GERMANY: Racist Transgender Predator Who Exposed Himself To Children And Sprayed Them With His Urine Avoids Jail

A trans-identified male in Giessen, Germany, has been sentenced to 10 months probation after repeatedly exposing his genitals in public, soliciting migrant children for sexual abuse, and spraying them with his urine. During the hearing, the public prosecutor assigned to his case argued that the crimes were simply an attempt by the man to “affirm her femininity,” to which the judge agreed.

While the identity of the 42-year-old perpetrator was withheld by German press due to strict privacy laws, Reduxx can name the man as “Sophie KoKo,” a Kazakhstan native with a long history of sex offenses. KoKo revealed himself to be the subject of the case after angrily taking to the reply sections under articles about his crimes and threatening commenters who misgendered him.

KoKo, who underwent a so-called “gender reassignment surgery” 17 years ago, is said to have repeatedly been caught exposing himself in the Giessen city center, with multiple cases lodged since 2019. He would also touch himself indecently in the genital area – including in front of children. According to police, he has been linked to over 50 sexual incidents, but the most recent trial focused only on seven of the documented cases. In one instance, he demanded oral sex from the children and sprayed them with his urine, which he had collected in a bottle. KoKo has been in pretrial detention since March of 2024.

As early as May of 2021, KoKo was observed at the Giessen marketplace lifting up his skirt and showing his genitals without underwear. Just a few days later, he did it again in the same location. Children were present to witness him making obscene gestures before he fled on his bicycle, evading police checks in the Neustadt area. At the time, investigators unsuccessfully searched for a female, describing KoKo as a “woman” in the appeal for witnesses.

Another incident occurred in January of 2022 on Neustadt street. KoKo exposed his genitals and was described by the investigating authorities as a “woman” with brown hair, a polka-dot dress, and a beige jacket. He also threw a glass bottle, the shards of which struck a passerby.

The Gießener Allgemeine Zeitung and Gießener Anzeiger reported on witness testimonies from several women across various hearings, including that of a mother whose daughter witnessed the indecent exposure and called the police to prevent further incidents. During the trial it was revealed that KoKo is known for always riding around on a bicycle and wearing a skirt with torn pantyhose in the crotch area and no underwear. Members of the community say that KoKo has been repeatedly observed lifting his skirt in front of minors, targeting those of a migrant background, while aggressively shouting.

Another witness intervened when KoKo threatened to sexually abuse the children. The police repeatedly tried to stop him – through talks and threat assessments – but he evaded authorities several times, either refusing to open the front door at his home or actively fleeing police pursuits.

Though the prosecution, led by Michelle Heßler, described KoKo’s actions as “a bizarre attempt” to “present” or “affirm her femininity,” they demanded a prison sentence of one year and eight months without parole.

However, the Giessen court, presided by Judge Sonja Robe, opted for a milder sentence, and handed KoKo 10 months probation, 100 hours of community service, and a requirement to visit a counseling center for transgender individuals.

Robe justified the verdict by stating that the acts were not sexually motivated but should be seen as a provocative reaction to years of bullying and insults, particularly from teenagers who appear to be of Middle Eastern descent. The judge then justified the criminal acts by explaining that KoKo, known in Giessen as the “zombie woman,” had exposed his genitals in response to the “negation of her femininity” by “outsiders.”

A psychiatric expert, Eva Janzen, diagnosed KoKo with “dysfunctional behavior” triggered by discrimination and social isolation. Janzen testified that KoKo used body-hugging clothing, such as tight leggings, exhibitionism as a way to affirm himself as a woman.

While KoKo’s name was not publicized by the court or media outlets, he chose to come forward after the news of the verdict had broken in order to correct those misgendering him online.

“I’m the one who exposed myself because they attack me, saying I’m a man man man,” KoKo wrote under one of the articles. “I’m a woman, and that’s it,” KoKo said, going on to threaten those who misgender him. “If you keep calling me a man, I’ll keep showing my pussy in the city, and then there’ll be jail again because of you.”

In comments under news reports, Giessen residents report that he has been known for his exhibitionist behavior for years. KoKo responded by threatening a female user with violence, vowing to “beat her black and blue” if she called him a man to his face and describing himself as “a woman who feels like a woman.” He also warned her that he is now free on probation and that if she “finishes him off,” he will “finish her off.”

The female user has stated that she has now filed a criminal complaint against KoKo for his threats.

KoKo’s tirade continued on Facebook, where he targeted “Was angeblich niemals passiert” (This Never Happens), a German group intended for women who are critical of gender ideology. The man attacked and insulted women who were misgendering him, threatening to kill or harm them. However, his comments were not approved by the group administration due to Facebook guidelines, and the group administrator warned the members about him.

In one post addressing KoKo’s threats against the group, one of the female administrators wrote: “We take this very seriously and, due to recent events, would like to point out that we archive such comments and are considering legal action. Likewise, those affected will be contacted and informed so that they too can consider and, if necessary, initiate legal steps.”

Administrators at Was angeblich niemals passiert have provided Reduxx insight into the messages KoKo directed at the group, which included derogatory comments about children of a foreign heritage.

“I have aggressions against people who refer to me as a man,” KoKo said. “In reality, I only showed my pussy because I wanted to see how people would react to it, nothing more. I always found their laughter cool, and I always picked out 16-17-year-old Turkish girls.”

KoKo goes on to describe his hatred for “Kanaken,” a derogatory term most often used to refer to migrant workers from Turkey, and claims that they had started provoking him. He blames them for the fact that he was in pretrial detention, because, as KoKo puts it, “whoever messes with me, I mess with them too, but in my own way.”

A guided exchange on Facebook Messenger was initiated by the group administrator with a clear warning: “I can’t approve your comments. Almost all of them violate FB rules. It would result in a penalty for the group. But out of pure curiosity: Are you actually the person from the article? If so, be glad I’m not making this public. There are criminally relevant threats in there. You urgently need help with anger management.”

KoKo confirms in his response that he is the person from the article and that he doesn’t care if his comments are forwarded to the police, saying: “If you hadn’t referred to me as a man, this wouldn’t have happened. You’ve once again started provoking me.”

It is currently unclear if additional charges will be filed against KoKo for the threats, or if they constitute violations of his probational term.

https://reduxx.info/germany-racist-transgender-predator-who-exposed-himself-to-children-and-sprayed-them-with-his-urine-avoids-jail/

Afghan refugee jailed in France for pimping minors and plying them with alcohol and drugs

AI generator

An Afghan political refugee was sentenced on Tuesday by the criminal court of Metz to four years in prison for pimping a minor and removing young girls from a child welfare home (ASE) as part of a wider child prostitution ring.

Farhad Kamawal, 36, was also convicted of plying the girls with alcohol and drugs.

The case came to light in 2021 after several underage girls placed in an ASE home began frequently disappearing overnight. An alert educator reported suspicions of a prostitution network. She described a man — later identified as Kamawal — who loitered near the home and allegedly brought girls to his apartment in Woippy, a suburb of Metz, where he provided them with alcohol and drugs before arranging paid sexual encounters.

As reported by Le Figaro, one of the girls, who became a civil party in the case, told investigators that Kamawal lured them in with substances and then “locked them in his den to prostitute them.” At one point, she had been in a relationship with the defendant and was described as encouraging other minors in the home to engage in prostitution.

At trial, Kamawal denied all charges, claiming he saw the girls “like little sisters” and insisting the accusations were fabricated. His lawyer, Arnaud Blanc, pleaded for acquittal, arguing that the majority of the testimonies were inconsistent and that the investigation had “dragged on.”

However, the court found sufficient evidence to convict him for exploiting at least one minor. While he was acquitted of pimping a second girl — due to conflicting timelines — he was found guilty of organizing paid sex involving another.

Prosecutor Lauréline Guillot had sought a five-year sentence, two years suspended.

The lawyer for one of the victims, Laura Cassaro, told the court that Kamawal deliberately targeted vulnerable girls, saying he “knew perfectly well what he was doing: taming these young minors, wanting to be benevolent at the beginning,” but ultimately “sexually exploiting” them. She added that her client was looking to the court for protection and justice.

To date, authorities have identified 34 minors involved in prostitution in the Moselle department, highlighting growing concerns over child exploitation networks in the region.

It is not known whether the defendant will be subject to deportation proceedings following his release.

https://rmx.news/article/afghan-refugee-jailed-in-france-for-pimping-minors-and-plying-them-with-alcohol-and-drugs/

UK University Fined £585K for Failing To Protect Free Speech

Professor Kathleen Stock- Screengrab youtube

Professor Kathleen Stock resigned from the University of Sussex in 2021 after she faced death threats for voicing her gender-critical beliefs. Three and a half years on, the institution was this week slapped with a £585,000 (€700,000) fine for failing to uphold free speech and academic freedom.

This “landmark” ruling may appear to be the end of the road for this shameful case, which saw Stock’s reputation being wrongly dragged through the mud. But the university is not letting the matter end here and has already said it will launch a legal challenge.

University of Sussex Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sasha Roseneil, said that England’s higher education regulator, the Office for Students (OfS), was “effectively decreeing libertarian free speech absolutism as the fundamental principle for UK universities”—as if this were a bad thing. She also accused the body of “perpetuating the culture wars,” which the new Labour government insisted it would end.

In its ruling, the OfS said the university’s failure to safeguard free speech—especially in a ‘policy statement’ concerning ‘Trans and Non-Binary Equality’—meant that Stock “excluded lawful speech and content from the curriculum and her course materials.”

This meant that the diversity of lawful opinion and debate that academics could teach, and to which students were exposed, was reduced.

Importantly, it added that other academics may have “felt the need to do so,” too, and that a lack of free speech safeguards had a “chilling effect” on the university campus as a whole.

The university has complained in response that it could now be “powerless” to remove offensive but legal so-called ‘propaganda,’ 

or to discipline those who engage in abuse, harassment, or bullying, unless the propaganda or speech is unlawful.

Professor Roseneil also believes the OfS investigation was carried out unprofessionally.

Professor Stock will be writing on the fine shortly. Defenders of free speech must now keep a steady eye on the university’s attempt to challenge the ruling.

https://europeanconservative.com/articles/news/kathleen-stock-university-of-sussex-free-speech-trans/

Paedophile flew from Dubai to Britain to sexually abuse 13-year-old girl during two-day ordeal at hotel

A Dubai man has been jailed for six years after sexually abusing a 13-year-old British girl he groomed her online Sussex Police

A Dubai man has been jailed for six years after sexually abusing a 13-year-old British girl he groomed her online.

Hamdan Alshamsi, 21, flew from Abu Dhabi to the UK last Christmas Eve to meet the child.

He had admitted three charges of engaging in sexual activity with a child at Lewes Crown Court.

The court heard how Alshamsi first made contact with the Year 9 pupil on Snapchat last year, falsely telling her he was just 16-years-old.

The 21-year-old bombarded the girl with sexually explicit messages before offering to travel to Britain to meet her.

On December 27, Alshamsi checked into a £250-a-night room at the Hilton Brighton Metropole.

He then booked an Uber to collect the girl from her home and take her to the hotel.

There, he spent two days sexually abusing the 13-year-old.

Police launched an urgent search for the teenager and tracked her mobile phone signal to Brighton.

Detectives scoured the coastline before narrowing their search to the hotel.

The girl was eventually found in a hotel corridor, telling officers she wanted to be with her mother.

Police discovered condoms, lubricant, a whipped cream canister and vodka in Alshamsi’s room.

He was located in the hotel spa, relaxing and enjoying luxury treatments.

The victim’s family said the girl is now on constant “suicide watch” and not allowed to go anywhere alone.

“I am worried she is going to be a volcano and explode in some way,” her mother told the court. “He has taken away our little girl.”

“He took away the virginity of a girl who should be learning about sex education at school and not having sex with a grown adult.”

Judge Mark van der Zwart described it as “appallingly predatory behaviour” and ordered Alshamsi’s deportation upon release.

Detective Inspector Sean Booth praised the victim’s bravery and said she had received one-to-one support from specially-trained officers.

https://www.gbnews.com/news/brighton-news-dubai-paedophile-sexually-abused-girl-hotel

Germany’s Stern magazine calls for conscription of young people to take up arms ‘to defend diversity’ in pro-war propaganda piece

Wikimedia Commons , Zbiory NAC on-line Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe, Poland.PD-Poland

Stern Magazine is calling for mass conscription of German youths to join the army, including to ensure the defense of “freedom and diversity.” The reaction to the article has been harsh to say the least, with hundreds of negative comments directed at Stern.

The article, entitled “Others no longer defend us? Then we must do it ourselves!” claims that “the USA no longer wants to protect Germany. This brings a bitter realization: Our unbearable complacency must end.”

The solution? Start drafting German youth to fight the future wars. The author, Tilman Gerwien, a German male noticeable well past the age of someone who might typically be drafted, says that the days of a “dollhouse-like Bullerbü” are over and “we have to grow up.” He details the left’s traditional stance against conscription, which saw German youths demanding American troops leave Germany, was “not only a matter of conscience, but also a lifestyle.” He noted that at demonstrations against NATO, “people hopped around in peace-loving spirits, chanting ‘Out of NATO, into fun!’” All of this has to end, according to Gerwien, who looks like he would show up to battle armed with a MacBook Air and a latte.

There is no way to know if Gerwien was ever a part of these previous protests or ever shared those sentiments at one time, but it is notable that he is now old enough to not have to face the draft himself. Lucky him.

He is a part of the trend of the German establishment left suddenly becoming gung-ho in recent years, especially since Putin invaded Ukraine. The old Green Party ideals of removing NATO from Europe and pursuing an anti-war agenda have been jettisoned. In this sense, much of the establishment left has become outright hawkish. With Trump now in office, the hawkishness from this German establishment has now gone into overdrive, with the Greens joining forces with the CDU to promote a defense-oriented Germany.

Will Germans fight for the “New Germany?”

Of course, the “New Germany” does not exactly have people lining up to fight for it, and that is a real problem for the establishment. Much of the conservative youth no longer see a Germany they would lay down their lives for, and in fact, the “New Germany” openly despises these AfD-voting youths, and maybe even sending them to the front would solve this “problem.”

Meanwhile, the left-wing youth is coddled and mostly pacifist. This “Spiegel/Stern left” may like the idea of soldiers going off to fight on their behalf, but they don’t actually want to do the fighting themselves. The old notions of “honor” and “heroes” have been widely mocked and denigrated by the German elite, which Stern acknowledges,

So, who will fight?

Well, in the end, there doesn’t have to be a “reason” for conscription. Youths in Germany, just as in Ukraine, will be forced to the front for the likes of Stern’s editorial staff when push comes to shove, but it’s a nice thought for these journalists that these youths will at least think they have something worth dying for.

So, what should they die for? Stern addresses this problem, as the very atomized and multicultural society it promotes reduces the will for Germans to die face down in some trench at the frontline.

The magazine writes, “Taking all of this into account, Germany faces a tremendous challenge. We must dare to embrace more ‘heroism’ – and less hedonism. More communal commitment and less responsibility-avoiding individualism. And be careful not to lose sight of what we want to defend: freedom and diversity. If the pendulum swings too far toward individualization, we become defenseless. If the focus is too strongly on defense, the ghosts of the past are awakened, keyword ‘national community.’ It’s important to find the balance.”

See, Stern doesn’t want right-wing people who love their country fighting a patriotic war at the front. This could lead to people voting for the AfD, and then… Hitler will come back. This is the logic of Der Spiegel, Stern, and many others.

They instead want iPhone-wielding hipsters who love diversity dying in the trenches. These iPhone-wielding youths should be at the front to defend guys like Gerwien so they can go to Vietnamese restaurants, attend book readings from African authors, and enjoy art installations from Brazilian LGBT activists.

erman youth should die for all the above, not for the “German people,” or the “German flag,” or “hearth and home” or any of that other fascist nonsense that typically united nations and led men to lay down their lives for each other and their families.

Stern also appears relatively sure this youth will indeed be dying as well, saying they “will have to take up arms at some point.”

“At the very latest, when conscription comes into effect, ‘they’ (the Bundeswehr) will be all of us – even if only because our children and grandchildren will have to take up arms at some point,” writes Stern. “This raises the question: What are we prepared to fight for and, when push comes to shove, to die for? The fact that we are being asked to answer for the first time in decades is the true ‘turning point.’”

However, as Stern writes, German youths are not just fighting for diversity, but also for “freedom.” Notably, if you have any problem with “German freedom,” such as Germany’s harsh free speech laws, then your freedom should be curtailed with a visit from the police, as is increasingly the case in Germany.

Of course, freedom and democracy are tied together, and German youths should be fighting at the front to defend a government increasingly intent on banning the second most popular party in the country, the AfD, which just hit a new polling high this week at 23.5 percent. But freedom also means banning political parties, and we must all fight for the right to ban political parties whose opinions we do not agree with, especially if that party is opposed to the war in Ukraine, which all German youth (future soldiers fighting for diversity) should support..

It all sounds very confusing, but “freedom and diversity” certainly sound good as long as we don’t look at the details.

It is also worth noting that despite Germans being called to “defend diversity,” the cover of Stern is remarkably lacking in diversity. It’s two White people, a boy and girl.

Considering Germany’s youth are becoming more and more diverse, one would think that it would have been the perfect opportunity to feature a Black or Arab person. Go to any clothing store in Germany or any other Western country, and the classic motif of the Black male paired with the White female is ubiquitous. However, as those on the right often point out, when the threat of real wars start, the White males suddenly start appearing more and more frequently in the recruiting ads of the armed forces.

Laughably, the Stern call to action quotes military historian Sönke Neitzel, who told the magazine in support of conscription: “What are we waiting for?” “That 100 percent of the population is in favor of it?” He claims people won’t like it, but it simply has to happen.

Well, maybe they could at least wait until there is 20 percent of the population supporting such measures? A new Forsa poll shows that only 17 percent of Germans are willing to take up arms and die for their country. In short, Stern’s vision of an army of conscripts ready to die for Germany sounds a bit like Hitler at the end of the war, who was completely separated from reality and moving armies around on the map that did not exist.

Of those 17 percent, how many of them are older people or women who actually would not take up arms or even be forced to take up arms should the call to war come?

As Remix News reported in the past, the Ukrainian army has had something the German army did not, which was a patriotic, hardcore, right-wing element that was willing to “die for Ukraine.” Not all of these soldiers were neo-Nazis, but many certainly were. A huge number of these soldiers are already dead, and the war may be coming to an end. Ironically, Ukraine may end up more like Germany in the end with the death of these soldiers, as calls by Ukrainian business leaders to accept the mass importation of migrants to replace the soldiers lost are becoming more of a mainstream idea.

Germany’s push for conscription will continue, with hundreds of billions being directed into weapons purchases. The only problem is that Germans are not going to want to fly these fighter jets or drive these tanks.

As the X comments note, Germans do not seem especially enthusiastic. One user writes: “Why should you fight for a country that you can’t even be proud of?”

Another responds: “You’ve failed with your miserable war training and war mentality. Only 17% of Germans want to defend Germany with weapons in hand, according to the latest Forsa survey. You won’t have my children, you miserable indoctrinators and arms industry lobbyists!”

Another asks how old the boy on the cover of the magazine is: “Shouldn’t the question be: Would you give your child? How old is the boy on the cover? 17? Man, man, man… This is on the level of ‘Jesus would have been vaccinated.’”

Some do not even want people to buy Stern, period.

“No—don’t fight! And don’t buy that stupid state propaganda magazine either,” wrote another.

https://rmx.news/article/germanys-stern-magazine-calls-for-conscription-of-young-people-to-take-up-arms-to-defend-diversity-in-pro-war-propaganda-piece/

‘Germany can’t function without migration, given current birth-rate,’ says foreign minister

Germany’s foreign minister Annalena Baerbock of The Greens party has called for more migrants to come to her country.

Connecting the low birthrate in Germany with the need for new people to fill the void, she made her comments at the reopening of the German embassy in Damascus, Syria.

“Germany is a country with not a very strong birth rate so we need migrants, otherwise our country will not be running in the future anymore,” Baerbock said on March 24.

“Therefore we also need people who speak German. Unfortunately, it is not the most easy language in the world. That is why we have an interest worldwide in having German schools and German universities.”

Baerbock is set to become UN General Assembly President in 2025/26, after having usurped Helga Schmid, a seasoned diplomat initially nominated for the role, in a move some observers called “shameless”.

It was the second time in a short period that Baerbock had made an official visit to Syria.

In January this year, she was criticised when she ignored that fact that Ahmed al-Sharaa, the Syrian President, made an effort to shake the hand of France’s foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, but not hers.

This was was seen as pandering to radical Islam, despite Baerbock’s stated goal of encouraging women’s rights under the new regime and her self-declared “feminist foreign policy”.

According to outlet Apollo News, al-Sharaa demonstratively refused to shake Baerbock’s hand again during the second state visit.

The German embassy in Damascus has been opened despite alleged grave human rights violations committed under the new interim government. The EU has been supportive of the new regime.

Between March 6 and 9, a wave of mass killings was reported in the Alawite region of the country.

Following an alleged initial attack by so-called Assad loyalists, government-aligned forces responded with extreme brutality.

More than 1,000 people reportedly died and images were circulated apparently of Sunni Islamist militants loyal to al-Sharaa’s government calling for the “ethnic cleansing” of Alawites, together with video’s of Alawites and Christians seemingly being humiliated by armed men.

Shortly after the alleged violence took place, the European Union promised to send more financial aid to Syria. On March 17 it pledged €2.5 billion in support “for a successful transition” of the government.

Germany promised €50 million to supply the country with food and medicine after  it had already pledged €8 million in humanitarian aid and announced that it wanted to “measure the HTS militia by its deeds”.

https://brusselssignal.eu/2025/03/germany-cant-function-without-migration-given-current-birth-rate-says-foreign-minister

Persecuted to Death? Welcome to Tusk’s Poland

Barbara Skrzypek
Photo: Dominik Tarczyński on X, 15 March 2025

Did 66-year-old Barbara Skrzypek, a long-time Law and Justice Party staffer, die because a Tusk-allied prosecutor did not take her health issues seriously but interrogated her for hours, denying Skrzypek’s lawyer the right to be present? That is the allegation by Skrzypek’s party colleagues—but the prosecutor’s office denies a connection and threatens anyone linking the two events with legal action.

Since coming to power, the Polish government led by Donald Tusk has taken a series of measures against the conservative opposition that are hardly in keeping with the vaunted rule of law that Brussels claims to defend so much. From the closure of media outlets to the imprisonment of opposition MPs, this totalitarian drift is now accused by conservative opposition party members of having taken a new and fatal turn. 

Barbara Skrzypek, who worked from the 1990s until 2020 as director of the Law and Justice (PiS) office and chief of staff of Jarosław Kaczyński, and later, until 2024, as a member of the board of directors of the Kaczyński Institute, died last Saturday, three days after being questioned by the prosecutor in a corruption case linked to Kaczyński.

On Wednesday, March 12th, Skrzypek was called to testify at the prosecutor’s office regarding the alleged Two Towers PiS scandal, a corruption case from 2018-19 that was reopened earlier this year. Krzysztof Gotkowicz, Skrzypek’s lawyer, was barred from attending her interrogation after the prosecutor argued that it was not a criminal interrogation and, therefore, the lawyer’s presence was not required. 

Gotkowicz justified the need for his presence by highlighting his client’s poor health and the stress caused by having to testify, especially since she has never been in conflict with the law. He also pointed out the presence of two lawyers for the opposing party as something that “could be interpreted as an element of pressure,” but his concerns were disregarded. Prosecutor Ewa Wrzosek said that these health problems were not enough to interrupt the proceedings and that Gotkowicz had not provided any evidence to the contrary.

After nearly five hours of interrogation, Skrzypek had difficulty breathing and did not feel up to meeting with Jarosław Kaczyński, so they made an appointment for Monday. 

However, on Saturday evening, Skrzypek died.

The Warsaw prosecutor’s office, through its spokesman Piotr Skiba, stated that they have launched an investigation, but that “the death occurred in the early hours of March 15, in an apartment, in the presence of a family member” and that “the ambulance doctor who went to the scene pronounced the death and issued a death certificate in which he wrote ‘sudden death of unknown cause’.”

Skrzypek’s death has provoked an angry response from Law and Justice leaders, who blamed the prosecution’s actions for what happened. Kaczyński himself stated on X

The summons and the many hours of questioning by the neo-prosecutor Wrzosek were a tremendous shock and enormous stress for Barbara Skrzypek. This was said by Barbara herself when she was unjustifiably denied the assistance of a lawyer, but also immediately after the interrogation. Barbara Skrzypek’s death is therefore directly related to this interrogation and the slander to which she was subjected by the prosecutor, Roman Giertych and his associates. We will not be intimidated.

MEP Dominik Tarczyński went even further, pointing out that Skrzypek was “persecuted to death by Donald Tusk’s regime.”

In the face of these and other reactions, the Warsaw District Prosecutor’s Office issued a statement and a report justifying its actions, insisting that the four-hour interrogation had been conducted “in a very civilized atmosphere” and that Skrzypek had even been given “a break of several minutes to rest.” The statement also reiterated that the denial of the presence of Skrzypek’s lawyer was justified “because the interests of the witness did not require it.” Finally, the statement said that any attempt to “link the witness’s death to her interrogation … will result in the prosecution filing a civil suit to protect the good name of the institution and the person in charge of the case.” Meanwhile, prosecutor Ewa Wrzosek also announced that she would take legal action against those who suggest that Skrzypek’s death was the result of her interrogation.

The prosecutor’s report was called “unprofessional” by several lawyers who raised even more doubts about the procedure. According to the report, which does not mention the atmosphere or the behavior of the witness, the almost five-hour interrogation contained nine questions, eight from prosecutor Wrzosek and one from the two lawyers. In the opinion of Dr. Michał Skwarzyński, such an interrogation “does not take five hours, but one hour at most.” 

Criticism has also been directed at Ewa Wrzosek because of her political affiliation, which is seen as incompatible with her role as a prosecutor. In 2016, with PiS in government, she rose to head of the Warsaw-Mokotów district prosecutor’s office but was fired three months later. Since then, Wrzosek has actively aligned herself with the Civic Platform and even participated in the anti-PiS march organized by Donald Tusk on June 4, 2023. Nevertheless, the government continues to defend the “independence” of the prosecutor.

At the time of writing, Tusk had not commented on the events. President Andrzej Duda has demanded explanations and Karol Nawrocki, the independent conservative presidential candidate supported by PiS, expressed absolute indignation: 

I see this case as the culmination of the destruction of the Polish prosecutor’s office and its politicization. … I am running for office so that we do not have to live in a state where a lawyer is not allowed, a politician is sent to an old woman in serious health and ends up dying. This must stop, because the Polish state is sinking into the chaos to which Donald Tusk is leading us.

Persecuted to Death? Welcome to Tusk’s Poland ━ The European Conservative

UK’s assisted suicide battle has pitted the rich against the downtrodden

Shutterstock.com

On November 29, when MP Kim Leadbeater’s assisted suicide bill passed second reading in the U.K. Parliament, people in wheelchairs gathered outside of Westminster wept openly. At the same time, Dame Esther Rantzen celebrated. She called the vote a “huge relief” and “something I never expected to see.” Rantzen has said that when she ultimately opts for assisted suicide, she’d like to go out after a meal of champagne and caviar.  

These two reactions are a perfect microcosm of the contrast unfolding in the U.K.’s assisted suicide debate. On one hand, a wealthy, privileged person celebrating her “right to die.” On the other, the despair of the vulnerable, marginalized disabled who will pay the price for her crusade. Before the vote, Rantzen told the BBC that the U.K.’s euthanasia ban is “cruel” and “terrible.” She claimed that the law “forced” people like her to travel to Switzerland to die alone in a Dignitas clinic. 

The unsayable truth is that people like Dame Esther Rantzen have options when they are suffering. People like those in wheelchairs in front of Westminster do not. Kim Leadbeater and her activist allies at Dying with Dignity, however, are speaking for the Esther Rantzens in society – and resolutely ignoring those with disabilities who are asking, desperately, for parliamentarians to uphold laws that they see as essential bulwarks against deeply ingrained societal discrimination. 

If the U.K.’s ban on euthanasia and assisted suicide is, in fact, “cruel” enforcement of suffering, it is worth asking why organizations representing society’s chronic sufferers are so staunchly opposed to legalization. Why are most palliative care specialists so opposed to assisted suicide? Why is every single organization advocating for people with disabilities opposed to assisted suicide? Why are organizations representing the psychiatric profession sounding the alarm? What are they telling us that euthanasia activists are not? 

Indeed, even Dame Esther Rantzen – who made the astonishing claim last year that “assisted dying” has no impact on palliative care – provides us a case study highlighting the dangers of assisted suicide and the inherent imprecision of these deadly decisions. As Yuan Yi Zhu noted recently in the Telegraph

In January 2023, television presenter Dame Esther Rantzen was diagnosed with lung cancer. By May, her cancer had reached stage 4, and by the end of that year she had joined Dignitas. The next year, she extracted a promise from Sir Keir Starmer that he would allow time for an assisted suicide Bill to be debated in Parliament. 

Like many cancer patients, Dame Esther did not expect to survive very long. In 2023, she told a journalist that: “I thought I’d fall off my perch within a couple of months, if not weeks. I certainly didn’t think I’d make my birthday in June, which I did, and I definitely didn’t think I’d make this Christmas.” Certainly she had reason to think her time on earth was short: the average life expectancy for stage 4 lung cancer is one year. 

Yet she is still with us today, more than two years after her diagnosis, thanks to Osimertinib, a decade-old “wonder drug” which inhibits the growth of her cancer. As she wrote last Christmas, despite the constraints imposed by her condition, “my own life is still worth living and enjoyable.”

If Leadbeater’s deceptively named “Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill” takes effect, Zhu observes, many people will be deprived “of the additional time [Rantzen] has enjoyed thanks to modern medicine” due to the bill’s current iteration making assisted suicide an option for those whose death “can reasonably be expected within six months.” Zhu adds: 

But as Rantzen’s own case shows, to predict how long a patient has to live is a notoriously difficult – if not impossible – task. According to a 2017 study, doctors’ predictions that their patient was likely to die in 6 to 12 months were wrong 54 per cent of the time; their prognoses were less accurate than a coin toss. All the Leadbeater Bill requires is that doctors should believe in their own assessment of a patient’s life expectancy. This is despite the evident unreliability of such predictions.  

Moreover, if they are wrong and the patient undergoes assisted suicide as a consequence, there are no recourses – if the patient is dead it will obviously be impossible to ever know if the doctors’ assessments were right or not. Even more worryingly, experts have warned that the Leadbeater Bill would allow those who suffer from severe eating disorders to be eligible for assisted suicide; they can claim it because refusing food and water would bring down their life expectancy.  

However, amendments proposed by parliamentarians to prevent these predictable eventualities have all been voted down, along with most of the other proposed safeguards. Zhu poses the question: “How many wrongful deaths are we prepared to tolerate as a society?” If the Canadian case study is any indication, it appears that once the euthanasia Rubicon is crossed, wrongful deaths simply become part of social reality. Those who were killed cannot complain; their grieving loved ones can be brushed off with a pithy progressive retort about “autonomy” and “choice.” 

Dame Esther Rantzen has made herself central to the U.K.’s debate on assisted suicide. In fact, she is the perfect case study for the dangers of Leadbeater’s bill. She is a privileged person with options, opposed by marginalized people without options. She insists that the current laws are “cruel”; the U.K.’s chronic sufferers say those laws protect them. And in the greatest irony, Rantzen has gotten to enjoy more of life than she might have if the bill she currently advocates had been law at the time of her diagnosis.

UK’s assisted suicide battle has pitted the rich against the downtrodden – LifeSite

Iranian asylum seeker with ‘prominent Adam’s apple’ pretended to be a child to enter UK by ‘cuddling teddy bear’

Illustration, Wikimedia Commons, BIT0865, CC-BY-SA-4.0

An Iranian asylum seeker has been fined £16,000 after pretending to be a teenager to enter Britain.

The 5ft 8in man with a “prominent Adam’s apple” claimed to be 17-years-old when he arrived in the UK in 2022.

A tribunal found the man, who had “adult physical characteristics”, deliberately tried to deceive authorities about his true age.

The migrant was determined to be 18 at the time of his entry.

Upper Tribunal Judge Clive Lane ruled the Iranian was aged 18 when he entered the UK and chose to “conceal” his true age during his asylum bid.

The man had claimed he was born in May 2005, which would have made him 17 at the time of entry.

Social workers from Liverpool City Council assessed him as over 18 in November 2022, attributing him a birth date of May 1999.

The British Red Cross launched a legal challenge against the decision, arguing the man was a child because he liked to “hold and cuddle” a teddy bear.

Helene Santamera, Project Co-ordinator at British Red Cross, told the tribunal: “From my observations, he is much more comfortable and relaxed with the children that have had their age accepted than he is with adults.”

She added that at a Christmas party, he had “gratefully received teenage boy appropriate presents” and asked for a teddy bear.

An investigation into the migrant’s true date of birth revealed he had a “deep voice”, “fully formed jaw line”, a “well-developed bone structure”, “large ears”, and “physical characteristics of an older male”.

The tribunal report outlined the council’s initial assessment, noting: “[He] has a fully formed jaw line, prominent Adam’s apple, large ears and facial features of an adult and appears significantly older than his claimed age.”

The report also mentioned he appeared to be “trying to make himself look smaller than he actually is”.

At the tribunal, the Iranian argued he had no ID documentation to prove his age.

He claimed he knew his birth date because his uncle told him “my grandfather passed away on the day I was born”.

Judge Lane dismissed this as “a convenient fiction” with “every characteristic of a learned response”.

The judge said the man was “not an impressive witness” and concluded he had “sought to deceive the United Kingdom authorities as to his true age”.

Judge Lane dismissed the need for a Judicial Review and ordered the unnamed migrant to pay Liverpool City Council’s legal bills of £16,442.

The final amount the Iranian will have to pay is yet to be determined.

The tribunal was told the man is “currently provided with support and accommodation by the Home Office” and has been living in hotels.

He had told the Home Office he worked as a smuggler in Iran aged 16 for around two years.

Liverpool news: Iranian asylum seeker with ‘prominent Adam’s apple’ pretended to be a child to enter UK by ‘cuddling teddy bear’