10 years 9 months and 17 days since the day of arrest
Metropolitan Detention Center Brooklyn, New York
On Thursday, December 12, 2013, Federal Court of the Eastern District of New York rendered me a verdict of 18 years of incarceration.
It
could have been a lot better, but it could also have been much worse.
For a variety of reasons, I will refrain from commenting on the verdict
here. Someone said it well on one of the public forums: "People who
are free, can comment on any subject, about anyone, and use any public
venue which they desire. This is not so when you are inside of the
prison system."
Nevertheless, a verdict was finally reached
after a protracted saga involving multiple transfers from one jail to
another and those never-ending investigations and procedural doodles. It
lasted almost 11 years, from the moment of my February 2003 arrest in
Cyprus. More on it – in the Intro, Dossier, PSR: Presentence Investigation Report – NY case & Family Business: Correspondence with Barack & Michelle Obama.
Following
the verdict, I will now be transferred to California via Con Air. The
move, probably, will occur soon after the New Year's day and will last
from a few weeks to a few months, with short or long stops on the route.
The
Federal Court in Northern California (San Francisco) awaits my arrival
there, with a case similar to the one in New York. The charges are
almost identical, albeit presented in a somewhat different order: The
first set of 20 California charges hold up to 10 years per charge; and,
the second set of 20 California charges hold up to 20 years per charge.
This 2004 case in California was suspended in 2007, pending an outcome
of the New York case. So, now its time has come.
It's worth
bringing one point home, a point which concerns anyone whose life (like
mine) was touched by all sorts of the so-called "yellow press". Anything
published by these mass-media outlets very rarely paints a true
picture, and my story is no exception to this rule. Generally, their
publications can be likened to a cocktail, where tiny bits of truth are
generously shaken and twisted to become fully unrecognizable. The final
product is thereafter served with the right kind of flavor (seasoned and
spiced by the fantasies and vivid imagination of the story's rabid
writer). Any concocted story which sells, goes unquestioned, and is
permissible. Therefore, it's of no use to fight these windmills, so let
them say what they wish.
The internet is no exception. In the Forbes article, "The Power of Fake", Sergey Medvedev said it well:
"In
this dense flow of media/information, and inside the white noise that
surrounds us, the border between truth and fiction becomes erased.
Falsehood is the fruit of [total] communication, where facts are not
absolute. Rather, it is a social structure where any news passed on by
thousands of people ends up acquiring flesh and blood –
regardless of its authenticity (or lack, thereof). Falsehood forms into
the surrounding reality, which in turn becomes absurd and grotesque."
In
addition, when the source of the information is an entity that favors a
specific spin, then it morphs into becoming "the truth." The most
powerful players set the rules of the game. He (or it) determines and
labels: what is true and what it false; what is black and what is white;
what is crime and what is not; who is guilty and who is innocent; and,
who is wrong and who is right. Is he who wins, always right? "Good
triumphs over evil." Therefore, the winner is always assumed as the
virtuous and honorable party – or is this too, an illusion?
One
thing, which is certain, is that in such legal battles the government
will always outnumber your resources and any means of defense.