Press release about Harry Bout - to serve a servile press

The Michigan Supreme Court decided on August 29th that the case of Harry Bout, a Dutchman who has been detained for 21 years, suspected of murder, will not be re-opened. The judge did not think there was sufficient proof that his rights had been violated although the Vienna Convention was neglected during his trial in 1985.

This ends the case of Harry Bout as far as the State of Michigan is concerned. A possible next step may be the Federal Supreme. Bout’s Dutch lawyer, Mr. G.G.J. Knoops, sees possibilities to fight the violations against the Vienna Convention.

Other options, such as return to the Netherlands on the basis of a treaty between the Netherlands and the USA, should now be considered too. Diplomatic solutions might be taken into consideration according to Bout’s US lawyer, Mr. Lawrence from Detroit.

The Free Harry Bout Support Group, formed by Sandra from Hoogeveen and Annabelle from Amsterdam, says it will continue to support and will look for funding for a case before the US Federal Supreme Court.

Harry Bout’s case is also endorsed by Innocence Denied.

The judgement was not entirely unexpected, as the Michigan Supreme Court never in its history had re-opened a case like this. It was a necessary step to procede, the Support group argues. “Many people have contributed in the cost of this Supreme Court ruling and we think it will be a step on the road to justice in the case of Harry Bout.”

The case

Mr Bout fights false murder charges against him based on the fact that he could not have shot the victim, Mr Iwuagwu, because he was downstairs in the house when he heard shots being fired. He then ran up the stairs with the shotgun of his mother, and shouted to his girlfriend Dawn Bean who was upstairs with Mr Iwuagwu: “are you alright?” Going upstairs he passed the bedroom of a lodger, who rented the room next to the one where the shooting had taken place and who happened to be at home, Mrs Evelyn Schneider. She came out of her bedroom and saw Mr Bout running up the stairs. In court, the police argued that Mrs Schneider could not have seen Mr Bout on the stairs, showing to the judge and jury a drawing of the house with wrongful information. The judge then prohibited the jury from seeing the premises for themselves. They then decided on the instigation of the D.A. that the police should be believed, to condemn Mr Bout.
The witness-account of Mrs Schneider was discarded. The bullets found on the body of the victim came from a small gun, not from the shotgun Mr Bout was carrying upstairs. The murderess, Ms Dawn Bean, 17 at the time and a former prostitute, was under the impression that Mr Iwuagwu had to be held up, until a third friend showed up to confront him about counterfeit plates. When this friend did not show up (he had no knowledge of this date), and when Mr Iwuagwu saw that she did not want to have intercourse with him, he decided to go. That was the time she thought she should keep him there, and so she shot him. Weeks earlier, she had shot and killed the dog of the family of Mr Bout.
Mr Bout decided under shock of what had just happened to call his friend, Mr Shaver, who had not been there, and the three of them decided to hide the body in the cellar. This was the ill judgement Mr Bout made. He did buy cement and he did help discard the body, but he did not murder Mr Iwuagwu.
Mr Shaver was arrested, threatened with parole violation and life imprisonment as a habitual criminal if he did not cooperate. Shaver took the police to where the body was buried. With the threat of life imprisonment for being a habitual criminal, the police were able to get Shaver to lie for them in exchange for having the prosecutor drop the habitual criminal charges.
Dawn Bean and Harry Bout were then arrested. Ms Bean proceeded with an insanity defense that was not receptive to the judge. After she obtained her third lawyer, she placed the blame on Mr Bout and made a deal with the prosecutor five days before she was to be on trial for first degree murder.
This left only Mr Bout to take the fall for a murder he did not even commit. The real murderer walked out of the courtroom with probation, while Harry Bout was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Ms Bean, who had struck a plea bargain and testified against Mr Bout, is the witness that the Grand Rapids and Michigan newspapers are talking about.

Later on, a former friend of Dawn Bean’s testified under oath that she had confessed the killing to him. He had seen the handgun in her handbag for himself. This testimony was also discarded by the court, because he was in prison when he made the testimony.
Questions about why Mr Bout would have wanted to kill his friend in his mother’s house remain unanswered by the court decision.

The Vienna Convention

All foreign prisoners are entitled to notify their consulate in case of arrest in the foreign country, according to an international convention also signed by the United States of America, in the interest of their own people in other countries. Mexicans and Germans have fought violations of this treaty, and the Dutch government has written two letters to the Michigan court to honor the treaty. This issue remains unsolved, because the court dismissed it.

For more information on the case of Harry Bout:

Website of the Supportgroup in The Netherlands

Website of Attorney Lawrence (Detroit) with photographic and video evidence

freeharrybout at yahoo dot com