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A10 WORLD NEWS
Saturday 15 June 2019

Man accused in New Zealand mosque killings pleads not guilty

By NICK PERRY when I saw the terrorist, he
Associated Press was just, he’s nothing. Just
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zea- sitting like that. Pretend-
land (AP) — The man ac- ing that he’s innocent and
cused of the New Zealand nothing is wrong.”
mosque attacks smirked She said she thought the
as his lawyer entered not shooter deserved to be
guilty pleas to terrorism, given the death penalty,
murder and attempted even though New Zealand
murder charges Friday be- no longer institutes the pun-
fore a judge who set his trial ishment.
for next May. “It’s not easy to lose your
The courtroom was filled child. Not only my child,
with 80 survivors and fam- but 50 people,” Ezat said.
ily members of the 51 who “It’s unfair. It’s unfair. And
were slain, while about an- he was laughing.”
other 60 watched the hear- Abdul Aziz, who is consid-
ing on video in an overflow ered a hero for confront-
room at the Christchurch ing the gunman at the
High Court. Four cultural Linwood mosque, said he
advisers and other staff wouldn’t say the suspect’s
were assigned to help the name.
victims and family mem- “He’s a coward. And be-
bers understand the pro- hind the cell he’s laughing,”
ceedings and the next In this March 16, 2019, file photo, Brenton Tarrant, the man charged in the Christchurch mosque Aziz said. “He should have
steps in the case. shootings, appears in the Christchurch District Court, in Christchurch, New Zealand. laughed when I faced him.
A man who addressed Associated Press Then I would see how he
the survivors said they had showed little emotion dur- charge in relation to the members, who later said laugh. He run like a dog. He
been praying during the ing the hearing. When March 15 shootings. the man was saying things run like a chicken.”
holy month of Ramadan Judge Cameron Mander Mander said the findings of supportive of white su- In the March 15 attacks
and that the Muslim com- asked if he could hear two mental-health assess- premacist ideology. during Friday prayers, 42
munity would help and sup- and see what was going ments showed Tarrant had Police said they arrested worshippers were killed at
port each other during the on in the courtroom, Tar- no issues related to his abil- a 33-year-old man and the Al Noor mosque and
coming weeks and months. rant nodded. At times he ity to enter pleas and stand charged him with disorder- seven were killed at the Lin-
Brenton Tarrant, the looked around the room trial. The assessments are ly behavior. wood mosque. Two more
28-year-old Australian ac- and stretched his neck. standard in murder cases. Janna Ezat wore a shirt that people died later at the
cused of the attacks, ap- The judge did not allow The judge scheduled a six- she’d designed which fea- Christchurch Hospital.
peared at the hearing via cameras or video in the week trial to begin May 4. tured an image of her son The shooter livestreamed
video link from a small room courtroom although did Tarrant will remain in custo- Hussein Al-Umari, who was much of the attack on
at the maximum security approve a sketch artist dy ahead of his next hear- killed in the attacks. She Facebook.
prison in Auckland where commissioned by The Asso- ing in mid-August. said the court hearing had Tarrant had earlier pub-
he’s being held. The link ciated Press. Outside the court, police made her angry. lished a 74-page manifesto
was muted and he didn’t Tarrant has been charged and court security staff es- “Before I was OK and calm espousing a white suprem-
attempt to speak. with 51 counts of murder, corted a man away after and believe in this life my acist philosophy and detail-
Other than smirking a 40 counts of attempted he got into an argument son died and he is in a ing his plans to attack the
couple of times, Tarrant murder and one terrorism with survivors and family good place,” she said. “But mosques.q

Moldova caretaker govt to resign but demands an early vote

By CORNELIU RUSNAC last weekend with the pro- said after announcing the
Associated Press Russia Socialist Party of government’s resignation.
CHISINAU, Moldova (AP) — President Igor Dodon and “Because of this we will
A caretaker government a pro-European ACUM most likely end up having
in Moldova on Friday an- group. But the Democrats early elections, the only so-
nounced its resignation — backed by Moldova’s lution to the current crisis.”
in order to end a power Constitutional Court — “The Democratic Party re-
struggle that has height- have disputed the govern- mains open to dialogue,”
ened political tensions in ment’s legitimacy, claim- he said.
the impoverished ex-Soviet ing it was formed after a The Constitutional Court
republic. postelection deadline. had also suspended Dodon
But the administration dom- The stalemate has trig- over his refusal to dissolve
inated by the Democratic gered a power struggle parliament and replaced
Party, which is led by the that has raised fears of po- him with Filip.
powerful oligarch Vladimir litical instability in one of Eu- Filip then ordered parlia-
Plahotniuc, also said it still rope’s poorest nations. ment to dismantle and
considers the new Moldo- “The Constitutional Court called a snap election
van government to be ille- Moldova’s Prime Minister Maia Sandu speaks during press decisions are still standing for September. But this
gal and that an early elec- statements in Chisinau, Moldova, Thursday, June 13, 2019. and the new government was rejected by Dodon
tion should be held as the Associated Press will be an illegal one,” — Modova’s president
way out of the political cri- stalemate after an incon- Moldova’s new coalition Democratic Party vice since 2016 — and the new
sis that followed months of clusive election in February. government was formed president Vladimir Cebotari administration.q