Indicting Journalists, Media Writers and Speakers,
Lawyers, Publishers, and Cigarette Advertisers
Who Incite Genocide Against Smokers and Nonsmokers

Recommended for Reading First As Background
Cigarette Ads: Illegal Cigarette Ingredients Cigarette Additives Definitions of Terms
Example Michigan Law Example Tennessee Law Tobacco Deaths--Case Law International Law

Are there journalists who are pro-genocide? What should be done about them? Here is some background.

Media Role in Rwanda Genocide

"In Rwanda, the press played an instrumental role in a staggering genocide ten years ago. . . . For 100 days in 1994, extremists among Rwanda's majority Hutu group rampaged through the central African African nation, slaughtering Tutsis, a minority, and fellow Hutus who opposed the genocide. Almost a million Rwandans were killed. . . . Rwanda's media helped incite the violence. The radio broadcast addresses of targeted families and the location of groups trying to hide. Mobs burned Tutsis alive, tossed grenades into packed churches and drowned entire families in public latrines. 'When they came for us, they were listening to the radio,' recalls Anne Marie Mukamana, a Tutsi genocide survivor, whose husband and 1-year-old daughter were killed in 1994. She was raped and infected with AIDS at the time."--Yaroslav Trofimov, "As Horror Recedes in Time, Rwanda Still Restrains Press: Media Played a Major Role in Nations 1994 Genocide . . .," CCXLIII Wall Street Journal (#85), pp A1 and A6 (Friday, 30 April 2004).

"Between April and June 1994, an estimated 800,000 Rwandans were killed in the space of 100 days. Most of the dead were Tutsis - and most of those who perpetrated the violence were Hutus," says "Rwanda: How the genocide happened" (BBC News). "Leaders of the political opposition were murdered, and almost immediately, the slaughter of Tutsis and moderate Hutus began. Within hours, recruits were dispatched all over the country to carry out a wave of slaughter. The early organisers included military officials, politicians and businessmen, but soon many others joined in the mayhem."

The Belgian Journalist Prosecution Case

On Thursday, 1 June 2000, a Belgian journalist, Georges Omar Ruggiu, received a twelve-years-in-prison sentence for genocide. This was done by a United Nations war crimes court in Tanzania, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

Ruggiu was convicted pursuant to his role in the 1994 Rwandan genocide in the Huto vs. Tutsi civil war. Ruggiu had worked in Kigail, Rwanda, the capital, for the Radio et Television Libre des Mille Collines (called "Hate Radio" during the civil war in the country). The radio station, operated by Hutu extremists, preached against the Tutsis.

The war crimes court sentenced Ruggiu to two concurrent sentences of 12 years. He had confessed to directly inciting genocide. He confessed at trial that he "incited murders and caused serious attacks on the physical and/or mental well-being of members of the Tutsi population with the intention of destroying, in whole or in part, an ethnic or racial group." Overall, about 800,000 people died in the Rwandan genocide.

The Rwandan Journalist Prosecution Case

In mid-June 1999, the government of Rwanda arrested Valerie Bemeriki, a journalist, for her words inciting "genocide and crimes against humanity," according to Justice Minister Jean de Dieu Mucyo.

For more the Bemeriki case, here are some sites with data on the situation:

ABC News Report of the Arrest
The African Rights Report
"Human Rights Watch" Background

Various search engines on the internet can be useful for finding data on news, for example: http://www.go2net.com/search.html.

Rwandan Ex-Minister Found Guilty of Genocide

As of May 2003, an ex-official of Rwanda was also found guilty of genocide.

Arresting and convicting journalists for such crimes follows the outstanding precedent set by The Nurnberg Trial, 6 FRD 69, 161-163 (1946), when prosecution included Julius Streicher, a Nazi publisher convicted and hanged for their pro-death media words. Too many in the media censor anti-tobacco data, and actively promote tobacco use, aiding and abetting the killings.

The arrest and prosecution of journalists such as Valerie Bemeriki is another step in the direction of prosecuting journalists, media writers and speakers, lawyers, publishers, and cigarette advertisers for inciting genocide against smokers and nonsmokers. It is well-established medically what they are inciting, aiding and abetting, accessory to:

EXAMPLES OF CIGARETTES' INJURIES AND KILLINGS

Abortion AIDS Alcoholism Alzheimer's Birth Defects 
Crime  Divorce Drugs Hearing Loss Heart Disease
Lung Cancer Mental Disorder Seat Belts SIDS Suicide

The inciters of tobacco-caused deaths cannot plead ignorance, though ignorance is not a defense. Cigarettes contain toxic chemicals and have a record of adulteration thus causing "wide devastation," not just the "potential" for it, pertinent words from a cigarette-caused fire death case, Commonwealth v Hughes, 468 Pa 502; 364 A2d 306, 311 (1976).

The U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), book entitled Research on Smoking Behavior, Research Monograph 17, Publication ADM 78-581, p v (December 1977), has put them on notice by saying:
"Over 37 million people (one of every six Americans alive today) will die from cigarette smoking years before they otherwise would."

They have also been put on notice by the Royal College of Physicians of London, Smoking and Health Now (London: Pitman Medical and Scientific Publishing Co, 1971), p 9, declared the smoking-caused death toll a "holocaust" due to the then "annual death toll of some 27,500."

In a case of death brought about due to a defendant's impact on the deceased's mind (without physical contact), a court went so far as to state that criminal liability can accrue in such a case. There the deceased
"died from the fright, fear, or nervous shock, and where the [defendant] made no assault or demonstration against the deceased, and neither offered nor threatened any physical force or violence toward the person of the deceased." The reason this is so is that "The law clearly covers and includes any and all means and mediums by or through which a death is caused by one engaged in an unlawful act." Ex parte Heigho, 18 Idaho 566; 110 P 1029, 1031-1032 (1910).

When perpetrators of genocide are arrested, they may try -- as did a number of the accused at The Nurnberg Trial, 6 FRD 69, 161-163 (1946) -- to deny they ever said or wrote what they are accused of. At Nuremberg, some defendants, rather than admitting they had written or signed the incriminating docutments and papers, denied it. They charged forgery, lying, etc., by the accusers.

So journalists, media writers and speakers, lawyers, publishers, and cigarette advertisers can reasonably be expected likewise to deny their own pro-tobacco writings. Right now, they like to brag that they are pro-tobacco, pro-choice on the killings. But once they are facing punishment up to execution for their inciting words, their story suddenly can change -- they never said any such thing!! To such people, mass killing is a big joke, currently. They can say anything they like, they think, and get away with it.

It used to be that the faith community had an impact against cigarettes, deeming cigarette selling a sin. But those days of voluntary morality -- voluntary adherence to the command "thou shalt not kill" -- seem long gone. Now to deal with immoral journalists, media writers and speakers, lawyers, publishers, and cigarette advertisers, it appears that nothing except criminal prosecution will suffice.

Banning words, even cigarette advertising due to its aiding and abetting in the violation of cigarette sales laws, has already been upheld under U.S. law. See, e.g.,
Anheuser-Busch v Mayor and City Council, 855 F Supp 811 (D Md, 1994), aff'd 63 F3d 1305 (CA 4), remanded, 517 US 1206; 116 S Ct 1821; 134 L Ed 2d 927, aff'd 101 F3d 325 (CA 4, 1996)

Penn Advertising v Mayor & City Council of Baltimore, 862 F Supp 1401 (D Md, 1994), aff'd 63 F3d 1318 (CA 4, 1995), remanded 518 US 1030; 116 S Ct 2575; 135 L Ed 2d 1090 (1996), aff'd 101 F3d 332 (CA 4, 1996).

As the African Rights website says, "It is impossible to exaggerate the extensive role played by the media in disseminating the ideas and propaganda that prepared the ground for the genocide." this is definitely the case with the cigarette holocaust. Nothing in freedom of the press allows aiding and abetting violation of laws (example, a stick-up note at a bank!). Indeed the writing itself--the very words--constitutes the crime!!

This site of course advocates criminal prosecution of writers and others advocating, inciting, causing, aiding and abetting, accessory to, the tobacco holocaust. Even as a mere civil law matter, when writings, books, newspaper ads, commercials, etc., aid and abet causing the death of a third party, the publishers and advertisers are liable. The family or estate of the deceased can receive money damages to the extent that the words aided and abetted in causing the death. Nothing in freedom of the press allows aiding and abetting unlawful activity, see Paladin Enterprises, Inc v Rice, 128 F3d 233 (CA 4, 1997) cert den 523 US 1074; 118 S Ct 1515; 140 L Ed 2d 668 (1998).

It is illegal—and has been the law for centuries—to cause harm or death people with toxic chemicals, see e.g., People v Carmichael, 5 Mich 10; 71 Am Dec 769 (1858); People v Stevenson, 416 Mich 383; 331 NW2d 143, 145-146 (1982); and People v Kevorkian, 447 Mich 436, 494-496; 527 NW2d 714, 738-739 (1994), even if death ensures slowly.

Case law such as State v Fransua, 85 NM 173; 510 P2d 106 (1973), shows that victim consent is not a defense. Regardless, no data is provided to anyone, much less, to children too young, to render informed consent. Cigarettes' toxic emissions result in deaths of babies (examples: SIDS, miscarriage, abortion) and nonsmokers via, e.g., lung cancer and heart disease. Those victims do not consent.

In the American Journal of Public Health, Vol 87, pp 869-870 (May 1997), this web writer recommends using established law and case law such as that above-cited.

In "Are You Missing $omething," 26 Smoke Signals 4 (October 1980), this writer cited cigarette costs to society, refuting the then notion that cigarettes are a cost plus to society, thus helping to set the stage for the subsequent Attorney General litigation. Deaths pose a cost, for which both the perpetrators and their accessories share responsibility. The next step after the civil litigation, is criminal prosecutions for the tobacco holocaust. (The fine for causing past deaths was and is inadequate to deter causing future deaths, as nonsmoker opponents had foreseen or warned).

As The Nurnberg Trial, 6 FRD 69, 161-163, shows, prosecution can include publishers such as Julius Streicher, who was quite properly convicted and hanged for his pro-death media words. Too many in the media censor anti-tobacco data, and actively promote tobacco use, aiding and abetting the killings. So prosecutions for tobacco deaths must also include aiders and abettors in the media.

What pro-tobacco media writers and tobacco advertisers do is aid and abet tobacco-caused deaths, pursuant to the criteria cited in The Nurnberg Trial, supra, and in Paladin Enterprises, Inc v Rice, 128 F3d 233 (CA 4, 1997) cert den 523 US 1074; 118 S Ct 1515; 140 L Ed 2d 668 (1998). Pro-tobacco publishers, pro-tobacco lawyers, tobacco advertisers, pro-tobacco speakers, and pro-tobacco media writers cannot convincingly argue that their ads and writings have no impact, when they and their advertisers on the other hand, do the advertising and writing for the very purpose of creating its impact on the mind!!

As the Nurnberg Trial and Paladin Enterprises, supra, cases show, "aiding and abetting" by words in a death is sufficiently wrongful to accrue civil and/or criminal liability. That is consistent with the criminal law doctrine of Heigho, supra, which is but a step away. As in People v Kevorkian, 447 Mich 436, 494-6; 527 NW2d 714, 738-9 (1994), the death process may start with simple words. This initiates the process of crossing the line into criminal liability as it is unlawful to provide people the means--e.g., a deleterious substance--to injure or kill themselves, even if death is slow, People v Carmichael, 5 Mich 10; 71 Am Dec 769 (1858); People v Stevenson, 416 Mich 383; 331 NW2d 143, 145-6 (1982). Since it is unlawful to do, it is unlawful to aid and abet.

           In addition, there are often laws against false advertising, false statements, mail fraud, and engaging in a pattern of crime, e.g., racketeering, engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise. In the United States, there is a law, 18 USC § 1001 against making false statements in any matter within federal jurisdiction. There is also a law, 18 USC § 1961, against engaging in a pattern of crime, defined as NLT two times in a ten year period. In order to deter wrongdoing of this type, the latter law provides injured parties to receive triple the normal amount of damages. Of course, the best solution is the criminal prosecution of the perpetrators as in all killings, here, the No. 1 worst pattern of killings, constituting a "holocaust" of the Nuremberg type.

An Austrian law bans Holocaust denial, authorizing up to ten years prison for "whoever denies, grossly plays down, approves or tries to excuse the National Socialist genocide or other National Socialist crimes against humanity in a print publication, in broadcast or the media." This law in essence enforces already existing laws against, e.g., fraud. In February 2006, "right-wing British historian David Irving" received "a 3-year prison sentence" for his Holocaust-denial activity, says The Macomb Daily, page 7A (22 Feb 2006).

Similarly should be treated "whoever denies, grossly plays down, approves or tries to excuse the [tobacco] genocide or other [tobacco pusher] crimes against humanity in a print publication, in broadcast or the media."

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