Uzbek in Swiss Money-Laundering Case Was Unfairly Detained, Says UN Panel
The June opinion by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention makes repeated references to the Swiss case against Gulnara Karimova and Lombard Odier, and while it isn't legally binding defense lawyers could use its conclusions to try to weaken the prosecutors' case.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
‘Mushroom murder' trial: Jury finds Australian woman deliberately killed lunch guests with poisoned Beef Wellington
Erin Patterson, the Australian woman accused of killing three relatives with a meal of death cap mushrooms baked in a Beef Wellington lunch, has been found guilty of three counts of murder and the attempted murder of the lone survivor. A 12-member jury reached the verdict after around six days of deliberation following a 10-week trial in Morwell, a tiny town about an hour's drive from the suburban dining room in Leongatha, Victoria, where the lethal lunch was served in July 2023. Dozens of media crews raced to the court when it was announced the jury had reached a verdict in the case that has captivated audiences worldwide and spawned four podcasts dedicated to unpacking each day's evidence. During weeks of testimony, Patterson was accused of deliberately tainting the lunch with death cap mushrooms, highly toxic fungi that she picked after seeing their location posted on a public website. In the days after, her former parents-in-law, Don and Gail Patterson, died along with Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson. Heather's husband Ian, their local pastor, survived after a weekslong stay in hospital. Her defense lawyers had argued the deaths were a 'terrible accident' that occurred when Patterson tried to improve the taste of the meal, and that she repeatedly lied to police out of panic when she realized she may have added foraged mushrooms to the mix. Patterson sat in court, listening as prosecutors called witness after witness, whose testimony, they alleged, told a compelling story of a triple murder that the jury ultimately found satisfied the legal standard of beyond reasonable doubt. Under Australian law, none of the jurors can be publicly identified, and they're prohibited from disclosing jury room deliberations even after the trial ends. It will never be known which pieces of evidence influenced each juror's decision, but all 12 were required to agree on the verdict. The agreed facts were that Patterson asked five people to lunch on July 29, 2023, including her estranged husband Simon Patterson, who pulled out the day before. Within hours of the meal, the four lunch guests – Simon's parents Don and Gail, and his aunt and uncle, Heather and Ian Wilkinson – became ill with vomiting and diarrhea. They went to hospital where they were placed in induced comas as doctors tried to save them. Gail and Heather died on August 4 from multiorgan failure, followed by Don on August 5, after he failed to respond to a liver transplant. Ian Wilkinson survived and was finally discharged from hospital in late September, after almost two months of intensive treatment. Death cap mushrooms contain amanita toxins that prevent the production of proteins in liver cells, leading to cell death and possible liver failure from about two days after ingestion. Native to Europe, the lethal mushrooms have been found growing in several Australian states, and around the time of the lunch, they had been seen within a short drive of Patterson's home in rural Victoria. During the trial, the prosecution argued that Patterson had the opportunity to pick lethal mushrooms after seeing their location posted on the citizen science iNaturalist website. The guilty verdict suggests the jury accepted the prosecution's argument that she likely traveled to two sites in April and May 2023, and deliberately picked the mushrooms used in the meal. Patterson admitted that on April 28 – the same day as cellphone signals put her in the vicinity of death cap mushrooms – she bought a dehydrator that she later dumped at a waste recycling center on August 2. It had her fingerprints on it and contained remnants of death cap mushrooms. The prosecution alleged that Patterson faked illness in the days after serving the lunch and tried to cover her tracks by disposing of the dehydrator and factory resetting her devices to delete evidence. The prosecution did not have to prove motive. Prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC accused Patterson of having two faces: One she showed the world that suggested she had a good relationship with the Pattersons, the parents of her estranged husband, and a hidden face she showed only her Facebook friends that suggested she wanted to cut ties with them. In Facebook messages sent in December 2022, Patterson had expressed anger and frustration over Don and Gail's reluctance to get involved in their son's marriage breakdown. 'I'm sick of this shit I want nothing to do with them,' she wrote. 'I thought his parents would want him to do the right thing but it seems their concern about not wanting to feel uncomfortable and not wanting to get involved in their son's personal matters are overriding that so f*** em.' And another message read: 'This family I swear to f***ing god.' During eight days of testimony including cross-examination, Patterson consistently pleaded her innocence, claiming she inadvertently added foraged mushrooms to the meal. In his directions to the jury, Justice Christopher Beale said that Patterson's admission that she told lies and disposed of evidence must not cause them to be prejudiced against her. 'This is a court of law, not a court of morals,' he said. 'The issue is not whether she is in some sense responsible for the tragic consequences of the lunch, but whether the prosecution has proved beyond a reasonable doubt that she is criminally responsible for those consequences,' he said. The jury found that Patterson had intended to kill all four lunch guests and lied repeatedly on the stand to claim she didn't. Patterson will be sentenced at a later date. This is a developing story. More to come
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
France's Macron to visit UK as Starmer eyes 'reset' with EU
French President Emmanuel Macron is to begin a state visit to the United Kingdom on Tuesday, where he is set to address the British Parliament and co-chair a meeting on Ukraine as London seeks to strengthen its ties with Europe after Brexit. King Charles III has invited the French leader and his wife, Brigitte, on a three-day official visit during which Macron is to hold joint discussions with Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the 37th Franco-British Summit on Thursday. Talks will focus on aid to Ukraine, joint efforts to halt illegal migration crossing the Channel, and strengthening defence cooperation between the two countries. "This is the first state visit to the United Kingdom by a European Union head of state since Brexit," the Elysee Palace said on Friday, referring to the UK's 2016 vote to leave the bloc. "And, especially, the first since Prime Minister Starmer signalled what he called a 'reset' of relations between the United Kingdom and Europe,", it added. There were simmering political tensions between Paris and London in the immediate aftermath of Brexit under the previous right-wing Conservative British government. But there has been a new warmth in relations under the centre-left Labour government led by Starmer, and the two countries now lead European efforts to find peace for Ukraine. Buckingham Palace confirmed on Friday that Macron would formally address the British Parliament on Tuesday, following in the footsteps of his predecessors, Charles de Gaulle and Francois Mitterrand. The king will host Macron and his wife for a state banquet at his Windsor Castle residence, west of London, where the couple will also stay. While in Windsor, Macron will privately visit St George's Chapel to lay flowers on the tomb of the late Queen Elizabeth II. -'Reassurance force'- During the visit, Macron and Starmer will host the 37th Franco-British Summit in London on Thursday, where they are set to discuss opportunities to strengthen defence ties between the two countries in response to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The agreements will be "adapted to this profoundly changed strategic reality", the Elysee Palace said, without offering further details. Macron and Starmer will also co-chair talks bringing together countries "willing" to strengthen Kyiv's defences against Moscow. The two leaders will speak with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, as well as German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, the French presidency said. This comes after the United States, Ukraine's biggest military backer since the launch of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, said Tuesday it was halting some key weapons shipments to Ukraine. Russia launched its largest-ever drone and missile attack on Ukraine overnight on Friday. The summit will touch upon the deployment of "a reassurance force" to Ukraine after a ceasefire and how to "increase pressure" on Russia to accept an unconditional ceasefire, the Elysee Palace said. Another topic high on the agenda is agreeing on a strategy to halt migrants making perilous small boat crossings of the Channel, a key political issue in the UK. As more small boats land on English shores, and the UK government comes under mounting pressure from the far right to tackle irregular migration, London has pressed Paris to do more. In recent weeks, France said it is considering stopping migrant boats in its shallow coastal waters, though the move raises safety and legal issues. And on Friday, the British government said it welcomed footage showing French police stopping a small boat carrying migrants from setting off across the Channel. The French president's visit follows King Charles's state visit to France in 2023, which was widely regarded as a success that helped boost relations. The last state visit by a French president to the UK was made by Nicolas Sarkozy in 2008. vl/ekf/yad
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Australian Erin Patterson convicted of mushroom murders
By Alasdair Pal SYDNEY (Reuters) -An Australian woman was on Monday convicted of murdering three elderly relatives of her estranged husband with a meal laced with poisonous mushrooms, and attempting to murder a fourth, in a case that gripped the country. Erin Patterson, 50, was charged with the murders of her mother-in-law Gail Patterson, father-in-law Donald Patterson and Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson, along with the attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson, Heather's husband. The four had gathered at Erin Patterson's home in Leongatha, a town of about 6,000 people some 135 km (84 miles) southeast of Melbourne, where the mother of two served them individual Beef Wellingtons that were later found to contain death cap mushrooms. On Monday, the jury in the case found her guilty of all four charges. Patterson had pleaded not guilty to all charges, saying the deaths were accidental. She will be sentenced at a later date and faces a maximum life sentence. The 10-week trial in Morwell, a town around two hours east of Melbourne where Patterson had requested the case be heard, attracted huge global interest. Local and international media descended on Court 4 at the Latrobe Valley Magistrates' Court the nearest court to Patterson's home, despite being warned of lengthy delays. State broadcaster ABC's daily podcast on proceedings was consistently among the most popular in Australia during the trial, while several documentaries on the case are already in production. MAJOR DECEPTION The prosecution, led by barrister Nanette Rogers, told the court that Patterson had employed four major deceptions in order to murder her guests. She first fabricated a cancer diagnosis to lure the guests to the lunch, poisoning their meals while serving herself an untainted portion, Rogers told the court. Patterson then lied that she was also sick from the food to avoid suspicion, before finally embarking on a cover-up when police began investigating the deaths, attempting to destroy evidence and lying to police, the prosecution said. Patterson, who said during the trial she had inherited large sums of money from her mother and grandmother, retained a four-person legal team, led by Colin Mandy, one of Melbourne's top criminal barristers. She was the only witness in her defence, spending eight days on the stand, including five days of cross-examination. Patterson told the court about a life-long struggle with her weight, an eating disorder and low self-esteem, frequently becoming emotional as she spoke about the impact of the lunch on the Patterson family and her two children. She had lied about having cancer not to lure the guests to the lunch to kill them, but because she was looking for their help with telling her children and was embarrassed to say that she actually planned to have weight loss surgery, she told the court. Patterson had also not become as sick as her lunch guests because she secretly binged on a cake brought by her mother-in-law and then purged herself, she told the court. The jury of seven men and five women retired on June 30, taking a week to reach a verdict. Justice Beale gave the jurors in the trial special dispensation to avoid jury duty for the next 15 years, due to the length and complexity of the case.
