christic@igc.org (06/26/91)
/* Written 10:50 am Jun 25, 1991 by christic in cdp:christic.news */ /* ---------- "COURT DISMISSES CHRISTIC SUIT" ---------- */ ------------------------------------------------------------------- CHRISTIC INSTITUTE CALLS APPEALS RULING AN `HYPOCRISY' By RICK EMRICH Christic Institute, Tuesday, June 25, 1991 On June 18 an 11th Circuit Court of Appeals panel of three judges refused to set aside Miami Federal District Judge James Lawrence King's 1988 dismissal of Avirgan v. Hull, the civil racketeering lawsuit filed by the Christic Institute against 29 contra supporters, former U.S. officials and others accused of terrorist acts, drug trafficking and arms smuggling. The panel also allowed to stand King's 1989 ruling that the Institute, its general counsel and its clients, Tony Avirgan and Martha Honey, must pay $1 million in court costs and attorneys fees for filing the action. Christic Institute General Counsel Daniel P. Sheehan called the ruling ``an act of judicial hypocrisy of the highest order,'' and said that the Institute will ask for a review of the three-judge ruling by all twelve judges of the 11th Circuit. ``If this fails,'' he says, ``an appeal to the Supreme Court will be taken.'' Sheehan said the appeals court expressly ignored critical evidence supporting the charges made in Avirgan v. Hull, including the murder indictment in Costa Rica of the two key defendants, contra supporters John Hull and Felipe Vidal, for the very crimes with which they stood charged by the Institute. ``It is absurd that, with all the public evidence that demonstrates the veracity of our charges, the Circuit Court will not allow us to present our case to a jury,'' said Sheehan. ``It is preposterous that the Court says we filed our suit in `bad faith'.'' ``The appeals panel claims that we `must have known' that we would never be able to prove our charges at the time we filed our suit,'' said Sheehan. ``On the contrary, the panel must have known that virtually all of our claims have already been proved. We deserve our day in court.'' Avirgan v. Hull was filed in Miami in May 1986 on behalf of journalists Tony Avirgan and Martha Honey. Though it was filed six months before the Iran-contra affair became public, the names of the defendants in the suit would later read like a Who's Who of the scandal. Former Generals Richard Secord and John Singlaub; former C.I.A. clandestine operations specialists for George Bush, Thomas Clines and Theodore Shackley; American contra supporter John Hull; and Rob Owen, Oliver North's contra courier, were all named as participants in the criminal Enterprise. A total of 29 defendants were charged with participating in the federal racketeering ``enterprise'' which smuggled weapons to the contras, smuggled drugs through the contra support infrastructure into the United States and participated in illegal paramilitary operations on behalf of the rebels. According to the suit, in May 1984, members of this enterprise carried out the terrorist bombing of a press conference given by contra commander Eden Pastora at his jungle outpost in La Penca, Nicaragua. The bombing killed three journalists and five other persons and injured 20 more, including plaintiff Tony Avirgan. Pastora himself was injured, but survived the blast. ``From the time the suit was first filed, the Christic Institute has fought an uphill battle to present charges to a jury,'' said Sheehan. ``The evidence uncovered by our plaintiffs, Christic Institute investigators and others has consistently confirmed our original charges,'' he said. In 1987, the Congressional Iran-contra investigations confirmed the existence of the illegal operation to support the contras in which all of the defendants named in Avirgan v. Hull were proven to have participated; in 1989, a Senate subcommittee released a report that acknowledged the role of contra supporters--including Hull--in cocaine smuggling. Since then, the Costa Rican government has formally indicted Hull and Vidal for first degree murder for planning the bombing at La Penca, and has said that Oliver North aide Rob Owen probably knew about the bombing in advance, as well. Sheehan says the appeals panel's ruling is only the latest in a growing string of court decisions that have protected participants in the Reagan Administration's semi-private operation to support the contras by blocking juries from hearing the evidence of their crimes. ``When juries are allowed to see the evidence of the crimes committed by contra supporters, they convict them,'' he said. ``By keeping the evidence away from juries, the judicial branch is actively abetting an assault upon our democratic system. The American people are losing control of the people who are supposed to serve us.'' Sheehan said that it is now clear that the judicial branch cannot be expected to resolve this issue. ``We have an executive branch that is directly involved in criminal activities, a Congress that has deliberately failed in its investigation of those crimes, and now the judicial branch is actively obstructing--rather than aiding--the effort of private citizens who are trying to do the work the government should be doing,'' said Sheehan. ``The Christic Institute will continue to fight--in all available arenas--to make sure that the truth about Iran-contra is told. The American people must insist that our government act truthfully and honestly to bring these people to justice.'' ------------------------------------------------------------------- Rick Emrich 151251507 CHRISTIC telex Christic Institute christic PeaceNet Washington, D.C. tcn tcn449 202-797-8106 voice christic@igc.org Internet 202-529-0140 BBS uunet!pyramid!cdp!christic UUCP 202-462-5138 fax cdp!christic%labrea@stanford Bitnet