From: ray@philmtl.philips.ca (Ray Dunn)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.canada,sci.research.careers
Subject: Re: Montreal news of Fabrikant - 7
Date: 1 Oct 92 15:50:50 GMT
Article-I.D.: philmtl.1992Oct1.155050.8318
Organization: On the Brew.

Today's posting contains two transcriptions.  The first is from last week's
"the Link", the Concordia University Newspaper.  The second is from today's
Gazette, and is a report of the first day of Fabrikant's preliminary
hearing held in Montreal yesterday.

Transcribed without permission from the Link (Concordia University
Newspaper), Fri. Sept. 25th.

QUOTE

Concordia postpones inquiries

by Ita Kendall

Concordia's Board of Governors decided Wednesday [Sep. 23rd] to delay
launching inquiries into the shooting incident at the University on August
24.

"There is going to be an investigation but we are not prepared to announce
the date at the Board of Governors meeting.  It will be full speed ahead
but the lawyers have warned us not to do anything to prejudice the criminal
investigation," said Ken Whittingham, director of Public Relations.

"The Fabrikant case is still evolving and until the criminal lawyers
retained by the university get a fix on how it will transpire we can't set
a date," said Whittingham.

But Charlene Nero, Concordia University Students Association (CUSA)
co-president and a representative on Concordia's Board of Governors said
the university cannot afford to postpone the inquiry.

"You can't go full speed ahead and wait.  The university is morally
obligated to conduct an immediate investigation to clear the names of the
people Fabrikant accused of wrongdoing," she said.

"It has already been a month since the shootings.  If we wait three months
or six months or even a year and even if we have an inquiry that exonerates
everyone people will still have doubts.  They'll say there was enough time
for a cover-up or to sweep everything under the rug.

"Let's face it, we're not talking about one or two people.  This guy was
slinging mud everywhere."

But the university has gone ahead with one investigation.

Whittingham said Concordia rector Patrick Kennif confirmed that the vice
rector services enquiry into security procedures started the day after the
shootings.

But Nero said she does not see why one inquiry can proceed and not another.

"If the vice rector services (Charles Bertrand) can investigate the event
why can't a senate or Board of Governors inquiry go ahead," she said.  "The
inquiry should be conducted by an inclusive body with all constituences in
the university represented."

UNQUOTE

___________________


Transcribed without permission from the Montreal Gazette, Wed. Oct. 1st.

QUOTE

Professor died of head wounds, hearing told

Catherine Buckie
THE GAZETTE

Valery Fabrikant tried and failed yesterday to prevent a pathologist from
testifying about the cause of death of three Concordia University
professors, shot down by a gunman Aug. 24 in the university's Hall
Building.

As Dr. Claude Pothel entered the witness box to testify at Fabrikant's
preliminary hearing on first-degree murder charges, Fabrikant rose from his
table in the prisoner's dock and asked: "Is there anything I can admit that
would make this testimony unnecessary?"

Fabrikant, a former associate professor of mechanical engineering and
computer science at Concordia, had said at an earlier court appearance that
he did not intend to contest autopsy evidence.

But prosecutor Jean Lecours told the court yesterday that he and Fabrikant
had already discussed possible admissions and could not come to an
agreement.  He then proceeded to question the witness.

Pothel testified that he performed autopsies on Michael Hogben, Matthew
Douglass and Jaan Saber and concluded that they all died as a result of
gunshot wounds to the head.

Hogben and Douglass died at the hospital, as did a fourth professor,
Phoivos Ziogas.

Pothel is to continue testifying about an autopsy he performed on Ziogas
when the preliminary hearing resumes next Thursday.

At the beginning of the pathologist's testimony Fabrikant appeared tense,
his jaw and fist both tightly clenched.

He slumped back in his chair, but regained interest moments later and asked
to examine bullets removed from the victims' bodies.

Earlier, Constable Robert Desjardins of Montreal Urban Community police
testified that Hogben's body was found in Fabrikant's office on the ninth
floor.

After Desjardins told the court where he had found various bullets and
shells, Fabrikant suggested that someone doctored the crime scene to make
him look crazy.

"What is the guarantee that after the crime has been finished, somebody
else came, took my pistols and made some shots which look absolutely crazy
just to make me look crazy?" he asked Desjardins.

Desjardins said he could not answer because he was not there.

Constable Serge Proulx testified that an unfired bullet was found in one of
the offices at Concordia.

Fabrikant called this "absurd."

"Give me an idea," Fabrikant said to Proulx.  "A person with a pistol comes
somewhere and starts shooting.  How on earth is it possible that a total
bullet be found on the floor?"

When Proulx responded that the revolver chamber could have opened and the
bullet could have fallen to the floor, Fabrikant protested: "This is not a
revolver," then questioned the officer's ability to tell the difference
between a revolver and a pistol.

Proulx testified in French and his testimony was to be translated for
Fabrikant but he declined the service, saying: "It is so irrelevant,
whatever they are saying now, so I don't need translation."

The hearing was interrupted by a woman who said she was the wife of Jesus
Christ and shouted, as she was removed from the courtroom: "I came to
testify!"

The woman had handed a document to the prosecutor which he passed to the
Quebec Court Judge Gilles Cadieux.

The judge glanced at it and ordered the woman removed.

Fabrikant, who is acting as his own lawyer but it is assisted by a
legal-aide lawyer, continued to complain about the conditions in the
Parthenais detention centre where he is being held.

This time Fabrikant complained he had a toothache and asked that he be
allowed to see his own dentist.  He also asked Cadieux to order that he
receive hot meals on his return to the detention centre after court
appearances.

Cadieux refused both requests, saying he does not have jurisdiction over
the detention centre.

UNQUOTE
-- 
Ray Dunn at home    |    ray@philmtl.philips.ca    |    (514) 630 3749
Newsgroups: soc.culture.canada