ROME: An Italian appeals court on Wednesday upheld the convictions of two American men in the slaying of an Italian plainclothes police officer during a botched sting operation but significantly reduced their sentences.
The new verdict, ordered after Italy’s highest court threw out the original convictions, drew acceptance from the men’s families and disappointment from the officer’s widow.
Finnegan Lee Elder and Gabriel Natale-Hjorth had been found guilty in the July 2019 slaying of Carabinieri Vice Brig. Mario Cerciello Rega, and after the first trial, were both sentenced to life in prison, Italy’s harshest penalty.
Those sentences were reduced on appeal before Italy’s highest Cassation Court last year ordered a new trial altogether. On Wednesday, the appeals court convicted Finnegan and sentenced him to 15 years and 2 months in prison; it sentenced Natale-Hjorth to 11 years and four months, along with an 800 euro ($863) fine.
“I don’t think we could ask for a reasonable, better decision today,” said Ethan Elder, Finnegan Lee Elder’s father.
Teenagers at the time of the slaying, the former schoolmates from the San Francisco Bay area had met up in Rome to spend a few days vacationing. The fatal confrontation took place after they arranged to meet a small-time drug dealer, who turned out to have been a police informant, to recover money lost in a bad drug deal. Instead, they were confronted by two officers.
Cerciello Riga was stabbed 11 times with a knife brought from the hotel room.
In ordering the retrial, the Cassation Court said it hadn’t been proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendants, with limited Italian language skills, had understood that they were dealing with Italian police officers when they went to meet the alleged drug dealer.
The defense had argued that the defendants didn’t know they were facing law enforcement when the attack happened, an argument repeated during the new trial.
Prosecutor Bruno Giangiacomo said his office would wait to read the court’s written reasonings before deciding on a possible appeal to the Cassation. In Italy, both defendants and prosecutors can appeal at every level of judgment.
“Both aggravating factors that were increasing the penalty were excluded,” Giangiacomo said after the verdict. “This could be a delicate point where we can think about an appeal to the Cassation court.” Prosecutors had asked that Finnegan be sentenced to 23 years and nine months and Natale-Hjorth to 23 years.
Rosa Maria Esilio, the widow of Cerciello Rega, was “devastated” by the verdict, said her lawyer Massimo Ferrandino.
“For five years she has been carrying a huge pain. She was the one who closed the eyes of her husband in the morgue. You can imagine her pain today too,” he said.
The killing of the officer in the storied Carabinieri paramilitary police corps shocked Italy, and the 35-year-old Cerciello Rega was mourned as a national hero.
Prosecutors alleged Elder stabbed Cerciello Rega with a knife that he brought with him on his trip to Europe and that Natale-Hjorth helped him hide in their hotel room. Under Italian law, an accomplice in an alleged murder can also be charged with murder without carrying out the slaying.
But lawyer Francesco Petrelli, who represented Natale-Hjorth, said the appeals court clearly recognized that there was a different level of participation by his client.
“There was a reduction, mainly of the responsibility,” he said, adding that “there was a shift from intentional malice to negligence.”
Prosecutors contend that the young Americans concocted a plot involving a stolen bag and cellphone after their failed attempt to buy cocaine with 80 euros ($96) in Rome’s Trastevere nightlife district. Natale-Hjorth and Elder testified they had paid for the cocaine but didn’t receive it.
In a statement released by lawyers after the new verdicts, Leah Elder, Finnegan Elder’s mother, insisted that her son was prepared to take responsibility for his actions and move on.
“This trial is unfortunately connected to the tragedy of a person’s death, a grave fact that has marked and will forever mark the lives of all the families involved,” she said. “Bringing out the truth of the facts would help Finnegan take full responsibility for the pain he caused with his tragic reaction. I hope that, even as he pays for his mistake, he will also open up to hope for the future.”
Italy appeals court upholds conviction of 2 Americans in death of policeman but reduces sentences
https://arab.news/v5ayw
Italy appeals court upholds conviction of 2 Americans in death of policeman but reduces sentences
- The new verdict drew acceptance from the men’s families and disappointment from the officer’s widow
- Teenagers at the time of the slaying, the former schoolmates from the San Francisco Bay area had met up in Rome to spend a few days vacationing
Zelensky says Putin wants the rest of Ukraine’s Donetsk region as part of a ceasefire
- Zelensky said Putin wants the remaining 9,000 square kilometers (3,500 square miles) of Donetsk under Kyiv’s control, where the war’s toughest battles are grinding on, as part of a ceasefire plan, in a press briefing on Tuesday in Kyiv
KYIV, Ukraine: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin wants Ukraine to withdraw from the remaining 30 percent of the Donetsk region that it controls as part of a ceasefire deal, a proposal the leader categorically rejected.
Zelensky reiterated that Ukraine would not withdraw from territories it controls, saying that would be unconstitutional and would serve only as a springboard for a future Russian invasion.
He said diplomatic discussions led by the US focusing on ending the war have not touched on security guarantees for Ukraine to prevent future Russian aggression and that meeting formats currently being discussed do not include Europe’s participation, both key demands of Kyiv.
Meanwhile, Russian forces on the ground have been closing in on a key territorial grab around the city of Pokrovsk.
Zelensky said the necessity of territorial concessions was conveyed to him by US officials ahead of a summit Friday between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, and in further meetings at the level of national security officials.
It remained unclear whether Ukraine would take part in the Friday summit. European Union leaders also have been sidelined from the meeting, and they appealed to Trump on Tuesday to protect their interests.
Zelensky says Ukraine will not withdraw from the Donbas
Zelensky said Putin wants the remaining 9,000 square kilometers (3,500 square miles) of Donetsk under Kyiv’s control, where the war’s toughest battles are grinding on, as part of a ceasefire plan, in a press briefing on Tuesday in Kyiv.
Doing so would hand Russia almost the entirety of the Donbas, a region comprising Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland that Putin has long coveted.
Zelensky learned of Russia’s position after holding a call with Trump and special envoy Steve Witkoff, after the latter’s bilateral meeting with Putin. Witkoff told Zelensky that Russia was ready to end the war and that there should be territorial concessions from both sides. Some European partners were also part of the call.
“And that, probably, Putin wants us to leave Donbas. That is, it didn’t sound like America wants us to leave,” he said, recounting the call.
Zelensky reiterated that withdrawing from Ukraine-controlled territory was out of the question, especially as the question of security guarantees for Ukraine, were not being discussed.
“We will not leave Donbas. We cannot do this. Everyone forgets the first part — our territories are illegally occupied,” Zelensky told reporters at a briefing on Tuesday. “Donbas for the Russians is a springboard for a future new offensive.”
Zelensky said this is what occurred in 2014 when Russia illegally annexed the Crimean Peninsula.
Seeking Trump’s ear before the summit
Trump has said he wants to see whether Putin is serious about ending the war, now in its fourth year.
The US president has disappointed allies in Europe by saying Ukraine will have to give up some Russian-held territory. He also said Russia must accept land swaps, although it was unclear what Putin might be expected to surrender.
The Europeans and Ukraine are wary that Putin, who has waged the biggest land war in Europe since 1945 and used Russia’s energy might to try to intimidate the EU, might secure favorable concessions and set the outlines of a peace deal without them.
Referring to the format for ceasefire talks, Zelensky said on Tuesday that the US proposed a bilateral meeting, between the US and Russia, and then a trilateral meeting that would include Ukraine. Zelensky said the presence of Europe was important for Kyiv because these were the only partners offering security guarantees, including funding the Ukrainian army.
European countries’ overarching fear is that Putin will set his sights on one of them next if he wins in Ukraine.
Their leaders said Tuesday they “welcome the efforts of President Trump toward ending Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.” But, they underlined, “the path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukraine” and “international borders must not be changed by force.”
The Europeans on Wednesday will make a fresh attempt to rally Trump to Ukraine’s cause at virtual meetings convened by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Trump did not confirm whether he would take part but did say “I’m going to get everybody’s ideas” before meeting with Putin.
Russia holds shaky control over four of the country’s regions, two in the country’s east and two in the south.
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the chief of Zelensky’s office, said anything short of Russia’s strategic defeat would mean that any ceasefire deal would be on Moscow’s terms, erode international law and send a dangerous signal to the world.
A ‘profoundly alarming moment for Europe’
Trump’s seemingly public rehabilitation of Putin — a pariah in most of Europe — has unnerved Ukraine’s backers.
The summit in Alaska is a “profoundly alarming moment for Europe,” said Nigel Gould-Davies, senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.
According to Gould-Davies, Putin might persuade Trump to try to end the war by “accepting Russian sovereignty” over parts of Ukraine, even beyond areas that it currently occupies. Trump also could ease or lift sanctions which are causing “chronic pain” to the Russian economy.
That would provoke a “really serious split in the transatlantic alliance,” he said.
The war isn’t about Russia’s territorial expansion but about Putin’s goal of subordinating Ukraine, which would create the opportunity to threaten other parts of Europe, Gould-Davies said.
It was unclear whether the Europeans also were unsettled by Trump mistakenly saying twice he would be traveling to Russia on Friday to meet Putin. The summit is taking place in the US state of Alaska, which was colonized by Russia in the 18th century until Czar Alexander II sold it to the US in 1867.
Tuesday’s European joint statement was meant to be a demonstration of unity. But Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who is Putin’s closest ally in Europe and has tried to block EU support for Ukraine, was the only one of the bloc’s 27 leaders who refused to endorse it.
Russia closes in on Pokrovsk
Russia appeared closer to taking an important city in the Donetsk region, Pokrovsk.
Military analysts using open-source information to monitor the battles said the next 24-48 hours could be critical. Losing Pokrovsk would hand Russia an important victory ahead of the summit. It also would complicate Ukrainian supply lines to the Donetsk region, where the Kremlin has focused the bulk of military efforts.
“A lot will depend on availability, quantity and quality of Ukrainian reserves,” Pasi Paroinen, an analyst with the Finland-based Black Bird Group, wrote on social media late Monday.
Ukraine’s military said its forces are fending off Russian infantry units trying to infiltrate their defensive positions in the Donetsk region. The region’s Ukrainian military command on social media Monday acknowledged that the situation remains “difficult, unpleasant and dynamic.”
Elsewhere in Ukraine, a Russian missile attack on a military training facility left one soldier dead and 11 others wounded, the Ukrainian Ground Forces posted on social media.
Washingtonians tired of crime but skeptical of Trump takeover
- When Trump announced his DC plan, he said it was “becoming a situation of complete and total lawlessness.”
WASHINGTON: A 15-minute walk from the White House, Tony and Mike stood on the sidewalk near the spot where a man was killed on Monday, the 100th murder of the year in Washington.
The shooting broke out just a few hours after President Donald Trump announced a federal takeover of the US capital, which Trump described as overrun by crime — though official data shows that violence has recently decreased.
“It’s sickening,” Tony told AFP early Tuesday. “It’s not safe anymore.”
“You do need change, you do need help,” Mike said.
But Mike added that the city does not need the help Trump is sending in — “not National Guards.”
The day after Trump’s press conference, residents of the area near the city center told stories of drug sales on the street, but were skeptical that federal intervention would make a difference.
Tony has always lived in the area and, like the other residents interviewed, did not want to give his last name.
He described a local street corner as an “open air market” with “all the drugs that you want.”
Anne, who was holding pruning shears as she weeded, said needles are often discovered in the flowerbed of the church on the corner.
It was near this spot that Tymark Wells, 33, was shot around 7:00 p.m. Monday before later dying in hospital, according to a police report that did not mention a motive or suspect.
The area is the “wild West and it’s always been like that,” said Lauren, who lives in a building nearby.
“We’re so desensitized,” the 42-year-old added.
When Trump announced his DC plan, he said it was “becoming a situation of complete and total lawlessness.”
However the Department of Justice said in January that violent crime in Washington recently hit its lowest level in 30 years.
Because of easy access to guns in the United States, the crime number still “may look differently in America than it does in other parts of the world,” Brianne Nadeau, a member of DC’s overwhelmingly Democratic city council, told AFP.
“But we have made substantial strides here,” she said, calling Trump’s federal takeover a “political stunt.”
The annual number of homicides in the city peaked at 274 in 2023, before falling to 187 last year. That is still one of the highest per capita homicide rates in the country.
Trump also justified the takeover by citing the number of homeless people in the city.
Ace, a 16-year-old walking her dog, said the presence of the homeless contributed to the feeling of insecurity.
Sometimes unhoused people would get on top of her parents’ car, she said. “You don’t know if they are going to break in.”
While waiting for the National Guard, around 850 federal agents were deployed to Washington on Monday, making 23 arrests, according to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
“This is only the beginning,” she said.
Terry Cole, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration tasked with leading the federal takeover of the city’s police, said patrolling would be ramped up.
Federal agents and police will work “hand in hand” during these patrols, Cole added.
The city’s Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser, who has been forced to accommodate the takeover, said this approach is “the wrong way to do it.”
Federal agents do not go out on patrol, she said. “That’s not what they’re trained to do.”
Tom, who lives near the scene of Monday’s shooting, told AFP there were not enough police patrols in the area.
But he also criticized Trump’s “draconian approach,” saying it was unlikely to “yield any good results.”
Across the street, a small memorial stood in tribute to a different shooting victim.
A picture of a young Black man has been wrapped around a tree, with flowers arrayed at its base.
Turell Delonte, 30, was shot dead by police at the spot in 2023, after he was suspected of drug trafficking.
Homeless who refuse to cooperate with Trump crackdown may go to jail, White House says
- US communities have long experienced seemingly intractable problems with homelessness, which reached an all-time national high of over 771,000 men, women and children on a single night in 2024
WASHINGTON: Homeless people in Washington, D.C., could face jail time if they do not comply with President Donald Trump’s efforts to crack down on crime and rid the US capital of homeless encampments, the White House said on Tuesday.
“Homeless individuals will be given the option to leave their encampment, to be taken to a homeless shelter, to be offered addiction or mental-health services, and if they refuse, they will be susceptible to fines or to jail time,” White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters.
Leavitt said the administration was exploring strategies to relocate homeless individuals “far from the capital.” She said US Park Police have removed 70 homeless encampments from federal parks since March and are set to clear the remaining two encampments in the city later this week.
Andy Wassenich, director of policy at Miriam’s Kitchen — an organization offering services to the homeless — said his team was out trying to warn people. He said there was still a lot of confusion about what the crackdown may bring.
Their best advice, he said, was: “Go to shelter if you can, if you can stand it. If you have anybody you can stay with, get off the street, and seek safety and let us know what we can do for you.”
Trump said on social media that he wanted the homeless out of Washington even before he announced the extraordinary step of temporarily taking over the District of Columbia’s police department and deploying 800 National Guard troops as part of a crackdown on crime there — an effort that also includes another 500 federal law enforcement agents.
A billionaire real estate developer, Trump described the homeless as one of several groups who have “overtaken” Washington that include “violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged-out maniacs.” He likened his intended crackdown to his administration’s actions to secure the US border with Mexico.
HOMELESSNESS REACHED A RECORD HIGH NATIONWIDE IN 2024
US communities have long experienced seemingly intractable problems with homelessness, which reached an all-time national high of over 771,000 men, women and children on a single night in 2024, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s latest homelessness report to Congress.
The HUD report estimated Washington’s homeless population at 5,616, a 14.1 percent increase from the year before. That made Washington, a city of just over 700,000 people, the 16th out of the 20 US cities with the largest homeless populations, according to the website USA Facts. The top five cities are New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle and Denver.
But the District of Columbia had the highest prevalence of homelessness among US states, with 83 homeless individuals for every 10,000 people, HUD data showed.
Homeless people did not appear to be caught up in a Monday night sweep by 850 officers and federal agents, who the White House said made 23 arrests across the city, an operation which Leavitt announced at a press conference on Monday.
The District of Columbia operates under the Home Rule Act, which gives Congress ultimate authority but allows residents to elect a mayor and city council. Trump bypassed the city’s elected leaders by declaring a “public safety emergency” and invoking a section of the act that allows the president to take over the police force for 30 days under emergency conditions.
On Sunday night, a small group of federal agents arrived at Union Station — a gathering place for homeless people — and briefly questioned a person standing there, according to a man who was outside the building at the time. After about 15 minutes, the agents, who were from a variety of federal agencies, left with little fanfare.
Jacob Adams, a political activist with FLARE USA, a self-described anti-Trump group, was sitting at the organization’s table set up near the fountain outside the station.
He said the agents did nothing to disperse the people who had gathered there, and in fact told them they could stay overnight. “I don’t know if it was a show of force or photo ops. But it didn’t come off as very forceful,” Adams said.
Wassenich said on Tuesday that so far there was little evidence of the unhoused population being directly affected by the surge in law enforcement.
“If they are caught up in other things, that’s certainly possible,” he said. “The tents are still standing. The people are still sleeping on whatever bench they might be on.”
Putin, North Korea’s Kim in phone call ahead of Alaska summit
- Putin expressed appreciation for “the self-sacrificing spirit displayed by service personnel of the Korean People’s Army in liberating Kursk,” KCNA added, a reference to North Korea’s participation in Russia’s war on Ukraine
- The two countries signed a mutual defense pact last year, when Putin visited the reclusive state
SEOUL: Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un have vowed to strengthen cooperation, days ahead of Putin’s summit in Alaska with Donald Trump, Pyongyang’s state media reported Wednesday.
Putin and Kim spoke by phone in a “warm comradely atmosphere” on Tuesday and confirmed “their will to strengthen cooperation in the future,” the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.
Putin expressed appreciation for “the self-sacrificing spirit displayed by service personnel of the Korean People’s Army in liberating Kursk,” KCNA added, a reference to North Korea’s participation in Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Kim in turn pledged that North Korea would “fully support all measures to be taken by the Russian leadership in the future, too.”
US President Trump is expected to press Russia to end the Ukraine war during their meeting in Alaska on Friday.
Russia and North Korea have forged closer ties in recent years, with Pyongyang supplying troops and weapons for Russia’s military operations in Ukraine.
The two countries signed a mutual defense pact last year, when Putin visited the reclusive state.
North Korea confirmed for the first time in April that it had deployed a contingent of its soldiers to the front line in Ukraine, alongside Russian troops.
US defers to Israel on killing of journalists
- Al Jazeera said four other employees — correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh and cameramen Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa — were also killed when the strike hit a tent set up for journalists outside the main gate of Al-Shifa Hospital
WASHINGTON: The United States on Tuesday declined to criticize Israel over the killing of five Al Jazeera journalists in the Gaza Strip, referring questions to its ally.
The Israeli military alleged that Anas Al-Sharif, a prominent face on the Qatar-based network covering the violence, headed a Hamas “terrorist cell” and was “responsible for advancing rocket attacks” against Israelis.
“What I will tell you is that we refer you to Israel for information regarding Al-Sharif,” State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters.
She voiced respect for journalists who cover war zones but said that Hamas members have been “embedded in society, including posing as journalists.”
“It is a horrible thing to do for those of you who are committed to finding information for people to be in that situation,” she said.
European and Arab governments, the United Nations and media rights groups all voiced outrage over the killing.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said that there needed to be “clear evidence” for Israel’s allegations and respect for rules of war against targeting journalists.
Al Jazeera said four other employees — correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh and cameramen Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa — were also killed when the strike hit a tent set up for journalists outside the main gate of Al-Shifa Hospital.
According to local journalists who knew him, Sharif had worked at the start of his career with a Hamas communication office, where his role was to publicize events organized by the group that has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2006.
