Aliyev’s cronies respond with coordinated attack on JusticeForNovikova sites

At request of Aliyev’s partner’s British lawyers, CNN has censored links to videos of JusticeForNovikova protests.

Rakhat Aliyev’s family members and business partners have begun a coordinated attack on the campaign to bring Anastasiya Novikova’s murderers to justice.

They began by convincing Facebook and CNN to censor content that criticizes them.

Their British lawyers did so by using the United Kingdom’s draconian and antiquated anti-libel legal traditions to ban the links and videos from being seen in Britain.* They apparently seek to use the threat of costly litigation in the UK to censor criticism of them on the Internet worldwide.

On December 11-12, Facebook responded by censoring the Prosecute Aliyev Facebook page in the UK. Facebook banned links, images and videos deemed critical of Aliyev’s brother-in-law Issam Hourani (Khorani) and Issam’s brother, Devincci Hourani.

Facebook warned that it would de-activate the Prosecute Aliyev page and the related user accounts if further offensive content was posted.

Facebook also censored its British users from links to the @ProsecuteAliyev page on Twitter.

Both Houranis are Aliyev’s business partners.

They are suspected of being material participants in the murder of Anastasiya Novikova in 2004, where they owned the apartment where the young women was held captive, tortured and raped. She “fell” to her death from the apartment balcony.

Also on December 11-12, CNN responded to the British lawyers by censoring videos of Justice for Novikova protests in London and in Vienna, Austria.

The protests were uploaded to CNN iReport, a hosting service that CNN says is devoted to “citizen journalism” to bring out news that otherwise would not be reported.

Links to those videos – including the November 16 “Get the Murderers Out of London” protest – are now dead.

Twitter has not taken any censorship action. At least not yet.

Issam and Devincci Hourani have become sensitive to recent publicity that, in 2013, a United States federal judge threw out their defamation case “with prejudice,” partly in regard to forged documents that the Houranis used to file their case. On the last page of his 2013 ruling, the judge said the Houranis’ case was “without merit.”

Below is a gallery of the warnings from Facebook and dead links from CNN.

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*Britain’s libel laws were so draconian that Parliament overhauled them in 2013. Criminals from all over the world practiced “libel tourism” to use British courts as jurisdiction to file harassing litigation against their critics – even if neither the critics nor the criminals were citizens or residents of the United Kingdom. Although the law has changed, companies like Facebook and CNN are still reactive to British lawyers and their libel-tourist clients. Rakhat Aliyev is not a citizen of the UK. Issam Hourani was born in Lebanon and holds a British passport and reportedly a Palestinian diplomatic passport. Devincci Hourani was also born in Lebanon and holds an American passport and reportedly a Palestinian diplomatic passport.

British lawyers for Aliyev’s accomplices have begun to succeed at pressuring Facebook and CNN to censor information about them.

More pictures from Nov 16 London protest

Message to Lebanese government and ‘Justice for Novikova’ in Arabic.

We have received more photos of the #JusticeForNovikova protest in London that called for two associates of Rakhat Aliyev to be brought to trial for Anastasiya’s murder.

The protest took place near the Lebanese Embassy after policewarned supporters that they risked arrest if they attempted to hand-deliver a letter to the Lebanese Ambassador.

The letter supported a Lebanese judge who is considering a case against Aliyev’s in-laws, Issam and Devincci Hourani, in connection with Anastasiya’s murder in 2004.

CNN iReport published a video online of the protest. A gallery of the photos appears below. See the related Twitter feeds with the hashtag#RakhatAliyev.

London protesters carry banners in English and Arabic, calling for Lebanon
to try Issam and Devincci Hourani for the murder of Anastasiya Novikova.

They tried to deliver a letter to the Lebanese ambassador. . .

A British police officer tells the women that they may be arrested
if they try to deliver the letter to the Lebanese Ambassador.

The letter, signed in Anastasiya’s name, that protesters
tried to deliver to the Lebanese Ambassador in London.

The Lebanese Embassy in London, where our supporters tried to deliver a letter to the ambassador.

Security is tight at Kensington Palace Mews,
the gated street that houses many embassies, including that of Lebanon.

"Get the murderers out of London!"

Dozens of protesters assembled.

Devincci Hourani: ‘Get him out of London’

Messages in Arabic, supporting Lebanon judge to try the accomplices.

Demand to put Issam Hourani on trial for murder

The embassies can be seen in the background.

Rakhat Aliyev – Murderer

Justice for Novikova

Message to Lebanese government and ‘Justice for Novikova’ in Arabic

CNN shows our London protest video on iReport

[UPDATE, December 12, 2014: Rakhat Aliyev’s business partners/in-laws invoked Britain’s laws to pressure CNN to censor this video.]

For the second time since July, CNN has hosted a video of our protests to bring the murderers of Anastasiya Novikova to justice.

The latest video is of our November 16 protest outside the Lebanese Embassy in London. #JusticeForNovikova activists attempted to deliver a letter to the Lebanese Ambassador, but were stopped by police and warned that they would be arrested.

London protesters carry banners in English and Arabic, calling for Lebanon to try Issam and Devincci Hourani for the murder of Anastasiya Novikova.

The letter was an expression of support for the Lebanese judge who is reportedly considering Anastasiya’s murder case. Two prime suspects are said to be named – both of whom are Lebanese co-conspirators of Rakhat Aliyev.

The suspects are Issam Hourani and Devincci Hourani. The former Hourani is Aliyev’s brother-in-law.

Both have been involved in various well-publicized business schemes and frauds that include forgeries, introduced as evidence in litigation filed in Britain, France and the United States.

“Get the murderers out of London!” the protesters chanted in the video.

One of the participants, a mother who lost her 21 year-old daughter and identifies with Anastasiya’s family, is shown speaking to a police officer outside the gated entrance to the street housing the Lebanese Embassy.

The mother explained to the camera why she was protesting, and spoke, through the video, to Anastasiya’s parents, saying that she and others would fight in Britain for their cause.

The Houranis own a flat at London’s exclusive Lowndes Square, which was the site of a #JusticeForNovikova protest last June, on the 10th anniversary of Anastasiya’s murder.

Protesters chose Lowndes Square because the Houranis owned the Beirut flat where Anastasiya was held captive, turtured, raped, drugged, and ultimately murdered in 2004. The protest took place on the 10th anniversary of her violent death.

Forbes magazine recently wrote a feature on Aliyev’s use of KGB forgeries to discredit his critics, and mentioned Issam and Devincci Hourani for surfacing forgeries as pretexts for litigation.

Our first video run by CNN’s iReport was of our July vigil in Vienna, Austria. A small group of our supporters held a quiet watch in front of the Vienna Criminal Court building on the day of Rakhat Aliyev’s hearing, in which he was expected to ask to be released on his own recognizance.

Instead, Austrian prosecutors kept Aliyev in jail as they built a double murder case against him.

Happy birthday, Anastasiya. You would have been 34 today

Anastasiya Novikova’s grave outside Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Anastasiya Novikova would have been 34 years old today.

She was murdered 10 years ago, at age 24, leaving behind the lovely baby daughter she had conceived with Rakhat Aliyev.

After Anastasiya’s “fall” from a Beirut high-rise in June 2004, her body was taken out of Lebanon on a chartered jet and flown to Kazakhstan, even though Anastasiya was not a citizen of Kazakhstan. Her mother, a Russian who lived in Uzbekistan, was not notified of Anastasiya’s death.

Anastasiya’s broken remains were buried in a shallow grave in a remote abandoned cemetery. Her baby was sent to be raised by the parents of Aliyev’s cousin, whom he had forced her to marry as a way of covering up the paternity of the child. The cousin, Daniyar Esten, then died mysteriously in a Vienna automobile collision the following year.

In 2007, when Anastasiya’s remains were discovered, exhumed and identified, Kazakhstan authorities notified the victim’s family. Her body was given a Christian burial at a cemetery outside Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Now, Anastasiya’s grave remains a place of pilgrimage for those who loved her. Happy birthday, Anastasiya. We will continue to seek justice for you.

BREAKING: Rakhat Aliyev to be charged with double murder

After interviewing 90 witnesses, Austrian prosecutors have developed a “closed chain of evidence” to charge Rakhat Aliyev with two counts of murder.

According to a 14-page report by prosecutor Bettina Wallner, obtained by Austria’s OE1-Morgenjournal, the evidence is overwhelming that Rakhat Aliyev was responsible for the murders of two executives of Nurbank in Kazakhstan. The news story broke on October 31.

The slain bankers, Zholdas Timraliyev and Aybar Khasenov, were allegedly kidnapped, tortured, and murdered at a farmhouse that Aliyev owned. Their remains were then stuffed in a steel barrel and hidden in a trash dump.

The murdered men’s widows formed a group, Tagdyr, to push for the prosecution of Rakhat Aliyev and other perpetrators of the crimes.

Just days before the October 31 report about the double-murder charges, media outlets sympathetic to Aliyev ran a thinly-sourced article stating that the widows’ group was a front for Kazakhstan’s KNB intelligence service. The theme was identical to earlier Aliyev tactics to brand his opponents as tools of the Kazakh secret service.

In September, Forbes magazine exposed the Aliyev forgery campaign, done in association with his accomplices Issam Hourani and Devincci Hourani (Khourani), to surface forgeries as a way of smearing, intimidating, or otherwise harassing critics.

That same month, Tagdyr took up Anastasiya Novikova’s cause as Anastasiya’s mother expanded her involvement in seeking justice for her daughter’s murder.

#JusticeNovikova stickers are still appearing around London

JusticeForNovikova supporters remain active around the neighbourhood of Rakhat Aliyev’s accomplices.

Our #JusticeforNovikova stickers are still appearing around London.

We get reports of sticker sightings occasionally. A supporter sent in this photo of our logo that someone had placed at the Knightsbridge underground station earlier this month.

The location is noteworthy, because Knightsbridge is the closest tube stop to Lowndes Square, home of Rakhat Aliyev’s accomplices Issam Hourani and Devincci Hourani.

The Hourani brothers owned the flat in Beirut where Anastasiya Novikova was held captive and killed in 2004.

The first Justice for Novikova protest occurred at Lowndes Square last June, on the 10th anniversary of Anastasiya’s death.

Our stickers have been appearing around the world: In Austria, Lithuania, the Netherlands, and as far away as California USA.

Designs for #JusticeforNovikova stickers, posters, and masks are available for anyone to download, for free, by clicking here or clicking the Downloads tab above.

UPDATE, NOVEMBER 3: More stickers are sighted in London’s Belgravia neighborhood and elsewhere.

The sticker is visible on the lamp post in the middle of the photo.
Others like it were seen around Lowndes Square on the morning of November 1.

This photo was posted on our Facebook page on November 1, outside a restaurant near Lowndes Square.

Thanks to the friend who sent it in.

The image is pulled from our Facebook page.

Our Facebook page has 5000 likes

More than 5,000 people now ‘like’ our Facebook page.

This week, the Justice for Novikova Facebook page hit 5,000 likes – after surpassing Rakhat Aliyev’s own established Facebook page in terms of ‘likes’ last month.

Aliyev claims to be a political ‘dissident’ and human rights victim, but he shows no support from Kazakhstan’s political opposition, and none from the international human rights community.