Crab Meat & Caviar: Notorious Russian Thug Lived Luxury Life in Maximum Security Prison

Corruption is Everywhere - In Russian Prisons? - You Bet!

© Tatyana Kuznetsova / Sputnik

Jailed for organizing brutal murders and extortion, a Russian crime lord lived the high life behind bars, as photos show him indulging in crab meat and caviar while holding banquets with his buddies.

He wasn’t nicknamed ‘Zlodey’ (the Villain) for nothing. Vyacheslav Tsepovyaz is one of the most ruthless thugs in Russia.

In 2010, his gang dispatched a death squad to kill a farmer in the southern Krasnodar Region. The thugs entered the man’s home and murdered him and his family. Neighbors were visiting him at that time, so they killed them, too, and then torched the place. In all, 12 people were butchered that night, including four children.

The hideous crime so shook the nation that the name of the small town the unlucky farmer lived in – Kuschevskaya – became a household name for rampant crime.

The gang members were apprehended shortly thereafter. The public was shocked to learn that they had terrorized the area for decades, acting unhinged and committing crimes with near-total impunity.

The gang leader was sentenced to life in prison (the death penalty is de facto banned in Russia) and later died behind bars. His close associate, Tsepovyaz, who facilitated the murders and paid the killers, got nearly 20 years in jail – a strict-regime penal colony in the Amur Region of Russia’s Far East.

Photos recently published in the media show that the term ‘strict regime’ actually means the opposite when dealing with a man of refined tastes such as Tsepovyaz. Steel bars didn’t come between him and his gourmet meals and parties, as one photo captured him enjoying crab meat and red caviar, both local delicacies.

Some pictures show him having what appear to be banquet parties with friends, sporting smartphones with internet access. These things are not only strictly forbidden but effectively blur the line between prison and hotel.

How did a notorious mobster like Tsepovyaz get away with all this luxury? His wife, Natalya, was sending him money. In fact, she claims to have sent him up to 3 million rubles (US$45,400) a year.

“Yes, we were talking. He was calling me, sending the credit card numbers,” she told Komsomolskaya Pravda.

Natalya and Vyacheslav are now divorced, but when they still were a couple, the loving wife sent her inmate husband money not only to order expensive food but to pay “hefty sums” for dentistry and even to buy bees and beehives – beekeeping was his prison hobby.

The crime lord’s legal team believes that the photos may have been leaked online in connection with the ongoing court battle between former spouses over various assets. Speaking to Interfax news agency, his lawyer said the damning pictures were likely dumped online to generate negative buzz around Tsepovyaz and to “influence the judge’s decision.”

The correctional services say they uncovered Tsepovyaz’s leisure activities last year. The ensuing probe led to several correctional officers being “disciplined,” Deputy Director of the Federal Penitentiary Service Valery Maksimenko told Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper. He also said the pictures of Tsepovyaz’s escapades are from 2015. 

“What can I say – even in the remotest regions, sometimes it’s hard to avoid corruption, especially if a convict, who conspires with the officials, has the gift of persuasion and – what’s important – crazy amount of money.”

The Investigative Committee, meanwhile, has started its own probe following the scandal. The committee’s chief, Aleksandr Bastrykin, called on investigators to thoroughly check the prison and “immediately press criminal charges” if necessary.

‘Islamophobia Allegations Politically Motivated’: Tory Vice-Chair Slammed for Remarks

Not to be outdone by accusations of antisemitism in the Labour Party, Britain's largest Muslim organization is decrying the Conservative Party for Islamophobia! This is an attempt to take the publicity away from antisemitism, an attempt to keep presenting Muslims as victims, and an attempt to increase Muslim influence in Westminster. 

There is little doubt that there are Islamophobes in the Tories, but they are several magnitudes of difference from the antisemites in the Labour Party. Badenoch is right!

London march organized by the group Stand Up to Racism as an expression of unity against racism, Islamophobia and anti-Semitism. © Global Look Press / Brais G. Rouco

Tory vice-chair Kemi Badenoch MP, has been heavily criticized for claiming that allegations of Islamophobia against Conservative Party members are “politically motivated.”

Badenoch, Tory MP for Saffron Walden, made the remarks during a Sky News interview on Sunday, after calls, including from Conservative peer Baroness Warsi and the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), for a full-blown inquiry into allegations of Islamophobia within the party.

The Tory vice-chair told Sky News' Sophy Ridge: “I don't think that the Muslim Council of Britain is an organisation that would look very favourably on the Conservative Party anyway so I think there is probably a political motive there.”

In response, Baroness Warsi tweeted that her party was in denial yet again on a social issue, insisting “we always find ourselves on the wrong side of history when it comes to the right of minorities.”

Sayeeda Warsi✔
@SayeedaWarsi
 The was a time we denied racism existed within our party, there was a time we denied homophobia was deep rooted- we now deny #Islamophobia 🤦🏽‍♀️
A lot @conservatives get right but sadly we always find ourselves on the wrong side of history when it comes to the right of minorities

Kemi Badenoch MP

Ridge on Sunday✔
@RidgeOnSunday
'There's probably a political motive there' - Conservative MP @KemiBadenoch dismisses the @MuslimCouncil of Britain's call for an inquiry into Islamophobia within the Tory party. #Ridge 

For more, head here: http://po.st/orxWY3 

Miqdaad Versi, a spokesperson for the MCB, voiced his disappointment at the Tory vice-chair’s attack on his organisation, while others claimed there would be outrage from the Tories 'if Labour had given the same response regarding anti-Semitism.'

Miqdaad Versi✔
@miqdaad
"Don't shoot the messenger" - the MCB's previous message appears equally apt today.

Will Ms Badenoch also attack The Times, Observer, Lord Sheikh, Baroness Warsi & Conservative Muslim Forum for being politically motivated? http://www.mcb.org.uk/shooting-the-messenger-mcb-responds-to-sajid-javid-comments-on-bbc-andrew-marr/ …


Socialist Voice
@SocialistVoice
 WATCH: Tory MP Kemi Badenoch says accusations of Islamophobia and racism in the Conservative Party are ‘politically motivated’ 

Just imagine the Tories’ outrage if Labour gave that same ignorant response regarding antisemitism...pic.twitter.com/bYfWWpqAcM

The outrage here ignores the fact that Labour's antisemitism is infinitely more obvious than Tories Islamophobia. 

The MCB is the largest Muslim organisation in the UK with over 500 mosques, and educational and charitable associations affiliated to it. They have spearheaded calls for an inquiry and said it has evidenced multiple incidents of Islamophobic incidents being committed by Tory members.

Badenoch had earlier refuted claims that the Tory Party had an issue with Islamophobia within its ranks, saying she “completely” disagreed with Baroness Warsi’s assessment.

She said: “We take every single allegation of Islamophobia seriously and where we do find party members or people who hold positions in local government doing things, we suspend them, we investigate them…”

What Badenoch did not allude to is the fact that the Conservative Party code of conduct does not apply to ordinary grassroots Tory members. It is only applicable to “anyone who formally represents the Party as an elected or appointed official.” It calls into question whether the Tories have a disciplinary system robust enough to tackle allegations of racism or Islamophobia.

The Tory’s problems reflect that of their Labour rivals. Police announced last week that they have launched a criminal investigation into allegations of anti-Semitic hate crimes committed by Labour Party members, after receiving a dossier of alleged incidents by a complainant in September.

Nearly 80 Children Kidnapped in Cameroon’s English-Speaking Separatist Region

Always the children paying the price for man's madness

Anti-government protesters in Bamenda © Reuters

Dozens of people, most of them children, have been kidnapped from a school in the city of Bamenda in Cameroon’s northwestern Anglophone region, which is struggling with a separatist insurgency.

Armed men kidnapped 78 students from a Presbyterian school in the Nkwen village, Northwest Region Governor Deben Tchoffo said.

A video uploaded to social media showed the kidnapped children and the alleged kidnappers, calling themselves “Amba boys” in reference to the breakaway Ambazonia state that the separatists have been trying to create. The footage could not be immediately verified, but parents have reportedly been reacting to images of their children on social media, according to AP.

Earlier, a military source told Reuters that the school principal has been kidnapped along with the students.

“In total, 81 people were kidnapped including the principal. They were taken to the bush,” the source said.

The separatists, who are protesting against President Paul Biya’s French-speaking government, have imposed strict curfews, shuttered schools, and killed government soldiers and policemen in guerilla raids.

The conflict between the insurgents and government security forces intensified last year after a government crackdown on peaceful protesters. The fighting has displaced tens of thousands of people, with many fleeing Bamenda for the calmer Francophone regions.

In July, a video showing government soldiers shooting women and children sparked outrage and accusations that the Cameroon government – a close ally of the US in Africa – was carrying out arbitrary executions of anyone believed to be supporting the Boko Haram terrorist group.

In an October presidential election, opposition candidate Maurice Kamto declared victory against Biya, who has ruled since 1982, but Biya’s ruling party dismissed claims of defeat and accused Kamto of breaking the law. Reuters reported that the opposing candidate did not provide evidence to back up claims that he won.

A government spokesperson said it was keeping track of developments surrounding the kidnapping, but provided no other details.

Cameroon is about 70% Christian and about 18% Muslim with a number of people practicing traditional religions. Cameroon has Nigeria on one side, Central African Republic and Congo on the other side, all of which are war-torn countries.

Transgender Soldier Celebrated as First UK Woman on Frontline Duty 'Seduced Comrade's Wife'

When the establishment buys into the lunacy of political correctness, they have to hide the truth from the world. Scots Guards top brass not only hid the truth from the world but surely caused some serious morale issues within the regiment.

The famed Scots Guards regiment, where the scandal unfolded. ©  REUTERS/PETER NICHOLLS

Chloe Allen, officially recognized as the British Army's first woman allowed on the frontline after transitioning in 2016, has reportedly been accused of breaking up a fellow soldier's marriage — a serious breach of army ethics.

The Daily Mail, which broke the story, also alleges that the top brass refused to take the usual disciplinary steps against Allen, to avoid embarrassment around the high-profile recruit.

Chloe, 26, who joined the prestigious Scots Guards regiment in 2012 under her birth name Ben Allen, is to be cited in the divorce papers of Sergeant Mark Gray, who says that she used the pretext of needing help in presenting as a woman, to begin an affair with his partner of ten years, Sophie.

Allen featured heavily in the media after being made a symbol of the British Army's commitment to diversity, following her decision to transition without stepping away from the frontline role, in which her responsibilities include driving a heavy armored truck. The move was reportedly prompted by an incident in which fellow soldiers found their comrade cross-dressing before an assignment to guard a royal palace, a standard duty for the regiment, which has been involved in the Trooping the Colour ceremony in the past.

The UK has been openly welcoming transgender troops into service since 1999, while restrictions on women in frontline roles were lifted two years ago.

According to the Daily Mail, in the aftermath of her announcement Allen began visiting the Gray household, where she would engage in dressing-up sessions with Sophie, who gave her make-up tutorials. Mark grew suspicious that the contact was more than platonic and confronted his wife, but she denied the accusations. However, when he returned from an assignment in the Falklands, his wife had moved all of her possessions and allegedly moved in with Allen.

Gray reported this to his superiors as a potential violation of the Service Test — the British Army's internal code of conduct — which proscribes “over-familiarity with the spouses, civil partners or partners of other Service personnel.” Sanctions for violations range from extra duties and removal of privileges for the person found guilty, to discharge from the regiment.

But in this case nothing was done, even though none of the parties appear to have challenged the allegations.

“Scots Guards commanders gave Chloe their full support and stressed they wanted her to remain in the regiment whatever was happening in her private life and with her transition from man to woman,” an army source told the Daily Mail.

“They favored handling the matter informally, a decision made easier because Sgt Gray was no longer in the Scots Guards.”

Gray believes that he has been the victim of Allen's preferential treatment.

“Mark is distressed and feels Chloe played him for a fool by having an affair with Sophie while maintaining that Sophie was only helping her learn how to present herself as a woman,” a source in the Scots Guards told the Daily Mail.

“Had Mark shacked up with another guardsman's wife, he'd have been charged with breaching disciplinary rules and been in deep trouble, whereas nothing appears to have happened to Chloe despite her affair with Mark's wife.”

Questions persist over whether the affair is continuing.

“I am not in a relationship, nor am I living with anyone,” Allen said in a statement, made through the army, before the story broke, labeling the revelations "untrue".

But the Daily Mail has published recent photos of Allen and Sophie Gray together, and says that the two women have been spending nights together at Gray's house, where she lives with her two children from Mark.

Those poor children! It's always the children who suffer for adult's madness.

‘Die Jew Rats’ Synagogue Vandal was Anti-Hate-Crime Intern & Democratic Activist

Two of my previous three posts have been about antisemitism in Britain's left-wing Labour Party. Many stories have covered the growing antisemitism in the western world but this one is a bit shocking as it rears its ugly head in America's Democratic Party.

Antisemitism is Growing Everywhere

Synagogue vandal James Polite seen alongside his former mentor, New York Democrat Christine Quinn © Facebook / Abraham Aali and Reuters / Andrew Kelly

In a bizarre twist, the man who spray painted anti-Semitic graffiti on a Brooklyn synagogue turned out to be “queer,” black, former anti-hate-crime intern, James Polite: a 26-year-old with loving Jewish foster parents.

Less than a week after a gunman murdered 11 worshippers at a Pittsburgh synagogue, anti-Semitic graffiti was found scrawled inside Union Temple in Brooklyn’s predominantly Jewish Prospect Heights neighborhood. The graffiti read “Die Jew Rats” and “Hitler.”

Suspected of setting fires - CBS

Jessica Layton✔

@JLaytonTV

 NYPD arrests James Polite — the man they say is in this surveillance picture - in connection with anti Semitic graffiti found inside Union Temple in Prospect Heights. He’s believed to have also set fires outside schuls & yeshivas in Williamsburg @CBSNewYork

A Democratic political event scheduled at the synagogue on Thursday night was canceled, and police investigated the incident as a hate crime. After being caught on the synagogue’s CCTV cameras, James Polite was arrested on Friday.

Far from being an archetypal tattooed skinhead, Polite is a black former Democratic intern who had his college education bankrolled by the New York Times’ ‘Neediest Cases Fund.’

Polite had a rough upbringing, according to a 2017 New York Times profile. He told the Times he identifies as “queer” and felt misunderstood at home. As a young teenager, he requested that he be placed in foster care, and spent the following years shunted from home to home.

Robby Starbuck✔

@robbystarbuck

In summary that old @nytimes puff piece Ryan dug up on James Polite does appear to be the same person. Instead of the success story from those pages his life has turned a dark direction. Photos of him with his adoptive mother show up on both his Facebook and NYTimes article.

Polite met then-New York City Council speaker Christine Quinn at a gay pride rally in 2008, and landed himself an internship with the Democratic councilwoman. Under Quinn’s tutelage, Polite worked on anti-hate-crime initiatives and lent a hand to her unsuccessful bid for mayor in 2013. In return, Quinn, who referred to Polite as “the adopted child of the Quinn administration” wrote him a glowing recommendation to Brandeis University.

At the same time, an array of do-gooders chipped in and gave Polite a helping hand. Josh Waletzky and Jenny Levison, a Brooklyn Jewish couple on a mission to foster an “LGBTQ youth” took Polite into their home, and charity group Children’s Aid facilitated the placement. When Polite began his studies at Brandeis, the Neediest Cases Fund helped him financially.

Polite struggled in college, and smoked marijuana to cope with stress. After a leave of absence in 2015, he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, but managed to resume his studies after some time away.

‘Civil war is here’

Before last week’s vandalism, the man appears to have been unstable. He railed against Jews in a series of Facebook posts, tagging his adopted parents. Polite posted a grainy cell-phone picture of himself burning an American flag, and wrote that a new “civil war is here.”

“Nobody gotta die. Mexico, latin America, carribean (sic) vs. Jew n*gger pigs. One person touch me this whole shit a smoking,” he wrote.

In the comments, friends urged Polite to seek professional help, and his one-time mentor Quinn wrote after his arrest that she was “simply and utterly devastated.”

“I knew this young man,” she wrote. “And while he has experienced hardship that most people can’t ever imagine, his actions are inexcusable.”

Christine Quinn

@chriscquinn

While Polite’s life seems to have gone down a dark path, from New York Times poster boy to synagogue vandal, he is not the first unlikely suspect to be busted for hate crimes in recent years. Last year, Israeli police arrested a 19-year-old Israeli Jew in connection with hundreds of bomb threats made to Jewish community centers across America.

Labour Party Branch 'Voted Down Motion Condemning Pittsburgh Synagogue Attack'

In the face of an investigation by Met Police into antisemitism in the Labour Party,

local councils double down on antisemitism!

Members reject motion after saying there is too much focus on

'antisemitism this, antisemitism that'

Benjamin Kentish, Independent

A local Labour Party branch has refused to pass a motion condemning the antisemitic attack on a synagogue in Pittsburgh that left 11 people dead, according to a party activist.

Steve Cooke, the secretary of Norton West branch in the Stockton North constituency, said he was “aghast” that the motion was voted down after members claimed there was too much focus on “antisemitism this, antisemitism that”.

Members of the branch reportedly demanded that a reference to antisemitism be removed from the statement on the shooting last Saturday. The alleged attacker, who has far-right links, is said to have shouted “I just want to kill Jews” after opening fire on the congregation.

Bob Cook

The motion proposed by Mr Cooke said the murders “demonstrate the dangers posed by the growth in antisemitic sentiments and hate speech internationally” and expressed a commitment to “stand in solidarity with the Jewish community around the world and send our condolences to all those affected by the tragic events in Pittsburgh”.

But when put to a vote, only two members backed the motion and it was voted down.

Mr Cooke said the leader of Stockton-on-Tees council, Robert Cook, and another senior councillor, Steve Nelson, were among those who opposed it.

He wrote on Facebook: ”I am aghast to report that an emergency motion on the Pittsburgh synagogue attack which I took to my Labour Party branch meeting last night was voted down, with the leader of Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council and the cabinet member for community safety among its most vociferous opponents.

“I imagined that the emergency motion I had drafted to condemn the Pittsburgh murders, criticise antisemitic hate speech and present the Labour Party as leading the way in opposing such prejudices would be approved without controversy.

Steve Nelson

“When we got to the emergency motion, however, it was soon apparent that there would be resistance to the whole idea with the chair of the meeting, Cllr Steve Nelson, the cabinet member for community safety, the most implacably opposed.”

According to Mr Cooke, members at the meeting opposed the motion on the grounds that there was too much focus on “antisemitism this, antisemitism that”. They suggested the text on the synagogue attack should not specifically refer to antisemitism but should instead condemn all racism, which Mr Cooke said it already did.

Mr Cooke said previous motions on Islamophobia and anti-migrant rhetoric had not been met with similar demands that they be made less specific and instead refer to all forms of racism. 

He suggested Mr Nelson had accused him of trying to “bring the party into disrepute by associating us with antisemitism” and had claimed the row over anti-Jewish abuse in Labour was “just a game being played”.

The motion on the Pittsburgh attack and attempts to educate members about antisemitism were part of this, the councillor is reported to have said.

The executive of Stockton North Labour Party had previously voted down Mr Cooke’s attempts to have antisemitism training delivered to members. 

Recounting his conversation with Mr Nelson, Mr Cooke wrote on Facebook: ”’Are you seriously going to vote down a motion condemning the Pittsburgh killings?, I asked. ‘Is this for real?’

“’Yes, I am’, replied comrade Nelson whilst physically pushing away the sheet of paper with the motion on it.”

He said Robert Cook, leader of Stockton-on-Tees council, “said nothing to support us” and had voted against the motion condemning the synagogue attack.

Mr Cook and Mr Nelson have been contacted for comment. 

Antisemitism OK in Labour Party?

Earlier in the week another Labour branch amended a proposed motion on the Pittsburgh attack to remove a pledge to oppose antisemitism.

Members of the Southend West party removed a line that vowed to “recognise that antisemitism exists in society and affirm our belief that all forms of antisemitism must be eradicated”.

A call for Labour to ”lead the way in opposing antisemitism and fighting racism in all levels of society” was also dropped.

It comes as the Metropolitan Police said it was investigating possible antisemitic hate crimes committed by Labour members, after a dossier of cases was passed to its commissioner, Cressida Dick.

Ms Dick said: “We have been assessing some material that was passed to me, in a radio studio of all things, about two months ago and we are now investigating some of that material because it appears there may have been crime committed.”

Dead & Duct-Taped Saudi Sisters Found on Banks of Hudson Could Be… a Suicide?

The Farea sisters. © AFP / NYPD

Two Saudi sisters found dead and duct-taped together on the banks of New York’s Hudson River were seen praying near the water hours before their bodies were found, in a baffling case that police say shows no signs of foul play.

The sisters, Rotana Farea (22) and Tala Farea (16) were discovered on October 24 on the banks of the river, having gone missing two months previously from Fairfax, Virginia, where they lived with their family. So far, the investigation has revealed that the sisters traveled from Washington DC to Philadelphia, before arriving New York City on September 1.

At a press conference on Friday, police said they had "no credible information” that any crime took place, but confirmed that their probe is ongoing. Investigators tracked the girls’ last movements using credit card records, which showed that they had “maxed out” a card staying in a number of “high end” hotels in New York, where they ordered meals for two people every day in the days leading to their deaths.

The sisters were found tied face-to-face with duct tape at the waist and feet, were fully clothed and their bodies showed no obvious signs of trauma, which likely rules out a theory that they could have jumped together from the George Washington Bridge.

Some kind of suicide is still a leading theory in the sisters’ deaths, however. Water found in their lungs made it “entirely credible” that they entered the water while still alive.

Applied for political asylum

The baffling case took on an added air of mystery when it was revealed that the sisters’ mother told police that she had received a phone call from the Saudi Arabian embassy in Washington DC the day before the sisters were found. During the call, a Saudi embassy official instructed her family to leave the US, due to the fact that her daughters had applied for political asylum, she claimed.

Police also revealed that a man who frequently exercises along the riverbank told them that he had seen the girls sitting about 30 feet apart in a playground with their heads in their hands and making “praying” noises on the same day that they were later found dead – an image that the witness said has been "haunting" him since.

Tala and Rotana moved to the US with their mother in 2015. Rotana had been enrolled at George Mason University but left in the spring.

Physical abuse

The two had previously been placed in a shelter after another disappearance in 2017, reportedly asking police not to reveal their location. On Friday, police confirmed that reports of physical abuse within the family had been made at that time, but did not elaborate.

Sources in Virginia who were not family members told the police that the sisters had said they would rather harm themselves or commit suicide than return to Saudi Arabia.

According to some media reports, 16-year-old Tala had reportedly been offered a place at a top school in Saudi Arabia but desperately did not want to go.

The Saudi consulate in New York said it had "appointed an attorney to follow the case closely,” while the Saudi embassy in Washington contacted the family and “extended its support and aid in this trying time.”

It certainly appears the family was preparing to return to Saudi Arabia and the girls were prepared to accept death rather than that. What a shame!