Death of reputed Aryan leader stumps police (USA)

Frank E Roch Jr

Baytown man, 54, ruled over some 1,500 in and out of prison

When police found a heavily-tattooed, dying man slumped in a pickup truck crashed along U.S. 59 in mid-May, he had so many different identification cards they reportedly didn't know his name.

It would be many hours before police would realize he was the top general of one of the state's most notorious underworld organizations.

Questions still surround the death of Frank E. Roch Jr., the alleged leader of the of largest faction of the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas, a powerful white-supremacist prison gang.

"It was widely understood, at least in law enforcement circles, he was the general of generals," said John Bales, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Texas.

Roch, a 54-year-old Baytown resident who went by "Pancho," commanded an estimated 1,500 members in and outside of prisons, and had influence over many more associates and supporters, officials said. Exact numbers are unknown.

A funeral was held May 25 and his remains were cremated. But it is still not clear why he died the night of May 19, officials said.

"It is an open case," Houston Police spokesman Kese Smith said. "Witnesses reported seeing the vehicle swerve and strike a concrete barrier."

Harris County medical examiners have not yet determined the cause of his death.

Roch's criminal history went back decades. He was last in prison in 2009, according to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons. Road map of his life
A different look

A photo on a funeral home's memorial web site shows a far-different looking Roch than the man with the shaved head in a prison mug shot.

His thick, blondish-gray hair and handle bar moustache are grown out.

His shirt covers the maze of elaborate tattoos inked over his entire torso and arms.

The tattoos form a road map of his life and offer possible clues to his death.

Across his chest was the world "loyalty,“ according to a photo taken while he was in custody.

In the middle of his torso was a tattoo of the gang's shield, including a swastika, and a star denoting his rank of general and chairman.

On his arm, where members are known to have tattoos of vices, is what looks like a hypodermic needle.

"Everybody knows who this guy was," said a state law enforcement officer who requested his name not be published. "His loss has created a major disturbance in this gang."

The officer could tick off a list of Roch's crimes, but respected his tenaciousness as an adversary. He was one of the few prison-gang members that wouldn't give up anything during interrogations.

"He could play mind games," the officer recalled. "I would say he was a high IQ guy, very high IQ."
Blind obedience

Federal indictments unleashed in recent years against members of the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas describe the gang as promoting white supremacy and being involved in murders, assaults, robberies and extortion.

"Members are required to sign a blind faith commitment in which they agree to do anything directed or requested by their superiors without question," notes an indictment. "Failure to comply may result in severe beatings, known as beat-downs or deaths."

The Aryan Brotherhood of Texas has members in and outside the state. It is divided into two factions, law-enforcement officials said. Roch was the chairman of the larger organization, and led with the assistance of four lower-ranking generals.

 Houston Chronicle

Constitutional Court bans neo-Nazi group (Serbia)

The Constitutional Court of Serbia has determined that Nacionalni stroj is a secret association whose work is banned in accordance with the Constitution.

The organization is not allowed to work, promote and spread its ideas and goals.

The Constitutional Court’s decision also does not allow Nacionalni stroj to be registered in a “registry run by competent organs, associations and political parties”.

The court has also determined that the state and other bodies and organizations are obliged to take necessary measures in order to implement the decision.

The Constitutional Court started the discussion at a closed session on May 19, 2011.

The motion to ban the extreme-right organization was filed in October 2008, with an explanation that it was a “secret political organization” which incites national and religious hatred which is banned by the Serbian Constitution.

The prosecutor said that basis for the decision to ban Nacionalni stroj was also a fact that several members of the organization had been convicted of inciting racial and national hatred at the University in Novi Sad.

This is only beginning, minister says

Justice Minister Snežana Malović told B92 that the Constitutional Court’s decision to ban Nacionalni stroj was a clear message that Serbia would not tolerate organizations that promote racial, religious and national hatred and intolerance.

“Banning racial, religious and national hatred and intolerance is a European heritage. Nazi ideology that promotes such action is unacceptable in a democratic society such as ours and it cannot be tied to our historical and cultural heritage,” she pointed out.

Malović stressed that there must be no second-rate citizens and any discrimination whatsoever in the name of the past and the victims of Nazism, but also in the name of the future.

“Serbia will stop organizations that promote such ideologies with legal, political and democratic means,” the justice minister explained.

She believes that this is only a beginning and that the state will not allow far-right organizations to continue promoting Nazi ideas by changing their name.

Malović also stressed that society and all those involved in the political life needed to take their stand regarding the hate ideology and clearly show who neo-Nazis were.

B92.Net

Moscow police arrest neo-Nazi woman for race-hate murder

Moscow police said on Friday they have arrested a female skinhead accused of committing a race-hate murder four years ago.

According to investigators, Darya Tikhanova, a member of a radical neo-Nazi movement, took part in an attack on two Dagestani men on a commuter train in the Moscow suburbs in June 2007.

Tikhanova, 21, hit one of the men on the head with an empty glass bottle, while six other skinheads knifed the victims.

One of the Dagestani men died at the scene but the second survived the attack.

Tikhanova, who was arrested on Wednesday after more than three years on the run, faces life in prison if convicted.

Racially motivated crimes have become a problem in Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Routine attacks by skinheads and gangs of youths on foreigners and people with non-Slavic features are a regular occurrence in Moscow and St. Petersburg, as well as the city of Voronezh, which hosts many foreign university students, particularly from Africa.

RiaNovosti

"NEVER AGAIN' FOUNDER RECEIVES DISTINCTION FROM POLISH PRESIDENT (Poland)

On 4 June, the Polish Freedom Day, President Bronislaw Komorowski awarded a high-level state distinction, the Officer’s Cross of the Order Polonia Restituta, to Marcin Kornak, the founder and chairman of the anti-racist ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association. ‘Poland really needs your activity. Thank you!’ said President Komorowski congratulating the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ leader. The President met with a group of civil society activists including Jerzy Owsiak, the founder of the charity WOSP and organizer of the annual Polish Woodstock rock festival. A delegation of five ‘NEVER AGAIN’ members was present during the meeting, too.  Marcin Kornak is a co-founder and chairman of the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association as well as the editor-in-chief of the anti-fascist ‘NEVER AGAIN’ magazine. He has initiated the campaigns ‘Music Against Racism’ and ‘Let’s Kick Racism Out of the Stadiums’. He is the principal author of the ‘Brown Book 1987-2009’ and ‘Brown Book 2009-2010’ (published with the support of the EVZ Foundation), which contain results of hate crime monitoring conducted by ‘NEVER AGAIN’.

Born in 1968, Marcin Kornak has used a wheel chair since the age of 15. He is renowned as a poet and author of lyrics for several independent rock bands. After the ceremony, during a reception in the presidential garden, Prime Minister Donald Tusk received copies of the ‘Brown Book’ from ‘NEVER AGAIN’ members and discussed the problem of racism in Polish football with them. The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association is an anti-racist educational and monitoring organization established in Poland in 1996. In 2011, the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association received the Honorary Medal of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising awarded by the Association of Jewish Ex-Combatants and Victims of World War II as well as the European Football Supporters Award. Since 2009, ‘NEVER AGAIN’ has coordinated the FARE East European Development Project supported by UEFA in the lead up to EURO 2012 in Poland and Ukraine. ‘NEVER AGAIN’ has set up the East Europe Monitoring Centre documenting racism and xenophobia across the region.

Never Again Association

Spain’s high court overturns conviction on Nazi propaganda

Spain's Jewish community has slammed a ruling by the country's Supreme Court that overturns the conviction of four people connected to a Barcelona bookstore that sold Nazi literature.

The four connected to the now defunct bookshop, Kalki, had been found guilty by a lower court of fostering xenophobia and anti-Semitism through the selling of Nazi literature. The acquittals include a publisher in the nearby town of Molins de Rei.

In 2009, the four were each sentenced to 3 1/2 years in jail after being found guilty of selling publications that justified the Holocaust and praised the Nazi regime.

In the Supreme Court's ruling, Justice Miguel Colmenero wrote that the selling of Nazi propaganda that promotes genocide is only a crime when there exists a danger that it could create a climate of hostility that would incite violence.

"Jews in Spain view with extreme concern the fact that the Spanish judiciary, so sensitive in certain situations, does not consider as criminal conduct the sale of books denying the Holocaust and promoting racism, in spite of standing criminal legislation to the contrary," the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain said in a statement.

The Israeli Embassy in Madrid in a statement said that Israel was "sad and concerned" to hear of the acquittals, "allowing for the circulation of books that incite hate and deny the Holocaust."

Elan Steinberg, vice president of the American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and their Descendants, called the ruling "a grievous blow" to Spain's "laudatory efforts to confont its historical fascist past."

"The court has insulted the memory of all Nazi victims -- Jew and non-Jew," Steinberg said in a statement.

Jta

Racist put ham into Muslims’ shoes (UK)

A racist stuffed HAM into Muslims' shoes left outside a mosque as they prayed barefoot inside.

Drunken Jamie Knowlson, 30, also draped slices of the pig meat - which Muslims are barred from eating on religious grounds - on railings around the building.

As he left, the lout shouted "the next visit will be harder" and "bad meat", a court heard.

Knowlson targeted the Al-Baseera mosque in St Judes, Bristol, which around 2,000 Somali Muslims use each week.

When arrested nearby, he told police his sacrilegious attack was a drunken joke. Knowlson later admitted he knew his mindless stunt would cause offence and returned to apologise.

He faced up to two years' jail, but was given a suspended six-month prison sentence because he had said sorry.

Knowlson pleaded guilty to causing racially or religiously aggravated harassment.

Judge Carol Hagen told him: "It is difficult to imagine a more offensive incident."

Knowlson, of Kingswood, Bristol, was also sentenced to 150 hours' unpaid work. A second man faces trial.

After the Bristol Crown Court case, Mubarak Mohamud, imam at the Al-Baseera mosque, said: "Our initial reaction was shock and bewilderment. But we teach tolerance."

The Sun

Police prepare for EDL (UK)

A Kirklees police chief claims it will be ‘business as usual’ in Dewsbury next weekend, despite a planned demonstration.

As we reported two weeks ago, the far-right English Defence League is planning action in the town on Saturday June 11.

A member of the Dewsbury division of the group said it was expecting hundreds of people to visit Dewsbury for the demonstration outside the town hall.

But this week Chief Supt John Robins, Divisional Commander of Kirklees Police said officers were prepared and working with organisers.

“We have received notification from local EDL members that they intend to hold a static demonstration outside Dewsbury Town Hall on the afternoon of Saturday June 11.”

He added: “West Yorkshire Police has a great deal of experience in policing these kinds of events and we are working with the council and communities to put plans in place.

My aim is to ensure it is business as usual for the traders, businesses and the people of Dewsbury on the day.”

Dewsbury Reporter