Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 05, 2012, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A9 winnipegfreepress. com WORLD WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, TUESDAY, JUNE 5, 2012 A 9 620 KING EDWARD ST. ( AT ELLICE) 885- 0155 . 942- 1630 TUESDAY - FRIDAY 10- 5, SATURDAY 11- 4 www. changesbydesign. ca everything priced to clear! HURRY FOR BEST SELECTION! MOVING WE'RE ROBERT HELD 30 % OFF LUG 40% OFF FURNITURE 30- 85% OFF ART, LAMP S & ACCESSORIE S ALL 50 % OFF LAMPE BERGER 30- 50 % OFF WILDLY DELICIOUS 60 % OFF M ONTREAL - The international manhunt for Canadian fugitive Luka Rocco Magnotta ended Monday in a Berlin Internet caf�, where the alleged killer was arrested after being spotted reading news reports about himself. Berlin police said they were called into the small business near the city centre after caf� employee Kadir Anlayisli thought he recognized Magnotta, who was at a terminal surfing on the Internet. A department spokesman said Magnotta initially tried to give officers false names, but then conceded: " OK, you got me." Magnotta, 29, is facing five charges in Montreal, including first- degree murder, in the brutal slaying and dismemberment of Jun Lin, a Chinese national who was studying at Concordia University. His capture came less than a week after police issued a warrant for his arrest in connection with Lin's death - a killing that made international headlines and shocked people around world. Lin's torso was found stuffed inside a suitcase on a Montreal curb outside Magnotta's apartment building last Tuesday. Other body parts, including a hand and foot, were mailed separately to the offices of political parties in Ottawa. Montreal police said Magnotta fled Canada for France about a day after Lin's death, which is believed to have occurred sometime overnight between May 24 and May 25. Magnotta was seen in Paris over the weekend - more than 1,000 kilometres from Berlin - and, after several days of police work from forces on two continents, authorities finally apprehended him without incident. " He did not resist," Chief- Supt. Stefan Redlich of Berlin police told The Canadian Press. " He was arrested without a fight." The owner of the caf�, in Berlin's working- class Neukoelln district, said Magnotta had come in to read online news reports about himself when Anlayisli thought he looked familiar. The owner, who did not want to be named, said police happened to be outside at the time, and the employee alerted them. Time- stamped footage from the caf�'s security camera suggests Magnotta was inside at a computer for around two hours before seven police officers were seen moving quickly through the front door. A couple of minutes later, the footage showed three officers escorting a handcuffed, calm- looking Magnotta, who was sporting sunglasses. Magnotta, who grew up in Scarborough, Ont., was taken to a German prison and is expected to see a judge today. German authorities are expected to contact Canadian officials to determine how to proceed with his extradition. There is also some irony in the fact Magnotta was arrested while reading news stories about himself. For years, he posted personal images online and authored web writings to feed his own prolific Internet presence. " He used the web to glorify himself but it was also the web that helped in his arrest," Montreal police Cmdr. Ian Lafreniere told reporters Monday, referring to photos of Magnotta that were circulated worldwide. It's unclear, however, when Magnotta will actually set foot on Canadian soil. " It could take a very long time," said Rene Verret, a spokesman for Quebec's bureau of prosecutions. Verret said his office will send a request in the coming days to Canada's federal justice minister for Magnotta's extradition, asking that it be forwarded to German officials. He said if Magnotta doesn't contest the order, the suspect could be returned to Canada within a couple of weeks. But if Magnotta fights the extradition the process could take years, Verret said, referring to the case of German- Canadian and former armsindustry lobbyist Karlheinz Schreiber. Schreiber was arrested in Canada in 1999 under a German warrant and was only sent to Germany in 2010 after a lengthy battle against extradition. The grisly case has captured significant international attention and media abroad have dubbed Magnotta, a porn- flick actor, the " Canadian Psycho," the " Canadian Cannibal" and the " Carver from Montreal." Interpol had issued an international alert and circulated photos of Magnotta, who was born Eric Clinton Newman and has also used the name Vladimir Romanov. Magnotta is also facing other charges in Canada, including corrupting morals; causing an indignity to a body; using the mail system to deliver " obscene, indecent, immoral or scurrilous" material; and harassing Prime Minister Stephen Harper and some MPs. Some of the charges come in connection with an incident that saw a package containing a severed foot delivered to the Conservative party's Ottawa headquarters. A parcel containing a hand was also addressed to the Liberal party, but it was intercepted by Canada Post workers before delivery. Magnotta's mother, Anna Yourkin in Peterbourgh, Ont., said she had no comment, apologized and hung up the phone. The public's horror over Lin's death increased after police said the killing was videotaped and posted online. In the video, a person repeatedly stabbed a young man with an ice pick. The killer dismembered the corpse and appeared to commit sexual and cannibalistic acts on it. Police allege the depraved events took place in Magnotta's cramped bachelor apartment, which he rented for $ 490 per month in a gritty building in west- end Montreal. - The Canadian Press, with Postmedia News files International manhunt ends in Berlin Slaying suspect was reading news about himself before arrest Timeline of a tragedy . July 2011: Chinese student Jun Lin arrives in Montreal. . May 24, 2012: Lin last seen by friends. . May 25: Neighbour spots porn actor Luka Rocco Magnotta carrying box to post office. . May 26: Magnotta flies out of Montreal to France, landing in Paris. Montana lawyer Roger Renville sees bizarre Internet video he believes is snuff film depicting bound man being stabbed to death and dismembered. . May 27: Renville alerts U. S. and Canadian police to video but they dismiss it as a fake. . May 29: Montreal police called to apartment building after janitor finds dismembered torso in suitcase left in trash. Same day, foot is found in package mailed to Conservative party in Ottawa and hand is found in package in Canada Post warehouse. Package destined for Liberal party. Lin reported missing. . May 30: Montreal police name Magnotta as prime suspect in the killing and say national warrant issued for his arrest. Interpol adds him to its wanted list. Magnotta spotted in Paris bar where he had soft drink and left with a man. Montreal police find video on Internet and try unsuccessfully to have it taken down. . May 31: Montreal police confirm they have video that apparently shows man tied to bed and being killed and then dismembered. . June 1: Montreal police identify torso victim as Lin, a 33- year- old Chinese computer science student at Concordia University. Warrant issued for Magnotta on first- degree murder charge. Police say Magnotta also charged with threatening Prime Minister Stephen Harper because of the foot mailed to the Conservative Party offices. Police say Lin had relationship with Magnotta. Police confirm Magnotta left Canada for Europe May 26. . June 3: Reports Magnotta stayed in low- budget hotel in Paris, leaving behind pornographic magazines as well as air sickness bags from airplane. French media report police are checking on claims of two people who say they saw him and are tracking his cellphone activity. Chinese Embassy in Ottawa issues statement advising Chinese visitors to Canada to take safety precautions. . June 4: German police acting on tip arrest Magnotta in Berlin. Faces charges of firstdegree murder, committing indignity to dead body, mailing obscene material and criminally harassing prime minister and several unidentified members of Parliament. - The Canadian Press By Andy Blatchford OTTAWA- WithLukaMagnotta now in German police custody and poised to face multiple charges in Canada, questions are emerging about whether there should be other legal fallout in the case - notably around Best Gore, the website that initially refused to take down what's believed to be video of the graphic murder of victim Jun Lin. Toronto Internet lawyer Gil Zvulony said he believes police have a case to lay obscenity charges in connection with the Edmonton website, adding that posting the video breached Canadian law. " The issue is why haven't the police done anything," he said. " Icanheartheargumentwhen it was uploaded to that website: ' They didn't know about it.' OK fine. There's no real crime where there's no knowledge, but once they got notice of that and they allowed it to stay on there, that's where a crime was committed in my view and police should have charged them." Contacted Monday, website operator Mark Marek said he " decided to disable the video on my own terms." He also argued at length that his website, far from offering grisly thrills to a desensitized Internet audience, performs a public service by vividly displaying the consequences of violence and reckless behaviour. " Best Gore exists to expose the evil doers for who they really are, though I'm not surprised they are offended with me showing their true faces to the world and want the site shut down or me charged with whatever they can come up with," he said in an email to Postmedia. He credited the online audience for his website - which features graphic, real- life executions, suicides, murders and accidents - with identifying Magnotta in the video and reporting him to police. He suggested authorities were the ones who dropped the ball by not acting sooner. " Case in point, it's only because Best Gore exists and because this heinous video was publicly shared that the community was able to come up with the name of who the suspect most likely was. Had the authorities acted upon the reports we made, they may have captured Luka sooner." While Zvulony said he believes not all murderous content should be taken off the Internet - for example, he would not remove depictions of governments massacring their own citizens, as happened recently in Syria - the video attributed to Magnotta, he argued, crosses a line. " We don't want to sanitize reality. We want to have access to the truth. Except at some point, that unsanitized truth becomes really harmful to society," he said. - Postmedia News Website that posted slaying video should be charged, lawyer says By Tobi Cohen ' He did not resist. He was arrested without a fight' - Chief- Supt. Stefan Redlich THE ASSOCIATED PRESS / HANDOUT Security camera footage shows Luka Rocco Magnotta entering the Internet caf� in Berlin Monday. MARKUS SCHREIBER / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Kadir Anlayisli at the caf� where he spotted Luka Magnotta ( top right), accused of killing Jun Lin ( bottom right). A_ 09_ Jun- 05- 12_ FP_ 01. indd A9 6/ 4/ 12 9: 46: 58 PM ;