Despite rising incidence of far-right violence in the United States, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Justice Department continue to deprioritize investigating the violence and prosecuting its perpetrators, according to a report released Monday.

While a handful of high-profile cases are sometimes designated as acts of “domestic terrorism” and receive the law enforcement agencies’ full investigative attention, the overwhelming majority are treated as hate crimes, gang violence and run-of-the-mill homicides, pushing them down the agencies’ list of priorities, the report says.

The report was prepared by the Brennan Center for Justice a nonpartisan law and policy institute at New York University School of Law.

Labels matter

The label the FBI chooses to characterize an act of violence is important in determining the amount of resources devoted to the case and how wide an investigative net is cast, according to the report. Investigating terrorism currently tops the FBI’s list of eight priorities and is well resourced. Hate crimes rank fifth while gang violence comes in sixth.

“Under current Justice Department policies, how far-right violence targeting people based on race, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability gets categorized is often arbitrary,” report authors Michael German and Emmanuel Mauleon write in “Fighting Far-Right Violence and Hate Crimes.” “But it has significant consequences for how federal officials label these crimes in public statements, how they prioritize and track them, and whether they will investigate and prosecute them.”

The report follows a string of high-profile far-right attacks that have highlighted the problem of right wing violence in the United States. Last October, white supremacist Robert Bowers burst into a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, synagogue, gunning down 11 worshippers and wounding six others. In April, another far-right extremist, John T. Earnest, walked into a San Diego synagogue, shooting four people, one fatally, just weeks after setting fire to a nearby mosque.

Yet the FBI doesn’t keep track of the casualties, which serves to keep analysts and policymakers in the dark about the extent of the problem and how best to tackle it.

“It’s astonishing that with the FBI transitioning into an intelligence agency (in the post-9/11 era), it doesn’t know how many people white supremacists kill across this country every year,” said German, a former FBI undercover agent.

The FBI publishes an annual tally of hate crimes by race, religion, gender and a host of other categories. Last year, the bureau reported a total of more than 7,000 hate crimes in 2017.

Handing off hate crimes

The Brennan Center report also criticized the Justice Department for deferring the vast majority of hate crime investigations to state and local authorities who “are often ill-equipped or unwilling to properly respond to these crimes.” The report recommended that the FBI “treat all hate crime cases where deadly violence is involved among its top investigative priorities.”

The Justice Department prosecutes about 25 hate crime cases a year.

Asked for comment on the report, a Justice Department spokeswoman cited recent statements by top Justice officials that prosecuting hate crimes and domestic terrorism remains a top priority for the Justice Department.

“Anyone who commits a crime motivated by hatred for the race, color, religion, national origin or other protected trait of any person should be on notice: The United States government will use its enormous power to bring perpetrators to justice, and we will continue to do so for as long as it takes to rid our nation of these vile and monstrous crimes,” Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband said in a statement Friday after a federal judge imposed a life sentence on James Alex Fields Jr., who drove his car into a crowd in Charlottesville, Virginia, murdering a civil rights activist.

The FBI did not respond immediately to a request for comment on the report.

In May, Mike McGarrity, the FBI’s top counterterrorism official, told U.S. lawmakers that the bureau doesn’t “differentiate between a domestic attack we’re trying to stop or an international terrorism attack.”

“It’s a terrorist attack we’re trying to stop,” McGarrity testified before the House Committee on Homeland Security.

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Cattleman Laurentino Cortizo was sworn in as Panama’s president Monday, saying he will work during his five-year term to boost the economy and bring transparency in contracting for public works projects.
 
The 66-year-old won an election two weeks ago that was the tightest in Panama’s recent history, triumphing with only 31 percent of the vote as the candidate of the Democratic Revolutionary Party.
 
Cortizo, who succeeds Juan Carlos Varela, said he would stoke the economy by pushing for public-private partnerships for infrastructure projects and also address corruption in government contracting.
 
“We have monumental challenges,” Cortizo said. “We’re coming off a decade lost to corruption. There’s no place for indifference in the country.”
 
Noting that some 700,000 of Panama’s 4 million citizens live in poverty, Cortizo said, “What a tremendous responsibility we have to those who have been left behind.”
 
Cortizo inherits a slowing economy and growing frustration among Panamanians about official corruption. The economy grew 3.7% last year and unemployment reached 6%.
 
The new president said he would create next week a Unit for the Competitiveness of International Services to make sure Panama is the top business services and logistics center in Latin America.
 
U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and the presidents of Colombia, Peru, Bolivia and the Dominican Republic were among those at the ceremony. Ross said he had met with Cortizo on Sunday and discussed a desire to grow their economies together.
 
Cortizo also said he would work to repair Panama’s image as a fiscal haven that has not effectively cooperated in the fight against money laundering.
 
“This is a new beginning … (to) rescue Panama,” he said after being sworn in by the new leader of congress at a Panama City convention center. “Our country has been disrespected and mistreated. … It stops here! It stops today!”
 
Some analysts said the new president will have to focus on an internal cleanup regarding recurring scandals, some of them of international scope, such as a regionwide bribery case involving Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht.
 
“If Cortizo wants to improve Panama’s international reputation, he will have to attack corruption at home,” said Michael Shifter, president of the Inter-American Dialoge in Washington. “If he has success on that internal front, that will help repair the Panama’s image.”
 
Cortizo sent a strong message on corruption, savaging previous administrations in particular.
 
“We come from a lost decade … of corruption, of improvisation, of stealing money from Panamanians,” he said, though his party, which was last in power a decade ago, has also been implicated in scandal.

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Мешканка Баришівки Оксана Пасенко подала заяву про відмову від начебто свого позову щодо SkyUp, на підставі якого Баришівський районний суд 24 травня призупинив ліцензію авіакомпанії на перевезення пасажирів. Причиною відмови Пасенко вказала те, що вона ніколи не була клієнткою цього авіаперевізника. Про це повідомляють «Схеми: корупція в деталях» (спільний проект Радіо Свобода та телеканалу «UA:Перший») у розслідуванні «Таємниця Баришівського суду».

За даними журналістів, 25 червня Державна авіаційна служба України поштою отримала копію відмови від позову від Оксани Пасенко.

«Ми не знаємо, чи зареєстрована вона в суді. Авіакомпанія копії поки не отримувала», – повідомив «Схемам» директор з юридичних питань компанії SkyUp Airlines Дмитро Толкачов. 

Про те, що позивачка жодного разу не користувалась послугами цього авіаперевізника, вона сама раніше розповіла журналістам програми, яким вдалось її відшукати.

«Тимчасово не працюю. Дома відпочиваю. Я позов написала, що я туди (до суду – ред.) не зверталась і не користувалась послугами (авіакомпанії – ред.)», – заявила вона. 

У позовній заяві нібито Оксани Пасенко, яка опинилася у розпорядженні «Схем», йшлося про те, що мешканка Баришівки придбала квитки на рейс 17 травня до Шарм-ель-Шейха з вильотом з аеропорту «Київ» (Жуляни) – на рейс, який начебто мав виконувати SkyUp. Тоді як 16 травня, як зазначено в документі, «туристці» повідомили, що виліт переноситься на 20 травня через нібито відсутність літаків. Всі ці дані разом з добіркою негативних відгуків щодо авіакомпанії в мережі, «позивачка» вказала в заяві як причину відмови від поїздки. Це подальшому і стало підставою для Баришівського суду ухвалити рішення про призупинення ліцензії приватному українському авіаперевізнику.

У свою чергу в авіакомпанії у відповідь на запит «Схем» відповіли, що затримки у рейсах в той день дійсно були – але не на три дні, а максимум – на 4 години, і не з Жулян, а з Борисполя. Вильотів у SkyUp Airlines з аеропорту Київ у травні взагалі не було.

Юрист з авіаційного права Андрій Гук, який проаналізував цю ухвалу Баришівського суду, вважає: там не мали права розглядати цю справу.

«Як би ви позов не обізвали, він є авіаційною пасажирською справою, яка повинна слухатися виключно в одному суді – де зареєстрована авіакомпанія і в такому випадку позивач не має права вибору суду. Компанія SkyUp точно не зареєстрована в Баришівському районі, тому цей суд в принципі не міг розглядати пасажирську справу», – заявив він.

І додав: малоймовірно, що суддя не знав би загальної частини процесуального кодексу, який регулює виключну підсудність. «Тобто, на мою думку суддя… є ознаки того, що завідомо порушено це правило», – підсумував Гук.

Раніше 18 червня Оксана Пасенко звернулася до поліції із заявою про те, що не подавала позов. Хоч вона й не мала власних документів, заява зареєстрована в Баришівському відділенні поліції Переяслав-Хмельницького відділу ГУНП в Київській області.

24 травня Баришівський районний суд Київської області зупинив ліцензію «першого українського лоукосту» SkyUp. Водночас суддя відмовилася забороняти компанії «здійснювати господарську діяльність з перевезення пасажирів повітряним транспортом до вирішення спору по суті».

Коментуючи новину міністр інфраструктури Володимир Омелян запевнив, що компанія продовжить працювати в нормальному режимі без жодних стресів для пасажирів. Крім того, міністр побачив у цьому рішенні сліди співвласника найбільшого авіаперевізника країни, компанії МАУ Ігоря Коломойського.

«Схеми» також знайшли «сліди Коломойского» в історії з Баришівським судом і SkyUp.

 
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Protesters and riot police returned to the streets of Hong Kong early Monday to mark the 22nd anniversary of the city’s reunification with China.

Police fired pepper spray and used batons to keep thousands of protesters from charging an early morning flag-raising ceremony that marks every anniversary of the city’s handover from the United Kingdom in 1997.

A government spokesperson said that a total of 25 protesters and police had been injured.

By midmorning however, the tense scenes had died down with protesters occupying several large roadways near the government headquarters ahead of a march scheduled for later Monday afternoon.

Protesters also took down the flag of China and replaced it with a black version of Hong Kong’s flag, which features the white Bauhinia flower in the center.

The flag-raising ceremony draws a small number of protesters every year, but Monday’s rally was linked to a controversial legislative bill that would allow for criminal extradition to China.

The bill triggered massive protests for most of June, continuing after Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said previously she would suspend the bill and apologized. The bill is set to expire next year with the legislative session.

On Monday, Lam said at a speech she had learned to be more “responsive to the aspirations, sentiments and opinions of the community.”

“The first and most basic step to take is to change the government’s style of governance to make it more open and accommodating,” Lam said. “We also need to reform the way we listen to public views.”

Lam, however, has failed to withdraw the bill permanently or meet other protest demands including an inquiry into police tactics at a violent demonstration June 12.

She is now facing her lowest popularity ranking since taking office in 2017, according to a survey by the University of Hong Kong.

Protester Leo Wong said many residents mistrust the government, which has promised to cancel unpopular initiatives in the past only for them to change their mind later.

“I understand that people may be saying suspension is the same as withdrawal … but why the protesters are still angry about this is people were tricked by the government for so many times over so many years,” Wong told VOA.

He and many other protesters also spoke of their fears that Hong Kong was losing its autonomy to China, promised until 2047. Citizens are currently protected by the Basic Law, a set of civil and political rights considered Hong Kong’s mini constitution, but they fear this may be eroded.

“There is an actual deadline of Basic Law until 2047, but we aren’t sure they will honor that deadline. Even though we are having one country two systems now. … They try to erode our freedom and encroach into Hong Kong,” Wong said.

The extradition debate has seen the government unwittingly reignite Hong Kong’s protest movement, and a desire for the direct election of its leader, five years after 2014’s so-called Umbrella Movement democracy protests came to an end.

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The women mountaineers of Africa are reaching for new heights, following in the footsteps of the first black African woman to scale Mount Everest. Now four other South Africans are training to become the first all-female African team to climb the world’s tallest peak.

Deshun Deysel, Lisa Gering, Tumi Mphahlele and Alda Waddell are training on the sandstone cliffs of South Africa’s Drankensberg Mountains. They hope that next year, they can become the first team of African women to conquer Mount Everest.

Their inspiration

The women are inspired by South African business executive Saray Khumalo, who in May became the first black African woman to climb the world’s highest mountain, which stands at 8,848 meters tall.

Africa has few mountains to practice on, but Khumalo says that is not a problem.

“What excites me even more is that those coming behind us, behind me, effectively won’t have to struggle as much as I have had, you know,” she said. “Even though we’re not born in a place where there’re mountains, there’s ice and snow and more. So, when the ladies go next year, I think it’s going to open up even more doors.”

Each team member does her own intensive mental and physical training along with group sessions to prepare for the difficult climb.

Alda Waddell explains:

“There’s different elements that you need to train for. It is the technical, the equipment that you need to understand. It is the physical that you need to be able to do. And then also the cold. You need to be able to manage the cold. And then lastly, it’s the altitude,” she said.

Levels of experience

The women have different levels of experience in mountaineering.

In 1996, Deshun Deysel became the first black South African woman to set foot on Mount Everest.

While she wasn’t able to reach the summit, since then she’s scaled mountains on five continents.

“When I first started high-altitude climbing there was so few women in the mountains,” she said. “If I look around now, especially in the South African climbing community, that number definitely increased and because of that we have a greater pool of women to choose from. So why not have an all-female team?”

As South African women entrepreneurs, the team sees parallels with running a business in a male-dominated world and climbing the world’s tallest mountain.

They want their attempt to scale Mount Everest to inspire more African women to reach for the top.

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Africa’s women mountaineers are reaching new heights.  In May, South African businesswoman Saray Khumalo became the first black African woman to summit Mount Everest. Now four other South Africans are preparing to become the first all-women African team to climb the world’s tallest peak. Marize de Klerk reports from Waterval Boven, South Africa.

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