THE TERRAN INDEPENDENT
SEVEN HOSTAGES RETURN SAFELY TO TERRA AFTER SECRET OPERATION; THREE CONFIRMED DEAD; TEN STILL MISSING, FEARED DEAD
After Tauron mob boss Georgiou Fazekas, commonly known as Guatrau, took twenty Terrans hostage in a crowded courtroom earlier this month and marched them to a waiting starship outside the courthouse in downtown Wing City, nearly three thousand Terrans from across the planet gathered to hold a vigil behind Government Center, awaiting the announcement of either the hostages' executions or rescue. Fazekas issued no statements or ultimatums until several hours after leaving the planet--and threatening to kill each of the hostages, starting with Intelligence Director Arianne Drulović, if the TAF attempted to intercept his departure--at which time he announced that ten of the Terrans had been condemned to execution by an ancient Roman method called crucifixion.
Victims of crucifixion are tied or nailed to crosses or vertical beams of wood and exposed to the elements. They typically die within several days of exposure, and the cause of death is always heart failure caused by asphyxiation from the unnatural suspended position of the victim.
Seven hostages returned planetside safely this week. The announcement was made later, claims a source in the TIB who asked not to be named, for security reasons. The hostages who returned were Drulović, NPA Director Jamal Morrison Lebrun, the Hon. Katya Chlumecky, the
Terran Independent's Myung-Ho Lee and Chan-Il Kim, the TIB's Ahmad Q. Fazari, and Prosecutor General Juliana Charles. Typically, the
Terran Independent publishes news as soon as it breaks; however, we received an executive order from Prime Minister Cranford's office placing a general blackout order on the news story.
Three hostages have been confirmed dead, said the same source. Prosecutor General Ramin Fereydoun, NPA Special Agent Fabia Ramirez, and Moscow native Nikolai Dobrovich are said to have died as a result of the ordered crucifixions.
The other ten hostages, Rio de Janeiro native Jennefer DeAlmeida Pereira, Esfahan native Shahbaz Husayn, Mumbai native Anwesha Madhireddy, Paris native Pauline Doucot, New York City native Nathan Messier, Kiev native Petra Evanova, Guatemala City native Joaquin Pineda, Kyoto native Tazaki Tajiri, Ibadan native Mariam Nwake, and Houston native Cheryl Bluni, remain unaccounted for and are officially listed as missing. The TIB source could not confirm whether they were dead or alive, but those Terrans who have remained at the vigil (just over two thousand at the moment) outside Government Center insist that they will not leave until they learn the fates of the remaining hostages. Fazekas has not issued a statement.
Cranford is expected to make a speech Saturday on the steps of Government Center.
LEBRUN SUFFERS STROKE, HOSPITALIZEDNPA Director Jamal Morrison Lebrun suffered a stroke during captivity on Hadante. Upon return to Terra, Lebrun was hospitalized in an undisclosed location, and is currently in critical condition. A source within the NPA who asked not to be named said that Lebrun has suffered complete paralysis on one side of his body.
Neurology consultant Dr. Ichigo Hatachi said, "It often takes months or even years for a stroke victim to make a full or near-complete recovery. In Director Lebrun's case, it is most likely that he will require at least twenty hours a week of intense occupational and speech therapy in order to regain his equilibrium and communication abilities. He may be confined to a wheelchair or require the use of a walking aid for the rest of his life."
What causes a stroke? "A stroke may be caused by a number of factors," explained Hatachi, "including extreme physical stress, pre-existing and underlying medical conditions, the exacerbation of a pre-existing medical condition, or potentially even other genetic predispositions or environmental factors. A stroke is caused when the blood flow to any part of the brain is disrupted or blocked, which deprives the brain and its neurons of oxygen, and thereby diminishes its ability to function. A stroke can last for a little as a few seconds or as long as several minutes. The symptoms of a stroke are not necessarily immediately observable, including to the untrained eye, but may include sudden loss of motor control on one side of the body, slurred speech, or sudden, abnormally delayed response times to stimuli, including speech. Because the left hemisphere controls motor functions on the right side of the body and vice versa, stroke victims are often partially or completely paralyzed on the opposite of the body from where the stroke occurrred."
The NPA is currently under the operation of Acting Director Abdalhaq Mulavi of Mogadishu, Somalia, who has not yet released an official statement regarding Lebrun's condition or potential return to the NPA. Mulavi is expected to give a public address within the next two days. Parliament is expected to place Lebrun on indefinite leave; however, there are no plans currently in place to locate a permanent replacement as the NPA's Director.
JUDGE KATYA CHLUMECKY IN CRITICAL CONDITIONJudge Katya Chlumecky, of Warsaw, Poland, was hospitalized in an undisclosed location immediately upon her return to Terra via the airport outside Wing City. Chlumecky began her legal career in post-Soviet Union Europe, culminating in a judgeship granted in 2000 in Poland. After the dissolution of various world governments and the unification of the Terran National Government, Chlumecky accepted an appointment to the Superior Court in Wing City.
This month, Chlumecky's docket included the criminal case of
The People v. Georgiou Fazekas, aka Guatrau, in which the Aschen-born Tauron crimelord was charged with offenses related to his public announcement of a bounty on Intelligence Director Arianne Drulović, and the various attempts on Drulović's life immediately afterward. During the highly-publicized trial, Fazekas interrupted Drulović's testimony on the witness stand with at least a dozen armed men taking twenty Terrans from the courtroom hostage, including Chlumecky.
The Chlumecky family has traveled from Warsaw to Wing City to be with Chlumecky, and are staying in an undisclosed location under NPA protection.
OBITUARY FOR RAMIN FEREYDOUNBorn in April 1960 in Tehran, Iran, Ramin Fereydoun was studying abroad at Yale University during the Iranian Revolution that overthrew the Shah and installed the Ayatollah-run theocracy infamous for its hardline stance toward Islam and foreign relations. A student activist, Ramin completed his degree before returning to Iran to read law, where he received certification as a lawyer in the Iranian courts.
Ramin spent much of the next fifteen years in and out of prison, under constant surveillance, and subjected to harrassment from the Iranian intelligence service. He advocated publicly for change and progressive reforms to the judiciary as well as the country's codified modesty laws -- Iran's infamous dress codes for both women and men. He defended several foreigners arrested and accused of espionage, and at one point, was imprisoned for seven years under charges of working for the CIA. (The CIA denied any association with Ramin.)
After the installation of the Terran National Government, Ramin and his family relocated to Wing City and he sought employment with the Ministry of Justice. Due to his experience with the law and dedication to justice, Ramin was appointed as a senior Prosecutor General in the Superior Court, where was expected to prosecute some of Terra's most difficult and high-profile cases. He died as a direct result of prosecuting Tauron crime lord Georgiou Fazekas, who murdered Ramin and several others.
In his free time, Ramin regularly attended Friday prayer services at the Islamic Center of Wing City. He maintained a garden in his backyard.
Ramin married Zufash Hosseinzadeh in 1984. He is survived by Zufash, and their four children, sons Mustafa and Ali and daughters Fatima and Rabiya. Funeral arrangements have been made with the Islamic Center of Wing City for this Saturday, at eight in the morning.
OBITUARY FOR FABIA RAMIREZBorn in September 1973 in San Salvador, El Salvador, Fabia Josefa Orellana Ramirez's family immigrated to the United States when she was seven in June 1980. Fabia lived in the Bronx in New York City, and later attended the University of New Haven, where she studied criminal justice and was a member of the Army ROTC. After fulfilling her contract, Fabia sought employment with the FBI.
She spent the majority of her career working in the organized crime unit, targeting ethnic-based crime syndicates like the Mexican drug cartels, Cambodian human trafficking rings, and the Russian mafia. Upon the establishment of the Terran National Government, Fabia relocated to Wing City and was recruited into the NPA under Lebrun's Directorship, where she was assigned to investigate the bounty on Intelligence Director Arianne Drulović issued by Tauron mob boss Georgiou Fazekas.
She was dedicated to preventing the recruitment of at-risk youth, especially minority youth, into gangs or other organized criminal activity through both community initiatives and aggressive investigations. Fabia's former FBI partner, Julius Porter, commended Fabia for decisive action in several cases that protected victims, identified offenders, and offered youthful offenders opportunities in alternative sentencing programs based in the community. She personally mentored several youth, none of whom were re-arrested later.
Fabia died when Fazekas murdered several people involved with prosecuting the case against him, after being taken hostage and forcibly transported to Hadante. She is survived by her sisters, Angela Paz Orellana Ramirez of San Francisco, California; Patricia Reina Alcuapan Quintanilla of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Cristina Amistad Cruz-Reyes of Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and her brothers, Joaquin Gerardo Orellana Ramirez of Dallas, Texas; and Tomas Santiago Orellana Ramirez of Atlanta, Georgia.
Funeral services will be held at Iglesia Bautista de Gracia on Water Street in Wing City this Saturday at ten in the morning.
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This Hivefleet here was one of the downfall points and now to what we know the eye of Terra near the Planet Cadia was also one of the downfall points. That has now closed and all units are said to be ready to take anything that stands in their way. We have also been told that there is a planet for a Empire called the Tau that have gave up the soon to be heavy fought planet. These Regiments are on their way to the planet and the Tau have gave buildings and some Units to the Coming Empire. 
