From: ray@philmtl.philips.ca (Ray Dunn)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.canada
Subject: Re: Montreal news of Fabricant 1 - long
Date: 1 Sep 92 23:33:11 GMT
Organization: On the Brew.

I posted this recently in sci.research.carrers with na distribution.  It
has been suggested that soc.culture.canada might be interested too.  So
here it is, and another to follow.  Anything else reported here that I
think may be of significant interest I will cross-post.

In article <37305@sdcc12.ucsd.edu> acohen@cs.ucsd.edu (Ariel Cohen) writes:
>   I wonder, does Fabrikant have a family? Could someone tell us 
>what the local papers are saying?

From the Monteal Gazette, Thursday, August 27th, 1992.  Reprinted without
permission:

QUOTE:

Prof's wife in gun club as hobby

Gave him pistols for safekeeping

MIKE KING and AARON DERFEL  The Gazette

Valery Fabricant's wife confirmed yesterday that two handguns found at the
scene of Monday's triple slaying at Concordia University were registered in
her name.  But she denied her husband had urged her to buy the guns.

"I wanted to join a gun club as a hobby - I didn't do anything illegally,"
said Maya Tyker, 33.

Fabricant, 52, a Concordia engineering professor has been charged in the
slaying of three colleagues and wounding of two.

In an interview Tuseday, Tyker had denied knowing anything about the guns -
a 7.65-mm Bersa pistol from Argentina and a .38-calibre Smith and Wesson.
Yesterday she said she applied for permits for the guns in April or May,
after being accepted as a member of ta St. Pierre gun club on St. Jaques
St. W.

The permits allowed her only to carry the weapons to and from the gun club,
she said.

She denied that Fabricant ever used them.

"But I gave him the guns for safekeeping," said Tyker, whose interest in
guns goes back nat least 13 years to when she was a nurse and member of the
Soviet army reserves.  She doesn't regret applying for the permits, she
said.

"Why should I have any regrets? I wanted the guns just for a hobby.  I
didn't know my husband would want to use them."

The Surete du Quebec yesterday made public a file on Fabricant's
applications for firearms permits.

It showed that he first picked up an application form from the provincial
police to buy a firearm on June 15, 1990.

On the following Sept. 7, he put in a request to keep a .380-calibre
Beretta pistol at his home for protection.

The provincial police's permit dept checked and found no reason why he
should have a permit, Constable Andre Blanchette said.  Nor could Fabrikant
give any good reason in support of his request when he called the
following month.

Last Feb. 7, Fabrikant made a new request, this time for a 6.35-mm pistol.

A 6.35-mm pistol was found at the scene of Monday's shooting, along with
the two registered to Tyker.

In his application, Fabrikant said the gun was for target shooting.  At the
same time. he said he wanted a permit to transport the handgun between his
home and the west-end shooting club he joined.

The ownership registration was granted Feb. 25, as was a permit giving him
the right to take the gun home from the store.

In mid-March, Fabrikant purchased the German-made 6.35-mm pistol from W.S.
Aventure Internationale in Pierrefonds.

The gunshop owner confirmed that he sold the "very tiny pop gun" to
Fabrikant for $69.95 around March 11.

"He was the type of person you remember," said the owner, who asked that
his name not be printed.  He "haggled and haggled over the price and didn't
want to pay a deposit.  He was very difficult."

The pistol was far from "a big threatening pistol - you could almost
mistake it for a small starter's pistol or a toy," he said.

Fabrikant had been informed March 3 that to get a permit to carry the gun
between his home and the shooting club, he needed 5 letters of
recommendation.

One had to come from a spouse or parent, two from neighbours, one from
someone who had known him for at least five years, and one from his
employer.

That's the rule in Quebec, Blanchette said, claiming that the province has
the toughest rules in the country regarding permits for carrying restricted
weapons.

"We refuse more requests per capita than anywhere else in Canada," he said.

Fabrikant sought registration March 13 for a third firearm - a .32-calibre
pistol - and a permit to transport it between home and the gun club.

He was reminded June 16 that he still needed the 5 letters before he could
have a permit to carry his 6.35-mm pistol between house and club.  He was
sent a new set of forms to complete.

On June 22, the Montreal Urban Community police advised the provincial
police's permit department that Fabrikant had no criminal record.

But the next day, the permit dept got a call from Concordia warning that
Fabrikant had threatened people.

As a result, all action stopped on Fabrikant's permit requests, Blanchette
said.  The caller from Concordia was urged to notify the MUC police if the
threats were serious.

Fabrikant returned to the dept on June 25.  He had four of the five
required letters.  He didn't have one from his employer.

Concordia did send a letter to the dept on July 14, but it was less than an
endorsement of Fabrikant's request.

"The university has strong reason for concern of about the issuing of a gun
permit to Dr. Fabrikant," Charles Bertrand, vice-rector of admin services
wrote.

Fabrikant had asked several staff members for references and they had
refused, the letter said.

"He has made serious allegations of fraud against some of his
colleagues...and has accused university administrators of conspiracy...."

The letter urged the Surete to contact the university's legal adviser.

UNQUOTE.

It should be noted that here in Quebec, wives are obliged by law to use
their maiden name when dealing with government etc.  (except those married
prior to the law coming into force).  The police were quoted on TV as
saying they had no way of connecting his wife's (Tyker's) applications with
Fabrikant's.

I find the police quote "we refuse more request *per capita* than anywhere
else in Canada", quite intriguing.  If they had said they refuse the
biggest percentage of requests, it would have some meaning.  Does Quebec
have the biggest number of *requests* per capita??

In another article headed "Fabrikant involved in host of legal actions", as
well as the actions against the university, the following actions are
described:

Small Claims Court against Royal Trust Co. which he accuses of refusing to
pay him $245 in interest.

Suit asgainst Tilden Rent-a-car, claiming he was overcharged by $77 US,
plus $16.39 for taxi fare and $100 for inconvenience.  Tilden paid him $200
and settled the case in Sept 1990.

In Oct 1986 the Quebec Court overturned a rental-board ruling in
Fabrikant's favour, saying his claims were unimportant, and did not affect
his enjoyment of his apartment.  The board had previously Fabrikant a rent
reduction of $25 a month when he had claimed the stove burners did not heat
properly and were not level and the two sinks leaked and were unusable.

In other small claims court actions, he claimed $250 from Air Canada in
July 1989,  $800 from the prudential Insurance Co. in May 1983, $1000 from
Royal Air Maroc in March 1988, and $500 from Hertz Car Rental in Oct 1982.
The results of these actions were not available.
-- 
Ray Dunn at home    |    ray@philmtl.philips.ca    |    (514) 630 3749


-- 
Ray Dunn at home    |    ray@philmtl.philips.ca    |    (514) 630 3749
Newsgroups: soc.culture.canada,can.general,can.politics,alt.activism