From: nico@athena.mit.edu (Nicolas Reinecke)
Subject: Shootings
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 15:15:03 GMT


This is another one:
	
	(MONTREAL) The man charged following a deadly shooting spree at
Concordia University Monday has a long history of disputes with the
institution and had filed a request for an injunction against the school
just last week.
	Valery Fabrikant, a 52-year-old associate professor, claimed in his
injunction request that he was denied a sabbatical to pursue ''an
important scientific discovery,'' and that other scientists may now beat
him to it.
	The scientist, who came to Canada as a refugee from the Soviet Union
in 1979, also claimed that last month he was offered three years' salary
in exchange for his resignation and the promise of no more legal action
against the university.
	He said the offer was made on the university's behalf by Michael
Hogben, one of the men shot to death at Concordia on Monday.
	But that is just the latest in a series of unconnected legal actions
Fabrikant has filed since 1982.
	Fabrikant was to have appeared in Quebec Superior Court Wednesday on
a charge of contempt of court which arose out of a lawsuit he had filed
against two Concordia professors.
	Last May, Fabrikant asked the court to order the two men to admit
they made no contribution to scientific papers on which they are named
as co-authors with Fabrikant.
	He also wanted them ordered to send letters of retraction to all
journals in which the papers were published.
	The contempt-of-court action quoted electronic-mail messages sent by
Fabrikant addressed ''to the community'' which attack the justice system
and Quebec Superior Court Chief Justice Allan B. Gold.
	In his action, Fabrikant described one professor as ''unable to do
any of his own research.''
	''The situation is quite typical in this country,'' Fabrikant wrote.
	''A professor at a Canadian university who has a government grant but
does not have the brains to do the research can hire talented scientists
from the Third World or Russia, they would do the work and he gets all
the credit.'' Fabrikant claimed he was forced to add other professors'
names as co-authors of his work because his salary was paid out of their
research grants.
	It was when he refused to continue being a ''scientific prostitute,''
Fabrikant claimed, that his troubles with the university administration
began. While the university and the professors were obviously
Fabrikant's biggest object of concern, he has also been busy filing
suits in small claims court.
	The latest, scheduled to be heard next month, is against The Royal
Trust Company which he accuses of refusing to pay him $245 in interest
on his RRSPs. Fabrikant charged that he ordered the trust company to
transfer his funds to another company in April.
	Royal Trust says it mailed the cheque April 23 but it was returned
because of insufficient postage and had to be sent again. Fabrikant said
he finds that hard to believe and charges that the trust company had his
money in its possession from April 18 to May 6 and owes him the interest
for those 18 days.
	The associate professor of engineering and computer science was
charged with murder, attempted murder and forcible confinement following
a shooting spree which left three dead and a fourth in critical
condition.


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