven that he is no longer dangerous," Savino said in a statement, according to the AP.

Bolsonaro has vowed to overturn the decision. The BBC reports Bolsonaro told local media, "I will contact my lawyer. I will try to do whatever is possible."

Brazil's leader has suggested the attack was politically motivated, and says he will find the culprit behind what he believes is a conspiracy.

"They tried to kill me. I am certain who they were, but I can't say, I don't want to prejudge anyone," the BBC reported him saying.

The acquittal comes as Bolsonaro contends with the first general strike of his presidency. Thousands of people filled the streets on Friday to protest budget cuts and pensions reform. NPR's Philip Reeves reports that unions and opposition groups held demonstrations and blocked roads, and police fired tear gas at protesters.

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https://www.npr.org/2019/06/15/733032255/brazilian-judge-acquits-man-who-stabbed-jair-bolsonaro

2019-06-15 16:34:00Z
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David Ortiz shooting: Man accused of shooting former Boston Red Sox star will remain in jail while awaiting trial - CBS News

The man accused of shooting Boston Red Sox legend David Ortiz will remain in jail for at least one year while awaiting trial. Rolfy Ferreyra Cruz and eight other suspects made a court appearance in the Dominican Republic on Friday, all wearing bulletproof vests and helmets. From his jail cell window, the suspected gunman told reporters Ortiz was not his intended target.

Ortiz remains in a Boston hospital, where he's recovering from a second surgery. On Sunday, the former Red Sox slugger was ambushed and shot at the Dial Bar and Lounge in Santo Domingo, the nation's capital.

Police have nine suspects in custody, and local media reported a 10th turned himself into authorities on Friday. Authorities are still looking for several others they said may be involved in the plot, including a man wanted in connection with an attempted murder in Pennsylvania. Defense attorneys told CBS News that their clients are innocent.

Rolfy Ferreyra Cruz is taken to court on June 13, 2019. Roberto Guzman / AP

Dr. Jose Abel Gonzalez, who was part of the team that treated Ortiz in the hours after the shooting, told CBS News that Ortiz was in a lot of pain, but was in stable condition when he was taken into the operating room.

Police interviewed Ortiz in the operating room, and Gonzalez said the baseball legend told investigators he didn't have a problem with anyone on the island, and that he was a "good man."

Police have not yet announced a motive for the crime.

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https://www.cbsnews.com/news/david-ortiz-shooting-suspect-rolfy-ferreyra-cruz-jailed-while-awaiting-trial-2019-06-15/

2019-06-15 14:52:00Z
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Kenya police officers killed in blast near Somalia border - Aljazeera.com

Kenyan officials say at least 10 police officers are dead after their vehicle struck an improvised explosive device near the Somali border.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to share the information, said those killed Saturday in Wajir County were among 13 officers who were pursuing fighters who had kidnapped police reservists.

Police on Friday said an unknown number of gunmen stormed Konton centre in Wajir East and kidnapped three reservists.

There was no claim of responsibility for the latest attack.

The Somalia-based al-Shabab armed group often targets Kenyan security forces, vowing retribution after Kenya deployed troops to Somalia in 2011 to combat the fighters.

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https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/06/kenya-police-officers-killed-blast-somalia-border-190615122049040.html

2019-06-15 12:29:00Z
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'Shield Girl': The new face of Hong Kong's anti-extradition movement - BBC News

She has been the face of large Hong Kong protests against a controversial extradition bill. But the young woman, who came to be known as "Shield Girl", tells the BBC that she will fight on despite the bill's indefinite suspension.

Darkness had fallen. Crowds were thinning. A lone girl, in a meditative pose, defiantly sat in front of a row of riot police.

It has become an iconic image from the Hong Kong demonstrations.

"Bravery in the face of brutality. Beautiful," wrote an observer on Twitter.

"The innocence of youth and the riot shields of the authority," wrote Hong Kong-based Irish journalist Aaron Mc Nicholas.

Dubbed "Shield Girl", she even inspired this artwork from one of China's leading dissident artists Badiucao.

Her name is Lam Ka Lo. The 26-year-old came to the Admiralty district by herself, where the government headquarters are located, on Tuesday night, hours ahead of a rally organised by Civil Human Rights Front.

There were hundreds of protesters with her at that spot, but more and more police officers in full riot gear arrived.

"No one really dared to stand so close to the line of police officers," she said, adding that she did not fear police but worried that other protesters might be injured.

She started meditating and chanting the Om mantra when tension was running high.

"I just wanted to send my positive vibes," she said. "But protesters also hurled insults at the police. At that moment, I just wanted fellow protesters to sit next to me and not to chide them."

But the young woman doesn't want to be the face of the protests.

"I don't want attention," Lam said. "But if people think that it was moving to see me sit down in front of the police, I hope more people would be encouraged to be braver, to express themselves."

Meditating and anger

Lam's calmness is largely owed to her practice of meditation.

An avid traveller, Lam has visited more than a dozen countries in Asia, Latin America, North America and Europe. She dabbled in meditation during her trip to Nepal four years ago - when the country was rattled by a deadly earthquake.

The young woman says she's a naturally emotional person, but meditation has helped her be more mindful of her feelings and achieve inner peace.

But Lam, who spent every single day in the streets during the 79-day Umbrella Movement in 2014, was not emotionally prepared by the dramatic showdown between police officers and protesters on Wednesday afternoon.

"I do feel a bit of hatred because some students were injured by police," she said, adding that she was not at the protest site when the violence unfolded on Wednesday. "We are only human to have feelings."

The young woman says, however, the protest movement should not alienate police officers and still believes non-violence is the way to achieve the goal of the protesters.

"Violence doesn't solve anything."

Fight on

On Saturday, the protesters scored what is being seen as a major concession. Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said the extradition bill would be shelved, and no timetable for its re-introduction given.

But Lam Ka Lo remains defiant.

"I don't see it as a success."

She wants to see the bill withdrawn, the Wednesday clashes not categorised as riot, and the release of arrested protesters.

She urges her fellow protesters to continue their fight and join the march on Sunday.

"Come with your friends and family. Come in groups. Express yourselves in your own ways. I used meditation, but it doesn't mean it's the only way. Everyone can protest creatively and meaningfully."

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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-48604933

2019-06-15 11:19:01Z
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Hong Kong extradition law: What happens next? - CNN

While she fell short of fully withdrawing the bill -- or resigning -- as some protesters had demand, the move is nevertheless a major win for the hundreds of thousands who took to the streets on June 9, as well as the tens of thousands of mostly young protesters who shut down parts of the city on Wednesday and prevented lawmakers from beginning a second reading.

Pro-democracy figures said that the bill would lead to the erosion of civil rights in Hong Kong, including freedom of speech and rule of law, and could see residents sent to China to face prosecution in a country with an opaque legal system.

Beijing has yet to officially react to Lam's announcement that she was suspending the bill, though the Chief Executive has emphasized that she had the central government's support.

From all available accounts, it appears that the bill was an initiative of Lam's government -- as she has claimed all along -- rather than an order from on high.

Lam and her ministers appear to have seen in a gruesome Taiwan murder case a way to win an easy public relations victory by extraditing a wanted killer to face justice, and a way to close loopholes and extend the central government's powers to go after fugitives, especially former Chinese officials, in Hong Kong.

They do not, however, seem to have expected the overwhelmingly negative response to the bill and the deep, widespread distrust for the Chinese legal system. Pro-democracy activists, NGOs and business groups came together in calling for the bill's withdrawal, and it also served to unify the previously fractured political opposition.

Protests this month -- with the June 9 march the largest since Hong Kong was handed over to Chinese control, and Wednesday's protests among some of the most violent scenes ever seen in the city -- left Lam unwilling to push forward with a bill so clearly unpopular and potentially dangerous.

However, while the climbdown is certainly embarrassing to both the Hong Kong and Beijing governments, it only maintains the status quo, as did a mass movement against an anti-sedition law in 2003, previously the largest protests Hong Kong had seen under Chinese rule.

Hong Kong residents have proven more willing to come to the streets to fight back against a loss of political freedoms than to push for extra ones, and both the local and central governments appear to have a greater degree of flexibility or patience on these issues as well.

The situation in 2014, when demands for the direct election of the chief executive spiraled into the Umbrella Movement, was very different. Those protests did not attract such a broad swath of society, and they were also greeted with a much more forceful reaction by Beijing, and a subsequent crackdown and numerous prosecutions and disqualifications of lawmakers.

Hong Kong's Chief Executive Carrie Lam speaks at a press conference in Hong Kong Saturday, June 15, 2019.

Does the bill have a future?

While Lam emphasized that the bill has been suspended rather than completely withdrawn, it is likely that the effect will be the same, at least in the near term.

As opposition to the bill grew, Taipei said it would not request the murder suspect's extradition from Hong Kong, as it said the bill would put Taiwanese citizens in danger. With this off the table, Lam admitted there was "less urgency to pass the bill this year."

Going forward, she said she wanted to focus on "economic and livelihood" issues, particularly those such as housing, a consistent major issue in Hong Kong, particularly for young people of the sort out protesting Wednesday.

That language is similar to what she has used in the past when discussing whether her government would seek to introduce Article 23, the anti-sedition law which was shelved after mass protests against it in 2003. Lam has said she would only do so were the conditions in society correct, and on Saturday she said she regretted that controversies over the extradition bill had spoiled the "period of calm" Hong Kong had enjoyed since she took office in 2017.

While the government could reintroduce the bill next year, it is unlikely as 2020 is an election year for the legislative council.

The newly reinvigorated and unified pro-democratic camp will be targeting marginal seats in an attempt to wrest back veto power in the legislature, and pro-Beijing lawmakers have already warned that the controversies over the bill could cost them seats.

So though some protesters and opposition figures may complain that Lam has only suspended rather than withdrawn the bill, the effect may end up being the same.

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https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/15/asia/hong-kong-extradition-law-china-intl-hnk/index.html

2019-06-15 10:24:00Z
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Hong Kong suspends extradition bill after huge protests - NBC News

HONG KONG — Hong Kong's Chief Executive Carrie Lam on Saturday announced the government would suspend debate on a controversial extradition bill that had prompted massive protests in the former British colony.

"We decided that it was important to return society to peace," Lam told reporters, referring to the huge demonstrations.

Hong Kong's Chief Executive Carrie Lam speaks on Saturday.Kin Cheung / AP

The announcement represented a major victory for protesters in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory. Organizers have said they would not back down until the bill was withdrawn altogether, and on Saturday renewed calls for a planned march on Sunday.

The climb down followed formal warnings from U.S. and European officials, with international business and human rights groups saying the changes would hurt the rule of law in Hong Kong, which was handed back to Chinese rule in 1997 amid guarantees of autonomy.

Hong Kong enjoys greater freedoms than mainland China under a "one country, two systems" framework. Residents can freely surf the internet and participate in public protests, unlike in the mainland.

The measure was not definitively cancelled, however, and Lam did not say when debate would resume.

"The council will halt its work in relation to the bill until our work in communication, explanation and listening to opinions is completed," she said, adding that the government also had other priorities, including an expected economic downturn.

The controversial bill had been introduced in response to a murder case in Taiwan where the suspect fled back to Hong Kong, revealing what Lam described as a "loophole in our regime with respect to mutual legal assistance on criminal matters."

Lawmakers said it was designed to simplify case-by-case arrangements to allow extradition of wanted suspects to jurisdictions including mainland China, Macau and Taiwan.

But opponents said the bill would severely compromise their freedoms and erode Hong Kong's legal independence, with fears over the fairness and transparency of the Chinese court system and worries over Chinese security forces contriving charges.

Lam has maintained the legislation was needed and would have safeguards to ensure human rights were protected.

Organizers say over a million people marched through the streets of Hong Kong last Sunday, amid a series of protests that turned violent and saw both police and demonstrators injured.

"Clearly, this is no longer a peaceful assembly but a blatant, organized riot, and in no way an act of loving Hong Kong," Lam said earlier in the week.

Lam condemned the protests again on Saturday, but said the bill was no longer necessary.

"The original urgency to pass this bill in the current legislative year is perhaps no longer there," she said.

Lam did not apologize, and dodged reporters' questions about whether she planned to resign as demonstrators have demanded. Instead, she said she had been acting in Hong Kong's best interests.

Laurel Chor reported from Hong Kong, Linda Givetash from London.

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https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/hong-kong-extradition-bill-sparked-massive-protests-may-be-suspended-n1017861

2019-06-15 09:17:00Z
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