Olympic Teams From Germany, Hungary, Italy, Slovakia and Slovenia Get Terror Threat Ahead of Sochi Winter Games

Will the Sochi Winter Olympics be terror free or are wee about to see terrorism on a world state in real time with social media 24/7?

Ahead of the Sochi Winter Olympics and with previous video threats of terror acts promised to take place and with Russian authorities on high alert, it is now being reported that teams from Germany, Hungary, Italy, Slovakia and Slovenia have received terror threats not to send their athletes to the games. Authorities are already on the look out for “Black Widow’s” and other terrorists ahead of the games. Needless to say, talk about a dicey situation.

The Olympic teams of at least five countries said Wednesday that they had received emails threatening attacks at the Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, adding to mounting security fears two weeks before competition begins.

The International Olympic Committee told NBC News that it did not consider the threats credible and said that it appeared to be “a random message from a member of the public.”

The Olympic organizing committees of Germany, Hungary, Italy, Slovakia and Slovenia reported getting threats.

According to Zsigmond Nagy, an official of the Hungarian Olympic Committee, he stated the following“I am very pleased to inform everyone that both the IOC and the Sochi organizing committee … declared after the analysis of the letter that this threat is not real,”  “This person has been sending all kinds of messages to many members of the Olympic family.” Hmm, not sure how this individual is so sure.

UPDATE I: The International Olympic Committee said Wednesday that the letter sent to the HOC did not represent any threat to athletes. I guess it all depends on how one defines a threat to athletes. However, the German team described the email as a “terror warning” with words to the effect of “be careful out there in Sochi” and the Italian Olympic Committee described the email as containing “terrorist threats.” That sounds much different that the IOC looking to present a positive front.

“The IOC treats security issues very seriously and forwards any reliable information to the security services. However, it appears that in this case, the letter sent to the HOC does not contain any threat,” an IOC spokesperson told R-Sport.

The Sochi organizing committee also assessed the letter and said there is no real threat, and that the author has also been sending messages to other countries competing in the Olympics, HOC international relations director Zsigmond Nagy told Reuters.

Daily Commentary – Wednesday, March 27, 2013 – Amanda Knox Will Be Facing a Retrial in Italy

• Italy’s highest court overturns acquittal for the 2007 Murder charges

New Trail Ordered for Amanda Knox … Italy’s High Court Overturns Amanda Knox Acquittal in Murder of British Roommate Meredith Kercher

Breaking News out of Italy … Italy’s Highest Court has overturned the Amanda Knox Murder Acquittal.

Italy’s highest court has overturned the Amanda Knox murder acquittal of her British roommate Meredith Kercher and has ordered a retrial. After six hours of appeals deliberations yesterday, this morning the Court of Cassation in Rome ruled that an appeals court in Florence must re-hear the case against the American Amanda Know and her Italian ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito. It is uncertain as to what the court considered appealable in their decision. The exact issues that have to be reconsidered won’t be known until the court releases its full ruling within 90 days.

Italy’s highest court has ruled that Amanda Knox should be retried over the 2007 killing of her British flatmate Meredith Kercher  in Perugia.

Knox, 25, and her ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, 29, spent four years in jail, but were freed on appeal in 2011 largely on the grounds DNA evidence was flawed.

On hearing the news today Knox admitted it was ‘painful’ to receive the decision, but said she was ‘confident in the truth.’

 Statement from Amanda Knox following the ruling:

“It was painful to receive the news that the Italian Supreme Court decided to send my case back for revision when the prosecution’s theory of my involvement in Meredith’s murder has been repeatedly revealed to be completely unfounded and unfair,” the statement said.

Knox said the matter must now be examined by “an objective investigation and a capable prosecution.”

“No matter what happens, my family and I will face this continuing legal battle as we always have, confident in the truth and with our heads held high in the face of wrongful accusations and unreasonable adversity.” 

It is unimaginable that Knox would return to Italy for the trial. There is nothing that would compel her to do so and no attorney worth their salt would recommend it after the roller-coaster legal ride of this murder case. There is much public pressure in Italy for a guilty verdict. Amanda Knox could be tried in absentia. What makes all this even more bizarre is that Amanda Knox’s book is scheduled to be released in the very new future.

Amanda Knox and her Italian boyfriend were originally found guilty in 2009 of sexual assault and murder of the British student Meredith Kercher in 2007. They were sentenced to 26 and 25 years respectively. An Ivory Coast man, Rudy Guede, was convicted of the slaying in a separate proceeding and is serving a 16 year sentence. However, they were then acquitted in a retrial in 2011 on the grounds that the DNA evidence produced at the first trial was flawed. Prosecution lawyers then appealed to the Court of Cassation to overturn the 2011 verdict on procedural grounds. Now we find ourselves at present day.

Amanda Knox Awaits the Ruling as Italy’s High Court Considers Her Acquittal of the Murder Charges in the Death of 21 Year Old British Student Meredith Kercher

Will Amanda Knox finally be considered free of murder charges?

Amanda Knox awaits the next step in the judicial process to see whether she will be retried  following her acquittal of the murder in the death of 21 year old British student Meredith Kercher.  Prosecutors are asking the Italian high court to throw out the acquittals of American Knox and her Italian ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito. Knox and Sollecito were initially arrested in 2007, then convicted and given prison sentences: 26 years for Knox, 25 for Sollecito. However,  in 2011 the appeals court acquitted them, criticizing the prosecutors case  in the first trial.  The proceedings today are the second and final level of appeal, prosecutors are now seeking to overturn the acquittals, while defense attorneys say they should stand. If the acquittal stands, the case is over. If it is reversed, the saga continues …

VIDEO: CNN

Amanda Knox was “very anxious” as Italy’s top criminal court heard arguments Monday from prosecutors appealing her acquittal in the murder of her roommate, her lawyer said.

“She’s carefully paying attention to what will come out,” attorney Luciano Ghirga said as he arrived at Italy’s Court of Cassation. “This is a fundamental stage. The trial is very complex.”

Prosecutors are asking the high court to throw out the acquittals of American Knox and her Italian ex-boyfriend in the murder of 21-year-old British student Meredith Kercher, and order a new trial.

A verdict could come later today.

Lonnie Kocontes Arrested for Murder of ex-wife Micki Kanesaki Who Went Overboard an Italian Cruise Ship into the Mediterranean on May 26, 2006 off the Island Escape

With murder, it’s never over, until it’s over …

55 year old Lonnie Kocontes was arrested Friday night on an outstanding warrant in Southwest Florida for the murder of his ex-wife Micki Kanesaki.  Kocontes was charged with special circumstances murder for financial gain in the death of his ex-wife who went overboard aboard an Italian cruise ship on  May 26, 2006 off the Island Escape in the Mediterranean. Her body was found by the Italian Coast Guard the next day, floating in the sea near Naples.

This sounds a little bit like the Gary Giordano – Robyn Gardner missing persons for profit case in Aruba. Prosecutors believe that Kocontes strangled Kaneski to death on board the ship and then threw her overboard. The arrest finally ended an investigation that started in 2008, when Kocontes began transferring more than $1 million from Kaneski’s bank accounts into joint accounts he held with his new wife. If convicted, Lonnie Kocontes faces life in state prison without the possibility of parole and is eligible for the death penalty.

He was charged with one count of special circumstances murder for financial gain, according to Farrah Emami, a spokeswoman for the Orange County District Attorney’s office.

Kocontes’ ex-wife, Micki Kanesaki, plunged into the Mediterranean on May 26, 2006, off the Island Escape, which was sailing between Sicily and Naples, according to the FBI. Her body washed ashore the next day in Calabria in southwest Italy.