Amerikai Magyar Hírlap, 2006 (18. évfolyam, 1-50. szám)
2006-12-01 / 47. szám
AMERICAN Hungarian Journal Poisoned Spy Blames Putin for His Death Alexander Litvinenko on his deathbed (left) and in 2002 (middle). Suspect: Andrei Lugovoj (right) LONDON (AP) A former KGB agent turned Kremlin critic who blamed a “barbaric and ruthless” Russian President Vladimir Putin for his fatal poisoning had a toxic radioactive substance in his body, the British government said Friday. In the statement dictated from his deathbed, Alexander Litvinenko accused the Russian leader of having “no respect for life, liberty or any civilized value.” In his first public remarks on the allegations, Putin said he deplored the former spy’s death but called the statement a political provocation. The Health Protection Agency said the radioactive element polonium-210, which is extremely hard to detect, had been found in Litvinenko’s urine. Polonium-210 occurs naturally and is present in the environment at very low concentrations, but can represent a radiation hazard if ingested. “Only a very, very small amount of polonium would need to be ingested to be fatal, but that depends on how pure the polonium is,” said Dr. Mike Keir, a radiation protection adviser at the Royal Victoria Infirmary. The agency’s chief executive, Pat Troop, said that the high level indicated Litvinenko “would either have to have eaten it, inhaled it or taken it in through a wound.” “We know he had a major dose,” she said. Earlier, Home Secretary John Reid said Litvinenko’s death Thursday night was “linked to the presence of a radioactive substance in his body.” British diplomats asked Moscow to provide all assistance necessary to a police inquiry into the death, government officials said. Putin has pledged to cooperate. Peter Clarke, head of London’s anti-terrorist police, said officers and military radiation experts were searching several locations in London. Traces of radiation had been found at Litvinenko’s north London house, a sushi bar where he met a contact Nov. 1, the day he fell ill and a hotel he visited earlier that day, he said. The restaurant and part of the hotel were closed during a police search, with officers removing materials in heavy metal boxes. Litvinenko, a vociferous critic of the Russian government, suffered heart failure late Thursday after days in intensive care at London’s University College Hospital battling a poison that had attacked his bone marrow and destroyed his immune system. “You may succeed in silencing me but that silence comes at a price. You have shown yourself to be as barbaric and ruthless as your most hostile critics have claimed,” Litvinenko said in the statement read by his friend and spokesman Alex Goldfarb. The former spy said “the howl of protest from around the world will reverberate, Mr. Putin, in your ears for the rest of your life.” Goldfarb said Litvinenko had dictated the statement before he lost consciousness on Tuesday, and signed it in the presence of his wife, Marina. Litvinenko’s father, Walter, said his son “fought this regime and this regime got him.” “It was an excruciating death and he was taking it as a real man,” Walter Litvinenko said. The Russian government has strongly denied involvement, and Putin told reporters at a European Union summit Friday in Helsinki, Finland, that British medical documents did not show “that it was a result of violence, this is not a violent death, so there is no ground for speculations of this kind.” Putin spoke before the British government announced the findings about the presence of polonium-210 in Litvinenko’s urine. Putin also extended his condolences to Litvinenko’s family. “A death of a man is always a tragedy and I deplore this,” he said, but the fact that Litvinenko’s statement was released only after his death showed it was a “provocation.” “It’s extremely regrettable that such a tragic event as death is being used for political provocations,” he said. Litvinenko told police that he believed he had been poisoned while investigating the slaying of crusading journalist Anna Politkovskaya. His hair fell out, his throat became swollen, and his immune and nervous systems were severely damaged. He was transferred from a north London hospital to University College Hospital on Nov. 17 when his condition deteriorated. Doctors treating him acknowledged they could not explain his rapid decline. They discounted earlier theories that the 43-year-old father of three had been poisoned with the toxic metal thallium and cast doubt on an alternative diagnosis of a radioactive substance. Litvinenko’s friends had little doubt about who was to blame. They said Litvinenko, who sought asylum in Britain in 2000, had been on a quest to uncover corruption in Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, and unmask the killers of Politkovskaya, another trenchant critic of Putin’s government. Goldfarb said the attack on Litvinenko bore “all the hallmarks of a very professional, sophisticated and specialist operation.” “The very fact that experts are still at a loss to say what poisoned him tells you it is not a sleeping pill that has been given to him,” he said. The English Page of the Hírlap can serve as a bridge between the non-Hungarian-speaking members of the family and the community. Use it to bring people together! Subscribe to the Hirlap! Advertise your business in the Hirlap! If you have any questions or suggestions, please call (323) 463-6376 Serving Her Country San Diego Presidio Sentinel - Captain Lisa M. Gorog has been serving in the Air Force for three years and is currently stationed at McChord Air Force Base, WA. That is, of course, when she’s not assisting with the prosecution on insurgents in Iraq who have committed crimes against American and coalition Forces. A 200 graduate of the Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego, California, Captain Gorog works as a Central Criminal Court of Iraq liaison officer in Baghdad, Iraq. Assigned to Task Force 134 for a four-month deployment to Baghdad’s International Zone, Captain Gorog has been able to see up-close the inner workings of the Iraqi justice system. “Working with Iraqi personnel at Central Criminal Court of Iraq to improve the rule of law in Iraq,” has been her favorite aspect of the job so far, she said. Task Force 134 refers cases to the CCCI for investigative hearing and trial. The trials are conducted by Iraqi judges using Iraqi law and Iraqi criminal procedure. Captain Gorog’s duties included reviewing, preparing and presenting cases against suspected terrorists and insurgents alleged to have committed crimes against Coalition Forces. Captain Gorog, a 1993 graduate of the University of Arizona in Tucson, prepares live cases where witnesses are present in Iraq and video tele-conferenced cases where witnesses testily from far off locations. The CCCI, like other Iraqi criminal courts, has two chambers - an investigative court and a trial court - and follows a judicial process in which the investigative judge plays a key role. An investigative judge controls the investigation of a case, recommends charges if sufficient evidence has been discovered, and refers the case to trial when warranted. The captain never imagined she would be convoying out to a courthouse wearing body armor and armed with an M-9. But it has been worth it, “to get the opportunity to observe the Iraqi court system, law, and how an Iraqi criminal case works,” she said. China Admits Taking Executed Prisoners' Organs Demand is high, and supply is low - except on death row; the nation leads worldwide in capital punishment Dear Human Rights Supporters, An article from LA Times with the above title confirms what Human Rights Activist Harry Wu had exposed back in 1990’s when he went to China to pretend to be looking for transplant for his uncle who needed a kidney transplant. Why is the PRC admitting to this fact now? It is because even more sinister allegations has recently surfaced this year. One allegation is that Falun Gong practitioners are being used as organs transplant supplies. The other allegation is that live prisoners are housed in at least one hospital and their organs are systematically extracted until the body parts are all used and then the body is incinerated. Please see http://www.library.yale.edu/~llicense/ListArchives/0607/msg00154.html How many organ transplants are done each year in China? What is admitted by China is low. In this blog by Eric De Leon from San Mateo, California, on March 15 11:30 p.m., you will read “Tony (the surgeon) shared with us that they were doing 4 liver transplants tonight and 8 kidney transplants. Eric of course was the last one to be brought to ICU.” That is in one hospital in one day alone. Also notice the even numbers of 4 livers and 8 kidneys (each person has one liver and 2 kidneys). Four people were killled that day. http://newfilter.blogspot.eom/2006_03_01_newfilter_archive.html Ann Lau, Visual Artists Guild Excerpts - Los Angeles Times, November 18, 2006 BEIJING — After years of denial, China has acknowledged that most of the human organs used in transplants here are taken from executed prisoners and that many of the recipients are foreigners who pay hefty sums to avoid a long wait. Speaking at a conference of surgeons in the southern city of Guangzhou, Deputy Health Minister Huang Jiefu called for a strict code of conduct and better record-keeping to stem China’s thriving illegal organ trade, state media reported. “Apart from a small portion of traffic victims, most of the organs from cadavers are from executed prisoners,” Huang said according to a report Thursday in the English-language China Daily newspaper. “The current big shortfall of organ donations can’t meet demand”. ... Though China doesn’t disclose the number of annual executions, Amnesty International says at least 1,770 people were put to death in 2005, based on a review of Chinese media reports. Some activists say the annual figure could be as high as 10,000. The lower estimate represents more than 80% of 2,148 that Amnesty International says took place worldwide last year. The United States executed 60 prisoners. ... In July, China ruled that all sales of organs were illegal. But enforcing its decrees can be a problem, especially when substantial profits are involved. In September 2004, local media reported that well-known comedian Fu Biao spent more than $36,000 for a liver from an executed prisoner in Shandong province. And starting in June 2005, reports surfaced on the Internet of retinas and kidneys taken from executed gang members without their consent in Henan province near Beijing. Americans are among the foreigners who have headed to China for transplants as the waiting time for kidneys and livers has grown in the United States. U.S. transplant doctors say the majority seem to be patients of Chinese ancestry who feel comfortable navigating the medical system here. DUNA Travel 8530 Holloway Dr. #102 W. Hollywood, CA 90069 SPECIÁLIS ÁR LAX-BUD-LAX $566.-tÓl +TX. az ár szeptember 3-tól érvényes Információért hívják ZSUZSÁT TEL: (310) 652-5294 FAX: (310) 652-5287 1-888-532-0168 December 1, 2006
