Latest news with #justice
The National
13 hours ago
- Politics
- The National
Lebanon sentences man to death in absentia for killing Irish UN peacekeeper Sean Rooney
Lebanon has sentenced a man to death in absentia over the killing of a UN Irish peacekeeper in December 2022, a judicial official told AFP on Tuesday. The Irish government said it had been informed of the conviction by Lebanese authorities on Monday. Private Sean Rooney, 23, was shot dead and a number of other peacekeepers were injured while they were serving for Unifil in south Lebanon. Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin welcomed the conviction of Mohamad Ayyad but said it is 'unsatisfactory that he is still at large'. 'Many will feel the sentences passed down on the other defendants are far too lenient,' he added. 'The justice system in Lebanon, and the delay in progressing in this case, was deeply regrettable." The Lebanese justice system is notorious for delays, with most inmates in its prisons still awaiting trial. Lebanon has maintained an unofficial moratorium on the death penalty since 2004 and has carried out no executions since. Mr Ayyad was released from custody in late 2023 on health grounds but has not shown up to the court since. He was convicted by military tribunal on Monday. The case had been due to be heard in September but was brought forward. Irish Foreign Minister Simon Harris said he raised the case during his visit to Beirut in March at meetings with the Lebanese ministers for foreign affairs and defence. 'I raised, in the strongest terms, my deep frustration at the slow pace of proceedings before the Lebanese military tribunal concerning those charged with Pte Rooney's killing,' he said. 'I appreciate, therefore, the efforts of the court to bring forward the hearing date from September to today. During my visit to Beirut, I left the Lebanese ministers in no doubt as to the absolute determination of the Irish government to ensure that those responsible for Pte Rooney's death are brought to justice.' Pte Rooney was killed when his vehicle came under fire in Al Aqbiya on its way to Beirut on a route not normally taken by Unifil. The soldiers were part of 121st Infantry Battalion, comprising 333 Irish troops, which was deployed in November to south Lebanon. The area is know for its Hezbollah presence, although the group has denied any role in the killing. It did, however, ensure Mr Ayyad was handed over to Lebanese authorities after the killing. There are about 10,000 Unifil peacekeepers from nearly 50 countries, acting as a buffer between Lebanon and Israel and operating near the border.
BreakingNews.ie
13 hours ago
- Politics
- BreakingNews.ie
Killers of Irish peacekeeper have escaped justice for too long
It is 'unsatisfactory' that the main person convicted for the killing of an Irish peacekeeper in 2022 is still at large, the Taoiseach has said. Micheál Martin was speaking after a man was given a death sentence in Lebanon over Private Seén Rooney's death. Advertisement Rooney, 24, from Newtowncunningham in Co Donegal, was killed when a convoy of Irish troops serving with a UN peacekeeping force was ambushed and fired upon on December 14th 2022. The shooting happened near the town of Al-Aqbiya in the south of Lebanon, a stronghold of Hezbollah. Pte Rooney, from the 121 Infantry Battalion of the Defence Forces, was killed. In March, Tánaiste Simon Harris said he pressed the case during meetings in Beirut with the Lebanese ministers for foreign affairs and defence. Advertisement On Monday, the Government was informed of the completion of a military tribunal in Beirut for those indicted for the murder of Pte Rooney. Taoiseach Micheál Martin said a number of people had been convicted in relation to his murder but some of the sentences were 'unduly lenient'. 'The main culprit was at large and that is very, very regrettable,' he said ahead of Cabinet. 'The delay that it has taken to have justice has been far too long and I must say that some of the sentences are unduly lenient as well in respect of others. Advertisement 'Peacekeeping is a very noble cause and Private Sean Rooney gave his life to the cause of peacekeeping and to protect others. 'I've said repeatedly to the Lebanese authorities that the nobility of the role of the peacekeeper must always be reflected in terms of bringing those who are responsible for this murder to justice and we will continue to make that point.' The Taoiseach said death sentences in Lebanon had not been applied for 'quite some time' and the expectation is that it will be commuted. 'Overall, those responsible had escaped, if you like, justice for far too long. Many are at large for quite some time and the main individual now is at large as well and that is very unsatisfactory.' Advertisement He added: 'The court has made its decision, we can't interfere in the operation of the court itself. But I think the whole process certainly left a lot to be desired.'
Daily Mail
14 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
The Nazi war criminal, the drug lord and the CIA: How 'Butcher of Leon' Klaus Barbie helped 'world's biggest' cocaine dealer orchestrate coup in Bolivia - after Americans aided escape from Germany
Given he was a Gestapo chief who meted out murder and torture to hundreds victims, it was fitting that Klaus Barbie was dubbed the 'Butcher of Leon'. But it was not until decades after the end of the Second World War that the Nazi monster would face justice. For Barbie spent more than 30 years living without fear of arrest under the false identity of businessman Klaus Altmann in Bolivia after being helped to flee post-war Germany by American intelligence agents. Once in South America, he befriended drug lord Roberto Suarez - dubbed the 'world's biggest' cocaine dealer - and helped orchestrate a coup against the country's elected government. A three-part Sky documentary beginning tonight features fresh revelations about Barbie's scandalous post-war years, including interviews with people who knew the Nazi and key figures involved in the push to have him extradited. Roberto Suarez's son, Gary, reveals how it was 'very hard' when he and his mother, who was Jewish, discovered Barbie's true identity after his arrest in 1983. But Suarez's other half, Ayda Levy, admits that she had suspected Altmann ever since his wife had been left 'upset' when she told her of her Jewish heritage. Also revealed are the remarkable connections between Barbie, Suarez and even more infamous drug kingpin Pablo Escobar, who did business with his Bolivian counterpart. During the war, Barbie had been an officer in the murderous Nazi SS and was head of the Gestapo in the occupied French city of Lyon. There, he tortured and murdered hundreds of French men and women in a seized suite in Lyon's Hotel Terminus. Among his youngest victims were 41 Jewish children seized from a school and sent to the gas chambers at Auschwitz. Overall, he was found to have had just over 14,000 people arrested, around 8,000 deported to concentration camps and more than 4,000 murdered. When the war came to an end, Barbie was a wanted man as a suspected war criminal. But American officials turned a blind eye to his crimes and instead employed him as an intelligence officer. A request to have him extradited back to France came to nothing. Instead, in 1951, Barbie fled with his family via the infamous 'Rat Line', with the financial support of America. It was also the US who gave him his new name. After arriving in Bolivia, Barbie initially lived in seclusion in the jungle. Speaking later in an interview, he said: 'So I arrived here in La Paz. No money. Only thirty dollars and my family. 'My life here in Bolivia was never boring. Always something different. Except for three years when I was living in the jungle, where I had about 12,000 square kilometres of land. 'At the sawmill. There I recovered from the war.' After a few years away from the spotlight in the jungle, Barbie moved with his family to the city of La Paz in the west of Bolivia, where he became a well-connected businessman. TV show The Nazi Cartel, which begins tonight on Sky Documentaries, also hears from a school friend of Barbie's daughter, who recalled using cutlery embossed with the Nazi eagle when she went to dinner at the Barbie family home in Bolivia. She says she was left 'startled' when Barbie shouted at her, saying: 'You must have brought that with you!' The friend adds: 'I was very startled. It was clear that he wanted to hide something.' Nazi hunter Beate Klarsfeld played a key role in tracking Barbie down to Bolivia after finding a German document detailing a criminal case against him. She went to South America in the 1970s with a Holocaust survivor and French journalist Ladislas de Hoyos, who interviewed Barbie - then still posing as Altmann - on camera. After being shown damning wartime photos of himself, the Nazi insisted: 'I am not Barbie, as I said before. I'm Klaus Altmann.' When it was pointed out that Barbie's wife and children had the same names as his relations, the war criminal insisted: 'I think this could be a coincidence.' But he then brazenly admitted that he was being 'protected' rather than 'monitored' by the Bolivian police. Ms Klarsfeld says: 'You can see that he never regretted his crimes. That he was arrogant. And that he generally tried to talk his way out of it.' French extradition requests sent to the Bolivian government were ignored and Barbie continued living without fear of arrest. Eduardo Escarrunz, the former head of Bolivian state television, says: 'Nobody suspected that this nice man who ate pork knuckles with sauerkraut at the German club was none other than the "Butcher of Leon". Barbie's business contacts brought him into the circle of Suarez, whose drug dealing operations were expanding. Whilst Suarez was likely aware of his real identity, the drug lord's family were not. The late criminal's widow, Ayda Levy, recounts how a conversation with Barbie's wife led her to suspect that he had been in the Nazi regime. 'During a conversation, I told her that my maiden name was Levy, and that my father, Shalom Levy Simonds, was born in the Jewish community in Haifa,' she says. 'She had been so cheerful and chatty the entire time. She changed completely. 'She was upset. I told my husband about this change in his wife's attitude. I concluded, saying that my sixth sense tells me they weren't who they said they were. He replied furiously, "You're wrong. She's cold and a bit strange. Like all Germans. "But he has great contacts to governments in neighbouring countries, which could be useful to me in future."' Roberto Suarez's son, Gary, reveals how it was 'very hard' when he and his mother, who was Jewish, discovered Barbie's true identity after his arrest in 1983 Suarez and Barbie became key allies, with both having an interest in backing a coup. An overthrow of the elected government would allow Suarez free reign in his criminal enterprise, whilst Barbie's fears of being extradited would be quelled. German investigative journalist Christian Bergmann says in the Sky documentary: 'Klaus Altmann wanted a coup for other reasons that were related to his past. 'His true identity was not known and this identity was better protected in a military government than in a democracy.' The coup in 1980 saw the installation of Bolivian general Luis García Meza as the country's leader. Brutal repression of the nation's people quickly followed. And Barbie's extensive knowledge of torture was put to good use. The Nazi was appointed an honorary lieutenant colonel in the Bolivian army and given responsibility over government security. His ID card showed him in military uniform, with his fake name proudly displayed. He brought over paramilitary groups - which included German former SS members - to Bolivia. One such group was called the 'Fiance's of Death'. And Barbie became a crucial link between the new government and Suarez's extensive drug dealing operation, which by then had come to the attention of Colombia's Pablo Escobar. Suarez and Escobar did a deal that saw the Bolivian deliver his counterpart 40 tons of cocaine each week. The Sky programme also raises the prospect that Barbie may have been in contact with the CIA to help keep the Left at bay amidst the fight against Soviet Communism, and that the US intelligence agency may have helped the Bolivian coup succeed. However, amid pressure on the regime from the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), Meza was forced out of power in the summer of 1981. Suarez was by then on the run, and Barbie was terrified that his protection from the government was about to cease. With the coup regime having been forced from power and eventually replaced by the previously elected president, the Nazi was finally arrested in early 1983. His extradition was announced soon afterwards. In a filmed interview during his journey to face justice, Barbie insisted that France and Europe should 'forget' about his crimes. 'I have forgotten. If they can't let it go, that's their problem,' he said. Asked separately if he regretted anything, he said: 'No, not really. I have fulfilled my duty.' Gary Suarez says of Barbie's arrest: 'Altman's deportation, and the news that he was Klaus Barbie, the "Butcher of Leon", confirmed my mother's suspicions. 'It was hard to believe that this person, with whom we had shared so many moments, in different phases of our lives, was such a monster. 'When we discovered this man's true identity, it was very hard for us. Very difficult to accept and understand for me and my siblings and for my mother.' He adds: 'Some of my grandfather's relatives disappeared in France. Some even in Lyon. That was very painful for my mother.' At his trial, survivors recounted Barbie's merciless executions, severe beatings and horrifying torture sessions. The German seemed to experience pleasure when pain was inflicted. Having been found guilty of crimes against humanity, he was sentenced to life in prison. He would die age 77 four years later from cancer. Suarez meanwhile was arrested by Bolivian police in 1988. He was jailed but served behind bars only until 1992. He died in 2000 and was never extradited.
The Guardian
15 hours ago
- The Guardian
Child molestation survivor revisits case of his father killing his accused abuser on live TV
A child abuse survivor whose father shot his accused abuser to death in plain view of television news cameras in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in the 1980s says he suggests parents whose children are molested 'not to take the law into your own hands and put yourself in a position to be prosecuted'. Instead, 'I would advise [them] … to be there for their child,' Joseph Boyce 'Jody' Plauché remarked in a new interview that was recently published by People. Plauché's comments revisited the slaying of his karate coach Jeff Doucet at the hands of his father, Gary Plauché, which was once one of the US's most sensational criminal cases. Jody was 10 when Doucet became his karate coach and began molesting the boy, as Plauché recounted in a 2019 memoir. In February 1984, Doucet drove an 11-year-old Jody to a relative's home in Port Arthur, Texas, and then they took a bus to the Los Angeles area to visit Disneyland. Doucet and Jody were there for about a week, and authorities found them in a motel room after the man let the boy make a collect call to his mother. The boy was quickly brought home, and tests confirmed he had been sexually assaulted. Two deputies from the sheriff's office in Baton Rouge flew to California to bring Doucet back on charges of kidnapping and child sexual abuse, and Gary Plauché learned from someone at the Louisiana news station WBRZ when the karate coach was arriving at the local airport. Gary Plauché went to the airport in sunglasses and a baseball cap and lay in wait. As officers walked past him with a handcuffed Doucet, Gary Plauché aimed a handgun at the 25-year-old's right ear, fired point-blank and killed him as news cameras filmed. Video recorded one of the deputies who helped arrest Jody's father – and recognized him – as he shouted: 'Gary, why? Why, Gary? Why?' Gary Plauché – who instantly became a vigilante hero to many Americans at the time – eventually pleaded no contest to a manslaughter charge, spent five years on probation and avoided serving any time in prison. He died in 2014 at age 69. Jody, who would go on to title his memoir Why Gary Why?, later told the Associated Press how people constantly approached him to exalt his father long after the case fell out of the news headlines. Well into his adulthood, he would post cooking videos online – and rather than weigh in on his dishes, viewers would write comments commending his father. 'They won't comment: 'That gumbo looks great,'' Jody said to the AP. 'They'll just be like: 'Your dad's a hero.'' But in his recent conversation with People, the 53-year-old Jody Plauché said his father 'got lucky' that he didn't face a harsher sentence which would have taken him away from his son at a crucial time in his recovery from his sexual abuse. He said he even gave his father the silent treatment for a couple of months after Doucet's killing. 'I didn't want Jeff dead – I didn't want daddy to hurt Jeff,' Jody Plauché said to People of his state of mind at the time. 'I just wanted Jeff to stop doing what he was doing, which he never would've, but that was just the hope back then, the prayers I would say at night.' Jody Plauché said he forgave his father after seeing Gary and his mother 'getting along really [well]' in the aftermath of the deadly shooting. He had done that upon accepting that authorities would not come take Gary away at a time when his boy needed him, as Jody told People. During one of the rare conversations they had about Doucet's slaying, Jody recalled, 'I told him … 'I'm not mad at you no more. I understand why you did it.'' Jody said he remembered Gary responding with something to the effect of: 'I love you.' As Jody tells it, he later earned a general studies degree at Louisiana State University with minors in speech, communication and psychology. He worked in Pennsylvania as a sexual assault counselor for seven years, returned to Baton Rouge in 2005 after his father suffered a stroke, and took a job at his brother's transportation company. Jody Plauché has said that the purpose of Why, Gary, Why? is to give hope and knowledge to survivors and their parents, respectively. 'I wanted outsiders to get a general understanding about sexual violence and sexual abuse,' said Jody Plauché, now a vocal advocate for child molestation survivors. In the US, call or text the Childhelp abuse hotline on 800-422-4453 or visit their website for more resources and to report child abuse or DM for help. For adult survivors of child abuse, help is available at In the UK, the NSPCC offers support to children on 0800 1111, and adults concerned about a child on 0808 800 5000. The National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac) offers support for adult survivors on 0808 801 0331. In Australia, children, young adults, parents and teachers can contact the Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800, or Bravehearts on 1800 272 831, and adult survivors can contact Blue Knot Foundation on 1300 657 380. Other sources of help can be found at Child Helplines International
CNN
16 hours ago
- CNN
With no motive, Idaho killings leave families, prosecutor and judge wondering why
Kaylee Goncalves' family expressed criticism and fury. Xana Kernodle's aunt tried empathy and forgiveness. Yet, despite their 'good cop-bad cop' efforts, Bryan Kohberger remained silent and 'respectfully' declined to give any insight into why he fatally stabbed four University of Idaho students in the overnight hours of November 13, 2022. Kohberger was sentenced to four consecutive life sentences and was quietly escorted out of the courtroom, leaving behind a courtroom of heartbroken families, prosecutors and a judge still unable to process that all-important yet elusive question: Why? Why did this criminology grad student plan and carry out this heinous attack against people with whom he had no apparent connection? 'So we don't have a motive. We don't have anything that has said, 'here's why' or 'here's the reason,'' Idaho State Police Lt. Darren Gilbertson told CNN. 'We just don't have that.' Legally, motive is not a requirement for a criminal charge. Still, understanding what motivates a mass killer can help prevent future attacks and can satisfy our natural human curiosity. The lack of an answer from either Kohberger or investigators has cast a pall over the guilty plea and sentencing, leaving everyone but the man himself in the dark. In the face of that unclear motive, those close to the case have responded by expressing anger at him, attempting to bargain with him, or by grappling with the likelihood they may never know why. 'Even if we could get truthful insight into his why, I suspect it would not in any way quench one's thirst for actually understanding why in the first instance,' Judge Steven Hippler said in court. 'Because there is no reason for these crimes that could approach anything resembling rationality. No conceivable reason could make any sense.' Kohberger was first arrested in December 2022 in connection with the killings, and a not guilty plea was entered on his behalf. After more than two years of pre-trial hearings and rulings, he agreed to plead guilty to charges of burglary and first-degree murder in exchange for a sentence of life in prison, thereby avoiding the death penalty. Yet, the plea agreement did not necessitate that Kohberger disclose any details about the murders or explain his actions – a decision that polarized the victims' families. At his sentencing hearing, the victims and families repeatedly expressed their frustration at not getting any answers to their questions. The sister of Kaylee Goncalves, Alivea, criticized Kohberger's motives as 'shallow' and listed about two dozen questions 'that reverberate violently in my own head so loudly that I can't think straight, most any day.' 'How was your life right before you murdered my sisters? Did you prepare for the crime before leaving your apartment? Please detail what you were thinking and feeling at this time,' she said. 'Why did you choose my sisters?' she asked, referring to Kaylee and her best friend, Madison Mogen. Steve Goncalves, Kaylee's father, turned the lectern to face Kohberger in his impact statement. 'The world's watching because of the kids, not because of you. Nobody cares about you,' he said. At the opposite end of the spectrum was Kim Kernodle, the aunt of Xana Kernodle, who offered Kohberger forgiveness in her attempt to get him to speak. 'Bryan, I am here today to tell you that I have forgiven you, because I can no longer live with that hate in my heart, and for me to become a better person, I have forgiven you,' she said. 'And anytime you want to talk and tell me what happened, you have my number. I'm here, no judgment, because I do have questions that I want you to answer. I'm here. I'll be that one that will listen to you, OK?' Bethany Funke, a roommate of the four slain students, wrote a statement – read aloud by a friend – about her survivor's guilt. 'I hated and still hate that they are gone, but for some reason, I am still here and I got to live. I still think about this every day. Why me? Why did I get to live and not them?' Funke wrote. It wasn't just the victims and their families who expressed frustration over the lack of motive – an investigator, prosecutor, and judge did as well. For example, Lt. Gilbertson, the lead investigator, told CNN the question of motive was the 'biggest' of all. 'But the reality is, often we don't get the answers to the why. And I think even in some instances – and I think this certainly could be one of those – the 'why' from him may make no sense at all to us and not even be explainable or understandable,' he said. Similarly, in issuing the sentence, Judge Hippler said, 'We may never know' the 'why' of the attacks. 'I share the desire expressed by others to understand the 'why,' but upon reflection, it seems to me, and this is just my own opinion, that by continuing to focus on 'why' we continue to give Mr. Kohberger relevance,' he said. 'We give him agency and we give him power. 'The need to know what is inherently not understandable makes us dependent upon the defendant to provide us with a reason, and that gives him the spotlight, the attention, and the power he appears to crave.' Hippler said he cannot legally force Kohberger to speak and said any comments he would make may or may not be the truth. 'And in the end, the more we struggle to seek explanation for the unexplainable, the more we try to extract a reason, the more power and control we give to him,' he said. 'In my view, the time has now come to end Mr. Kohberger's 15 minutes of fame. It's time that he be consigned to the ignominy and isolation of perpetual incarceration.' Speaking after the sentence, prosecutor Bill Thompson said he didn't require Kohberger to speak to the court as part of the plea deal because he didn't think he would tell the truth. 'I don't believe that there's anything that would come out of his mouth that would be the truth,' Thompson said. 'I don't believe that there's anything that would come out of his mouth that would be anything other than self-serving, and I don't believe there's anything that would come out of his mouth that would not further victimize the families.' When asked directly by CNN's Jake Tapper why Kohberger did it, Thompson said flatly he didn't know. 'I don't know that we'll ever know,' he said. 'And I can tell you, early on, working with the behavioral experts – the profilers, if you will, from the FBI – they told us that in a case like this it's likely that we would never know the real reasons for why it happened, and even if the perpetrator shared those, it's likely they would not make sense to anybody else. It would be something that had significance only in his own mind. 'So we knew going in that the likelihood of being able to understand exactly why he did this wasn't real.' CNN's Alaa Elassar, Maureen Chowdhury and Jean Casarez contributed to this report.
