Posted on 03/20/2002 7:52:49 AM PST by Nita Nupress
Ted Maher -- former Special Forces; Neonatal Intensive Care nurse
American Green Beret veteran and accomplished neonatal nurse Ted Maher has now been held 537 days without trial in Monaco's prison on trumped-up and false charges -- charges of causing the deaths of billionaire banker Edmond Safra and Ted's fellow nurse, Vivian Torrente on December 3, 1999. In truth, Ted fought valiantly against two armed, masked intruders to defend Edmond and Vivian and save their lives. During the struggle, Ted suffered severe knife wounds that required one hundred staples to close.
Billionaire banker Edmond Safra was cooperating with the FBI, who was investigating the IMF/Russian loans. Needing a convenient scapegoat for the murder of Safra, Monaco police subjected Ted to three days of grueling torture designed to extort a false confession from him. (see description in "BASIC TIMELINE" in Thread 1 - http://206.112.97.70/forum/a3ad8b097272d.htm ).
Monaco continues to hold Ted incommunicado, preventing him from sending or receiving mail. In fact, they restrict his communication with his family to one telephone call a week. This call is only allowed to last a few minutes and is always monitored closely to prevent any discussion of the case. Ted is forced by his jailers to take a psychotropic medication and is regularly "interrogated" by the Monaco judge -- Patricia Richet. Reports have been received that Judge Richet is a violent person who has displayed unstable behavior in the past. She allegedly has a history of assaulting a fellow judge, putting him in the hospital for a week. She also tears up letters from Ted's children in front of Ted rather than let him read them.
Hundreds of family, friends, work associates, parents of patients, and Army veterans who served with Ted have vouched for him as being a loyal husband, loving father, and an exemplary professional of great skill and compassion. Ted has also been defended by then-chairman of the House International Relations Committee Ben Gilman and Ted's congresswoman Sue Kelly, who have written Prince Rainier III of Monaco on Ted's behalf. Monaco has no evidence of any crime by Ted; they have no witnesses and no credible case against him. Even worse, Monaco has planted false evidence and suppressed vast amounts of exculpatory evidence -- even passing a special Monaco law that enables them to hold Ted four years without trial.
The Geneva prosecutor has said that Safra was killed for his cooperation with the FBI regarding the laundering through Safra's Republic National Bank of $4.8 billion in IMF loans to Russia.
Regardless of the reason "why," it is obvious that Ted Maher is a scapegoat for a murder by others. We are working to obtain his release and to correct the grave injustice being done to an American Green beret veteran and medical professional.
Ted Maher -- a giver of life, not a taker -- needs our help.
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To read the "BASIC TIMELINE" that describes the events surrounding the night of December 3, 1999, click here:
American Green Beret Veteran TED MAHER Held Hostage by Monaco for 498 Days and Counting... (Thread I)
To read the "BASIC TIMELINE
American Green Beret Veteran TED MAHER Held Hostage by Monaco for 537 Days and Counting... (Thread II)
American Green Beret Veteran TED MAHER Held Hostage by Monaco for 544 Days and Counting... (Thread III)
American Green Beret Veteran TED MAHER Held Hostage by Monaco for 544 Days and Counting... (Thread IV)
American Green Beret Veteran TED MAHER Held Hostage by Monaco for 615 Days and Counting... (second Thread IV)
American Green Beret Veteran TED MAHER Held Hostage by Monaco for 629 Days and Counting... (Thread VI)
American Green Beret Vet TED MAHER Held HOSTAGE by Monaco for 629 Days (Thread 6) second thread 6"
American Green Beret Vet TED MAHER Held HOSTAGE by Monaco for 629 Days (Thread 10)
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Monaco Guest Book
(You can write in English on the French page and scroll down to read. Please note they have a tendency to delete messages regarding Ted - not "fairytale-correct.")
Words mean things:
WRONGLY IMPRISONED--This is Ted's plight at the hands of a fascist monstrosity, not a Disney fairy realm.
WITHOUT TRIAL--Two and a half YEARS--and counting--this is what Castro does, what China does, what Saddam Hussein does--hey, I thought Monaco was a Hollywood set--NOT
EXTORTED FALSE CONFESSION--This is the gestapo of Hitler, the show trial of Stalin, the public self-denunciation of Mao.
(Remember, Monaco's Roman Catholic Divine Right of Kings and Princes UNDER the MORAL obligation to THE HOLY SEE!!!)
(And, therefore, "Mercy" before the WHOLE World!!!)
"AMEN,........MORE Grace and MERCY,........In Jesus' PRECIOUS Name, Amen!!!"
BTTT
An appeals court in Monaco has rejected a defense bid for reduced charges in the deaths of banker Edmond Safra and a nurse, which prosecutors in the tiny French principality blame on a fire set by male nurse Ted Maher of New York.
Maher, who turned 43 while imprisoned in Monaco's House of Arrest this month, must stand trial for "voluntarily" setting fire to fortified Monte Carlo penthouse of Safra, one of the world's richest men. The fire was started with a scented candle.
Maher's Monaco lawyer, Donald Manasse, told Courttv.com that he has not had a chance to read the 47-page ruling closely. A quick reading of the document, Manasse said, revealed the that the three-judge panel rejected defense motions to get the case thrown out of court on legal grounds or to have the charges at least reduced to involuntary homicide.
Maher, of Stormville, N.Y., could have walked out of prison in time to see his youngest child start kindergarten if the charges had been reduced. He will now face life in prison if convicted.
"The Court did not accept any of our requests that the investigation, or elements of it, be declared null," Manasse said in an e-mail message. "We will appeal to the Court de Revision, Monaco's highest Court, as soon as the decision is notified to us."
Edmond Safra
Maher was nearing the end of his short-term contract caring for Safra, 67, who had Parkinson's Disease, when the fire occurred. Maher stumbled bleeding from knife wounds into the lobby of Safra's bank building in the wee hours of Dec. 3, 1999, to report fighting off masked intruders.
Maher was rushed to Princess Grace Hospital, but police kept firefighters at bay for 90 minutes because they believed that intruders were still inside. Meanwhile, Safra and nurse Vivian Torrente hid themselves in a dressing room, a sort of "panic room" built for the security-conscious billionaire.
Toxic fumes fueled by the fire ended their lives.
Maher's story about intruders unraveled quickly and within days he confessed — under illegal duress, his family claims — to staging a scenario to ingratiate himself with Safra. Maher himself told the appeals court last month that the deaths were an "accident" and that he is being made a scapegoat.
Maher said his plan was to invent non-existent intruders, stab himself, get Safra to safety, alert authorities and bask in the glow of his good deed. Maher, in fact, met Safra because he returned a camera left behind by close friends of Safra in the neo-natal unit of a New York hospital where Maher once worked.
The Dec. 3, 1999, gutted Safra's penthouse — the top two floors of his bank building in Monte Carlo Safra and Torrente never made it to safety, no one else encountered intruders and the fire Maher set in a wastebasket beneath a fire alarm spread to the building itself.
Prosecutor Daniel Serdet could not be reached Wednesday. If the new charge is permitted by Monaco's highest court to stand, Serdet may have to prove during the trial that Maher intended for the fire he set in the middle of his room, directly below a fire alarm, to spread to the penthouse itself.
"There is absolutely nothing in the file to indicate that," Manasse, reached on his cell phone, told Courttv.com.
Michael Griffith, a New York lawyer assisting in Maher's defense, said he will not allow Monaco authorities to sacrifice the rest of Maher's life for the failure of police and firefighters to rescue Safra and Torrente.
"We are going to fight like hell," said Griffith, who specializes in international cases. "We are going to make a stink like you won't believe."
Comprehensive case coverage
From PETA / Students Raise A Royal Ruckus
Students around the world joined PETA in urging Prince Rainier to end the use of animals in the Monte Carlo International Circus Festival.
Playing on Monaco’s reputation as a casino resort, the students took handmade postcards, pasted playing cards to the front and wrote to the prince, “Please don’t gamble with elephants’ lives—allow only human performers in your circus.”
For years, animals have been trucked hundreds of miles over mountain passes to take part in the festival. They are forced to balance on balls, leap through burning hoops, twirl on their back legs, skate and ride bicycles.
A PETA videotape shot secretly at the 1995 festival shows a trainer jabbing and hitting an elephant with a bullhook to make her sit upright on a stool; a frightened, whimpering muzzled bear being forced to perform a complicated gymnastics routine; and a trainer pulling a panther by the tail and hitting the animal with a stick. Our investigator saw elephants swaying neurotically in the small, dirty truck used to transport them and depressed bears biting bars and rocking in their small cages. At least one of the circuses has been charged with smuggling endangered species, including chimpanzees, gorillas, tigers and Asian elephants.
“Circuses are no fun for the animals forced to perform,” says PETA educator Danielle Moore. “We applaud the students speaking out against cruelty in the Monte Carlo circus.”
Kim Basinger, Alec Baldwin, Juliette Binoche, Gérard Depardieu and Brigitte Bardot, have signed a letter to Prince Rainier asking him to “end the unwilling participation of animals.” “I have made it my number-one priority to shed light on these atrocities,” says Ms. Basinger.
•Politely ask Prince Rainier to make the Monte Carlo International Circus Festival animal-friendly by inviting circuses with only human performers. Write to: His Royal Highness, Prince Rainier, The Palace of Monaco, B.P. 518, Monaco-Ville, Monaco, 98015
•Let Monaco's tourism board know you won't spend your vacation dollars in Monaco until the festival drops its animal acts.
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Interesting, oui?
(BTW, I wonder how Kim Bassinger would classify Monaco's treatment of a fellow human being and American? Remember when Ted went on his hunger strike? According to info on FR threads, they tied him to a bed for days! And, also, of course what they did to Ted during those first few days to get him to "confess.")
June 19, 2002
KING: Would you go to bat on a case where you thought someone innocent was found guilty? Let's say you...
DUNNE: Well, I'm going that right now. In the case in Monte Carlo, I think that the nurse -- the male nurse who is in prison has been in prison for 2 1/2 years in Safra case in the death of -- you know, I'm on his side. And he's the bad guy on this. I'm usually on the...
KING: This is a new one for you.
DUNNE: It is, because I think he's being railroaded. And, I mean, I feel kind of passionate about helping this guy.
KING: Because you're first and foremost a journalist.
DUNNE: That's right.
KING: And you're a good man.
DUNNE: Thanks Larry.
Motivated by the white heat of unthinkable personal loss.
Couple his acumen with his motivation and behold a laser to melt Monaco shackles.
That someone is buying Monaco decisions to the contrary notwithstanding, their railroad faces a shameful derailment.
Monaco, is tourism so sweet and laundering so lucrative to be purchased at the cost of your exposure?
The fatal collision of the irresistable force with the immoveable object.
How doth the Mafiya maintain the Mad Dog when Pooty-Poot pumps for Bush?
A billion here, a billion there--but that's not real money. . . .
The horses are kicking in the stable--Patricia Richet fled to Paris.
Who'll be the fall guy and gal?
Serdet's not returning his calls--not such a motormouth now that he's outted.
This is not over--
Please tell Ted that we will continue to pray for him and for your family...and for strength for his lawyers to fight the corruption all the way to the top if necessary. Does Ted have access to a computer, writing materials, outside communications? I hope he's keeping a detailed journal.
Ted is not allowed computers (my laptop is still kept by the prison) while other prisoners are allowed laptops. I pay for Ted's paper supplies, stamps, weekly 20 minute telephone call home, food and toilet paper every month.
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