Upside down

[Otto Sell]

just some heretic thoughts

Does this mean that the Governor of Arizona may be called Mr. Milosevic,
Saddam Hussein, Ghaddafi or Osama Bin Laden?
Will he judged at the Hague court?
Will he imprisoned for murder if he visits Germany? No, he will be friendly
greeted by our politicians, write his name in the Golden Books of our
cities, receive awards and honor-doctor hats.

Is this the hypocrisy we are all guilty of allowing our politicians to go on
war (real or economically) against the little evil-doers of the world I've
mentioned while the USA is constantly violating human rights of Blacks and
other minorities, while at the same time over here neo-nazis can hunt down
black refugees and may leave the courtroom free.

I admit that German society is sick, but I get the increasing feeling that
we and the US (and GB, France, Russia and so on) are much sicker then I ever
thought and because of political correctness nobody dares to say . . .

Otto
(Son of Mr. Green Genes)

----- Original Message -----
From: <KXX4493553 at aol.com>
To: Pynchon-L <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Monday, November 13, 2000 8:28 PM
Subject: Upside down


German government accuses the USA of violating human rights

Germany Criticizes U.S. Justice

By JEROME SOCOLOVSKY
.c The Associated Press


THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) - Germany criticized the fairness of the U.S.
justice system and its application of capital punishment on Monday as it
opened a World Court suit against the United States over the execution of
two
German citizens in Arizona.

Gerhard Westdickenberg, chief representative of the German government in the
World Court case, said the lawsuit over the case of Walter and Karl LaGrand
was meant to ensure that jailed foreign nationals receive consular
representation, and that it was not a challenge to U.S. sovereignty.

``This form of punishment cannot be justified, neither ethically nor
legally,'' Westdickenberg told the 15 international judges at the supreme
U.N. judicial body.

Karl LaGrand and his brother Walter were sentenced to death for fatally
stabbing a 63-year-old bank manager during a botched robbery near Tucson,
Arizona, in 1982.

Germany filed its suit the day before Walter LaGrand, 37, was scheduled to
die in Arizona's gas chamber on March 3, 1999. Karl LaGrand, 35, had
received
a lethal injection on Feb. 24.

The lawsuit comes at a time of increasing protests worldwide against U.S.
executions of foreign nationals. Last Friday, protests from Sweden, France,
Mexico and the European Union failed to prevent the execution in Texas of
Miguel Flores, a Mexican-born man who fatally stabbed a college student 11
years ago.

``There are compelling reasons to believe that the LaGrands' sentences would
have been reduced had the evidence about their traumatic childhood,
hospitalizations and racial isolation in Germany been presented,'' Germany
said in a case summary.

In going ahead with Walter LaGrand's execution, Westdickenberg said, Arizona
authorities ignored an emergency ruling by the Hague court, which ordered a
stay until justices could consider the merits of the case.

Although born in Augsburg, Germany, the LaGrands were taken as children to
America after their German mother married a U.S. serviceman. Arizona state
officials claim they were initially unaware of the LaGrands' German
nationality when they were arrested on Jan. 7, 1982.

But Westdickenberg maintained that Arizona officials were aware of it as
early as April 1982. Nevertheless, he said, the German consulate was
notified
of their detention only in 1992, after the convicts learned of their rights
from fellow prisoners.

Germany said proper consular aid could have saved the convicts' lives.

Arizona has acknowledged it violated international law in the detentions and
sent a formal apology to the German government.

But Germany, which abolished capital punishment after World War II, wants
the
court headed by Judge Gilbert Guillaume of France to declare that the United
States ``violated its international legal obligations.''

Westdickenberg said his delegation of international lawyers will show that
the United States breached its commitments under the Vienna Convention on
Consular Relations by failing to notify the LaGrands of their right to
contact consular officials upon detention.

The German delegation also is demanding that America pay reparations and
``provide Germany a guarantee of the non-repetition of the illegal acts,''
according to the application.

Although its judgments are binding under international law, the World
Court -
formally known as the International Court of Justice - has no independent
means to enforce compliance.

The U.S. chief representative to the court, James H. Thessin, will begin
presenting the American case on Tuesday.

AP-NY-11-13-00 1018EST

Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP
news
report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed
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The times they are a-changin'...
Kurt-Werner Pörtner