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Moussaoui a prolific filer
of accusatory motions
By MIKE MADDEN
Gannett News Service
Gannett News Service
WASHINGTON — They are not the kind
of documents they teach people to write in law school:
• “Motion to See What the Scam
is About.”
• “Motion to Stop the Cynical
Comedy, Parody of Justice Directed by DJ Brinkema.”
• “Pro-Life Motion to Stipulate
my Right and Duty to Live on this Earth a Long and Happy Life
(With Four Wives).”
Zacarias Moussaoui, the man accused of
plotting to be the 20th hijacker in the Sept. 11 attacks, has
fired off nearly 100 eccentrically titled handwritten filings
— as many as 11 in a single day — since
he took over his own defense in May.
The documents rail against everyone
involved in Moussaoui’s upcoming trial, from prosecutors
and FBI agents to Moussaoui’s former lawyers and U.S.
District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema.
Moussaoui, 34, faces the death penalty on
four of the six counts against him. On Sept. 11, he was in jail
on immigration charges after he tried to take flight lessons in
Minnesota. Jury selection in his trial is scheduled to begin
Sept. 30.
He briefly stopped filing his bizarre
motions in July, when Brinkema warned him that she might use
their repetitive nature as evidence that he cannot properly
represent himself. At the time, Moussaoui had been planning to
plead guilty to some of the charges against him. A few days
after he decided not to enter a guilty plea, he started filing
legal briefs again.
His former lawyers, headed by federal
public defender Frank Dunham, are working on the case as
standby counsel and are ready to return to defending Moussaoui
full time if the judges orders it. They have argued Moussaoui
is a paranoid schizophrenic who is not competent to defend
himself.
Moussaoui — whose court
filings refer to Dunham as “death appointed
counsel” and “so-called standby counsel”
— has refused to have anything to do with the
lawyers and claims they are working with the government to kill
him. He has even rejected blank paper the attorneys sent him
for additional motions.
“I see a highly intelligent person
who may well be using the legal system for purposes far beyond
the question of his guilt or innocence,” said American
University law professor Ira Robbins, an expert in criminal law
who has followed Moussaoui’s case. “Let’s
assume he knows he’s going to be convicted and
doesn’t really care. He may see this as simply another
opportunity to address the worldwide media.”
Government agents are reviewing
Moussaoui’s motions before they are unsealed in case
Moussaoui is using them to pass messages. An al-Qaida
“jihad manual” authorities confiscated in England
several years ago orders members to try to transmit messages
and to complain of mistreatment while in prison.
So far, Moussaoui’s defense has
focused on his claim that the FBI — which he refers
to as the “Fascist Bureau of Inquisition” —
was following him and the 19 hijackers well before the
Sept. 11 attacks. He says agents planted a bug on a fan inside
a car he was driving, that British authorities raided his
London apartment before he came to the United States and that
American intelligence agents monitored his communications.
Moussaoui insists in court papers that FBI
agents are covering up their advance knowledge of the Sept. 11
attacks. He disavows any involvement in the Sept. 11 plot but
expresses open admiration for Osama bin Laden, referring to bin
Laden as the “Lion of Allah” and invoking his name
at the end of motions.
Some of Moussaoui’s court filings
reveal his lack of familiarity with the court system, as did
his attempt to plead guilty.
He had already tried to plead no contest,
apparently unaware that there is little difference between
pleading no contest and pleading guilty. In offering the plea,
Moussaoui explained that he fears jurors would vote to convict
and execute him as a would-be Sept. 11 hijacker if the
prosecution convinces them he has ties to al-Qaida.
Other filings contain examples of
irreverent humor.
In one motion, Moussaoui described
Brinkema as insane and suggested she be sent to “UBL
Treatment Center,” using the same initials the government
uses to refer to bin Laden.
“Of course UBL stands for Unique
Best Location,” Moussaoui wrote.
In another filing, Moussaoui observed that
Brinkema was effectively sabotaging his case, then warned her,
“don’t forget, it’s the landing that is
difficult (trust me, I am a pilot).”
In court, Moussaoui frequently tries to
bring up his defense theories as Brinkema attempts to deal with
unrelated preliminary motions. The judge has occasionally
threatened to silence Moussaoui.
Robbins said Brinkema seems to be giving
Moussaoui the right amount of leeway.
“At least at this point, I think
she’s done everything right,” he said. “Let
him say what he wants to an extent, although she’d never
let him carry on like that in front of a jury.”
Zacarias Moussaoui faces the death penalty
for his alleged involvement in the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
Multitude of motions
Here are some excerpts from
Moussaoui’s handwritten motions:
“The treatment and measures by the
Fascist Bureau of Inquisition is a crime against humanity.
Nobody should be killed without the right to speak out, to
defend its life.”
“Today, America, you enjoy the way
the FBI and (U.S. District Judge Leonie M.) Brinkema are
killing me, but tomorrow it will be your turn. Because Fascist
Bureau of Inquisition always start by scapgoat.”
“When Coleen Rowley wrote to King
Mueller III that the resistance of FBI headquarters was so
fierce when Minneapolice office try to get a warrant that field
agents in Minneapolis where joking that’s how Usama bin
Laden had infiltrated the FBI headquarters, the only point she
missed is that sometime enemy work together for a common goal
(WAR actually JIHAD).”
“Do you think that I am crazy to see
your Dr. Frankenstein?” (a reference to his psychiatric
examinations.)
“Leonie Brinkema your mentally sick.
Mental status examination: Acute symptom of Islamophobia with
complex of gender inferiority. Diagnostic Impression: Legal
pathological killer instinct with egoboosting dementia to
become Supreme. Conclusion and Recommendations: Immediate
psychiatric hospitalization to specialist unit.”
“This is not even a parody of
justice, it is a summary public execution.”
“The one who say that he was going
to return honor to the office, was definitely talking about
Caesar type honor like in Gladiator, stabbing the enmy in the
back before the fight. Not surprising for Daddy son leading (or
I must say cheating) from the back.”
“It is becoming a complete set up,
not even a chance to fight. May Allah send you where you
belong, Leonie Brinkema.”
“Leonie Brinkema DJ must not redact
my ANTI SUICIDE DECLARATION as it is a safeguard for my life
and it is relevant for my defence that the public know that I
am against suicide. The issue of suicide will play a part in
Sept. 11 trial!”
Brinkema “is a SHE CLINTON (at
least, she try), she is moving fast to counteract my latest
move to the European Court of Justice and Parliaments and now
my attempt to contact the FRENCH Ambassy.”
Interactive documentary:
CLEARING THE SKIES
CLEARING THE SKIES
Interactive documentary:
A YEAR OF RECOVERY
All contents copyright 2002,
Gannett News Service
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