Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - September 3, 2020, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A13 THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2020 ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM A 13NEWS I WORLD WASHINGTON — The Trump admin- istration Wednesday imposed sanctions on the chief prosecutor of the Inter- national Criminal Court and one of her top aides for continuing to investigate war crimes allegations against Amer- icans. The sanctions were immediately denounced by the court, the United Na- tions and human rights advocates. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo an- nounced the moves as part of the ad- ministration’s pushback against the tribunal, based in The Hague, for inves- tigations into the United States and its allies. The sanctions include a freeze on assets held in the U.S. or subject to U.S. law and target prosecutor Fatou Ben- souda and the court’s head of jurisdic- tion, Phakiso Mochochoko. He said the court, to which the United States has never been a party, was “a thor- oughly broken and corrupt institution.” “We will not tolerate its illegitimate attempts to subject Americans to its jurisdiction,” Pompeo said at a State Department news conference. In addi- tion to the sanctions imposed on Ben- souda and Mochochoko, Pompeo said people who provide them with “materi- al support” in investigating Americans could also face U.S. penalties. Pompeo had previously imposed a travel ban on Bensouda and other tribu- nal employees over investigations into allegations of torture and other crimes by Americans in Afghanistan. The Hague-based court and the head of its governing board decried the step as an assault on the rule of law and the international system set up by the Treaty of Rome that created the tribu- nal in 2002. The sanctions “are another attempt to interfere with the court’s judicial and prosecutorial independence and crucial work to address grave crimes of concern to the international com- munity,” the ICC said in a statement. “These coercive acts, directed at an international judicial institution and its civil servants, are unprecedented and constitute serious attacks.” O-Gon Kwon, the president of the court’s Assembly of States Parties, called the move “unprecedented and unacceptable” and an affront to efforts to combat impunity for war crimes. “They only serve to weaken our com- mon endeavour to fight impunity for mass atrocities,” he said, adding that the assembly planned to convene shortly to reaffirm the members’ “unstinting sup- port for the court” and its employees. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres noted Pompeo’s statement “with concern,” according to spokesman Stephane Dujarric. He stressed the UN expects the United States to abide by its agreement with the United Nations, which allows the prosecutor to come to UN headquarters on ICC business. The Security Council referred the situations in Sudan’s Darfur region and in Libya to the court, and Bensouda has regularly updated members on its actions. “We have always stood for the need for international justice and for issue of accountability and the fight against impunity,” Dujarric said. Human rights groups also con- demned the sanctions. “Today’s announcement is designed to do what this administration does best — bully and intimidate,” said Dan- iel Balson of Amnesty International USA. “It penalizes not only the ICC, but civil society actors working for justice alongside the court worldwide.” “Today’s reckless actions constitute a demand that the U.S. government be granted a political carve-out of im- punity for nationals accused of having committed crimes under international law in Afghanistan,” he said. “No one responsible for the most serious crimes under international law should be able to hide from accountability, under a cloak of impunity.” Richard Dicker, the international jus- tice director at Human Rights Watch, called it “a stunning perversion of U.S. sanctions, devised to penalize rights abusers and kleptocrats, to persecute those tasked with prosecuting inter- national crimes.” “The Trump administration has twisted these sanctions to obstruct jus- tice, not only for certain war crimes victims, but for atrocity victims any- where looking to the International Criminal Court for justice,” he said. In March 2019, Pompeo ordered the revocation or denial of visas to ICC staff seeking to investigate allegations of war crimes and other abuses by U.S. forces in Afghanistan or elsewhere. He also said he might revoke the visas of those who seek action against Israel. The court was created to hold ac- countable perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity in cases where adequate judicial systems were not available. The U.S. has not joined the ICC because of concerns the court might be used for politically motivated prosecutions of American troops and officials. — The Associated Press U.S. sanctions on ICC prosecutor ‘unprecedented and unacceptable’ MATTHEW LEE DOVER, Del. — Attorneys for The Weinstein Co. presented a Delaware judge Wednesday with a revised bank- ruptcy plan that would provide about US$35 million for creditors, including victims of sexual misconduct by dis- graced film mogul Harvey Weinstein. The settlement amount is US$11.5 million less than under a previous plan, which was scrapped after a federal judge in New York refused to approve a proposed US$19 million settlement between Weinstein and some of his ac- cusers. The settlement in the purported class-action lawsuit was a key compon- ent of the initial bankruptcy plan. Attorneys for the company told Judge Mary Walrath the reduction is due pri- marily to the fact the plan no longer includes contributions from insurers for the resolution of certain “Miramax era” claims that arose prior to Harvey Weinstein leaving that company and forming the Weinstein Co. Roughly half of the overall settle- ment amount, about US$17 million, is allocated for a single sexual miscon- duct claims fund, down from about US$25.7 million allocated for three separate categories of sexual miscon- duct claims under the previous plan. Another US$8.4 million of the settle- ment amount would go to a liquidation trust for resolving non-sexual miscon- duct claims, and US$9.7 million would be used to reimburse defence costs for company officials other than Wein- stein. Attorneys for the company made clear that they will not ask Judge Walrath to approve the plan if holders of sexual mis- conduct claims vote to reject it. “We will not seek to cram down the plan on the survivors,” said attorney Paul Zumbro. Meanwhile, attorneys for The Wein- stein Co. asked Walrath to approve an Oct. 15 deadline for sexual misconduct claims to be filed, and a process for notifying potential claimants through online posting and publications includ- ing The Hollywood Reporter, Variety and the New York Post. Walrath said that if attorneys can agree on language clarifying the conse- quences on future litigation for victims who file claims in the bankruptcy, she would allow the company to send out the notices. “I agree with the debtor that this should go forward and this could re- solve, if not all of the claims, a large percentage of those,” she said. Zumbro said the revised plan will pro- vide greater relief for holders of sexual misconduct claims because the proposed class of claims is smaller than under the original plan, and no money would be go- ing to class-action counsel fees. He also noted Harvey Weinstein would no longer be reimbursed for any of his defence costs or receive any other distribution under the revised plan. Zumbro noted the New York judge had described the potential payments to Weinstein as “obnoxious.” “The debtors and the other settling parties heard that loud and clear,” he said. Under the new Chapter 11 liquidation proposal, holders of sexual misconduct claims would receive 100 per cent of the liquidated value of their claims if they agree to release Weinstein from all legal claims. A claimant who elects not to release Weinstein but to retain the option to sue him in another court would receive 25 per cent of the value of her bankruptcy claim. The other 75 per cent would be allocated to a “rever- sionary fund” for the benefit of insur- ance companies, who could be on the hook for damage payments in future litigation. In a departure from normal bank- ruptcy procedure, holders of sexual misconduct claims would not be asked to vote on the plan until each knows the value of her claim. Robert Feinstein, an attorney for the company’s official committee of un- secured creditors, said the committee unanimously supports the proposed settlement, as do many other individual claimants. “We hope it’s received with an open mind… and that people will hold their fire in the press and in the courtroom until all of the facts are known to them and we can have a mature conversation about what’s going on here,” Feinstein said, referring to attorneys for three non-settling plaintiffs in the New York case. Those attorneys have described the latest proposal as “a complete and utter sellout” of Weinstein’s victims. Attorneys acting on behalf of two of those women previously asked Wal- rath to convert the Chapter 11 case to a Chapter 7 liquidation. Doing so would reduce the amount of money going to professionals and allow a trustee to pur- sue civil claims on behalf of the bank- ruptcy estate against Weinstein and other company officials, they argue. Elizabeth Fegan, an attorney who represents several women in the New York case, including lead plaintiff Loui- sette Geiss, told Walrath on Wednesday nearly two dozen women support the revised bankruptcy plan. “I do think that it’s important that their voices are not outweighed by two women alone who do not approve of the plan,” she said. The Weinstein Co. sought bankruptcy protection in March 2018 amid a sexual misconduct scandal that brought down Weinstein and triggered a nationwide movement to address predatory sexual behaviour and harassment in the work- place. Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison earlier this year after being convicted in New York of rape and sexual assault. Prosecutors in Los Angeles are seek- ing his extradition to California to face charges of raping a woman and sexual- ly assaulting another in 2013. — The Associated Press Harvey Weinstein RANDALL CHASE Revised Weinstein bankruptcy plan presented B ERLIN — Russian opposition lead-er Alexei Navalny was poisoned with the same type of Soviet-era nerve agent used in a 2018 attack on a former Russian spy, the German gov- ernment said Wednesday, provoking outrage from Western leaders who de- manded Moscow provide an explana- tion. The findings — which experts say point strongly to Russian state involve- ment — added to tensions between Rus- sia and the West. German Chancellor Angela Merkel called Navalny’s poison- ing attempted murder, meant to silence one of Russian President Vladimir Pu- tin’s fiercest critics. The Berlin hospital treating the dis- sident said he remains on a ventilator though his condition is improving. It said it expects a long recovery and still can’t rule out long-term effects on his health from the poisoning. The German government said test- ing by a German military laboratory showed “proof without doubt of a chem- ical nerve agent from the Novichok group.” British authorities identified Novichok as the poison used on former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in England. “There are very serious questions now that only the Russian government can answer, and must answer,” Merkel said. The United Kingdom and Italy also called on Russia to explain what hap- pened, with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson calling the use of a chemical weapon “outrageous.” In Washington, National Security Council spokesman John Ullyot tweeted that it was “completely reprehensible.” “We will work with allies and the international community to hold those in Russia accountable, wherever the evidence leads,” Ullyot said. The European Union’s foreign af- fairs chief, Josep Borrell, said any use of chemical weapons was “a breach of international law.” Navalny, a politician and corruption investigator, fell ill on a flight to Mos- cow on Aug. 20 and was taken to a hos- pital in the Siberian city of Omsk after the plane made an emergency landing. He was moved two days later to Ber- lin’s Charite hospital, where doctors last week said initial tests indicated Navalny had been poisoned. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said the Russian ambassador was summoned to his ministry Wednesday after the latest findings. Russia’s deputy UN ambassador, Dmitry Polyansky, dismissed the fin- ger pointing as a knee-jerk reaction. “Today accusing #Russia is a must-do for any Western country,” he said in a tweet. In Moscow, Russian authorities were quick to blame Germany for not shar- ing its findings. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian authorities are “ready and interested in full co-operation and ex- change of information” with Germany but added that Berlin still hasn’t pro- vided any official response to formal requests from the Russian prosecutor general’s office and doctors who treat- ed Navalny. Peskov reiterated Russian doctors didn’t find any poisonous substances in Navalny’s system. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakh- arova charged on state TV that Ger- many preferred “public statements without providing any facts whatso- ever” to “a thorough investigation.” The German government said it would inform its partners in the Euro- pean Union and NATO about the test results and would consult them on a response. Germany also will contact the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. Shortly after the test results were announced, the Charite hospital said Navalny is still in intensive care but “continues to improve.” “Recovery is likely to be lengthy,” it said in a statement. “It is still too early to gauge the long-term effects, which may arise in relation to this severe poi- soning.” Andrea Sella, a professor of inorgan- ic chemistry at University College Lon- don, said Navalny’s prognosis is hard to predict. He said “very swift action” is needed to stabilize patients in poisoning cases and noted the “significant delay,” given that Navalny was initially cared for by Russian doctors who said they had ruled out poisoning. “The problem is that even if Mr. Navalny were to survive there may be lingering long-term neurological issues,” Sella said. Navalny’s allies in Russia have in- sisted he was deliberately poisoned by the country’s authorities, accusations that the Kremlin has rejected as “emp- ty noise.” “To poison Navalny with Novichok in 2020 would be exactly the same as leav- ing an autograph at a crime scene, like this one,” Navalny’s longtime ally and strategist Leonid Volkov said in a tweet that featured a photo of Putin’s name and a signature next to it. It would not be the first time a prom- inent, outspoken Russian was targeted in such a way — or the first time the Kremlin was accused of being behind it. Navalny’s allies have also accused Russian authorities of delaying his transfer out of the country after the poisoning. It took much wrangling and 48 hours to move Navalny to Berlin. Local doctors at the time said he was too unstable to be transported, and the Kremlin said it would defer to the phys- icians. The Siberian medical team relented only after a charity that had organized a medevac plane revealed German doc- tors who examined the politician said he was stable enough to be moved. The reversal came as international pressure on Moscow mounted substan- tially. “The system has long lost its ability to operate in an optimal way. It had to choose between the scandal related to Navalny’s (possible) death in Omsk and the risk of the poisoning being discov- ered by German doctors,” political ana- lyst Abbas Gallyamov said. Novichok is a class of military-grade nerve agents developed by the Soviet Union at the end of the Cold War. West- ern weapons experts believe it was only ever manufactured in Russia. Af- ter the Skripals were poisoned, Russia said the U.S., Britain and other Western countries had acquired the expertise to make the nerve agent and that the Novichok used in that attack could have come from them. Several Russian lawmakers have said Russia isn’t manufacturing Novichok- type agents. “Unless you are working for the mil- itary, it is impossible to be accidentally exposed,” Richard Parsons, a senior lecturer in biochemical toxicology at King’s College London, said. “It is un- available from anywhere except the Russian military as far as I am aware.” Britain charged two Russians — al- leged to be agents of the Russian mil- itary intelligence service GRU — in ab- sentia with the 2018 attack that left the Skripals in critical condition and killed a British woman. Russia has refused to extradite the men to the U.K. — The Associated Press Russia dismissive of findings on poisoning of opposition leader Nerve agent used on Navalny: Germany GEIR MOULSON PAVEL GOLOVKIN / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES German authorities says initial tests conducted in a Berlin hospital have confirmed suspicions Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned. German Chancellor Angela Merkel called the poisoning an effort to silence one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest critics. A_13_Sep-03-20_FP_01.indd A13 2020-09-02 10:38 PM ;