Attempted assassination of Ernest Pyle
| Attempted Assassination of Ernest Pyle | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Global 2020 Anti-Terranihil Protests | |||
 Crime Scene Investigators at work outside of the park. | |||
| Date | June 4, 2020 | ||
| Location | |||
| Goals | Assassinate Ernest Pyle | ||
| Methods | Sniper shot from a rooftop, escape by plane | ||
| Status | Failed, Wrong person shot, Multiple Perpetrators arrested | ||
| Parties to the civil conflict | |||
| Lead figures | |||
| |||
| Number | |||
| |||
| Casualties and losses | |||
| |||
Template:Anti-Kavardan sentiment
On June 4, 2020, Boleslaw Siyanovich, a Xussman military contractor with G4S and five other mercenaries, attempted but failed to assassinate Paleocacherian journalist Ernest Pyle during an awards ceremony in Liberty City. The sniper's round hit Mayor Raimundo Galicias in the head, killing him. Five of the mercenaries, including Boleslaw, managed to escape Paleocacherian authorities on a sea plane until their later capture in Sasebo by the Reian military. One mercenary was arrested in Paleocacher.
The assassination attempt was followed by a long series of extradition and trial proceedings. The case was settled on November 16, 2020 with an international trial in which all six mercenaries and G4S company officials agreed to a plea deal in which they were sentenced to varying lengths of time in Paleocacherian prison.
The Paleocacherian government, Pyle, and other sources accuse the Terranilian government of hiring the contractors to assassinate Pyle. Terranihil has denied these allegations. No conclusive evidence directly linking Terranihil to the mercenaries has surfaced.
Contents
Background
Ernest Pyle is a Paleocacherian investigative journalist who travelled to Terranihil and conducted an illegal investation into the Kavardan ethnic cleansing. He interviewed several workers at Soislaan reeducation facility, a X worker who claimed his company sold toxic chemicals to Terranihil, and flew a drone over the reeducaiton facility to capture pictures. He managed to safely flee the country and published his findings in an article titled An Exposé of Conditions in Kavardan Re-Education Camps on May 29, 2020. Pyle claimed that he had obtained evidence of the Terranilian government's systematic extermination of Kavardans.
The Terranilian government denied Pyle's allegations and condemned his actions. On June 2, the Terranilian Department of Foreign Affairs released a statement condeming Pyle, branding him a terrorist, and calling for his assassination.[1]
Assassination attempt and escape
On June 3, 2020, six Xussman mercenaries disguised as tourists arrived in Liberty City from Nevidimir.[2] An incident involving a firearm at the same airport the mercenaries arrived at occurred shortly after their flight landed.[3] They stayed at a hotel in Middle City for a single night.[4]
On the afternoon of June 4, 2020, Ernest Pyle attended an outdoor awards ceremony for the Palliser Award for the Arts for his journalistic work regarding the Kavardan ethnic cleansing in Middle City, at which Mayor Raimundo Galicias attended. An estimated 1500 people attended the ceremony as well.[5]
As the ceremony was set up, five of the mercenaries also prepared to assassinate Pyle from the rooftop of the hotel they stayed at. They set up a zip-line from the hotel to another building, Belmont Arms Hotel, at which a getaway SUV and driver were prepared.[6] As Mayor Galicias handed Pyle his award, the sniper fired a single round. Instead of hitting Pyle, it struck Galicias in the head.[7] The mercenaries used the zip-line to flee the hotel roof. The crowd erupted in panic and the police immediately began responding. Ambulances arrived shortly after to take Galicias to the hospital.
A parking enforcement officer at the Belmont Arms Hotel, unaware of the transpiring events, approached the getaway vehicle for a parking violation. She called over two police officers for assistance.[8] The mercenary in the vehicle seemingly panicked and began firing rounds at the officers, killing one of the police officers and injuring the other two. The injured parking enforcement officer managed to open the door of the shooters vehicle and began striking him with her ticket computer. Several bystanders assisted the officer in beating, disarming, and restraining the mercenary with no further casualties. The man, identified as Boleslaw Siyanovich was arrested and treated for his injuries, including a broken nose and minor concussion at Vellebue Hospital Center. He was later identified as a contractor with the Xussman military contracting company G4S.
After the other five mercenaries witnessed the shooting, they fled behind the hotel and hijacked a car. They drove towards the shore of Liberty City.[9] An unmarked seaplane landed on the shore of Liberty City as the events transpired. Police begin chasing the vehicle. The mercenaries opened fire on police and hit several pedestrians with the stolen car. A helicopter and more police chased after the vehicle but remained a safe distance away to avoid being shot. The mercenaries reached the sea plane and it managed to escape Paleocacherian authorities.
Paleocacher alerted its neighbor Reia of the escaped plane. The plane approached Sasebo, Reia to refuel. The Reian navy detected the plane and deployed several jets. The Xussman mercenaries ejected out of the plane and descended using parachutes. The plane crashed into the ocean and the mercenaries landed on the island's shore. A firefight erupted between the mercenaries and Reian military forces, injuring two Reians. The mercenaries surrendered and were arrested by Reian forces.
There were five total fatalities, including Mayor Galicias, the police officer, and three pedestrians killed by the fleeing mercenaries, and ten additional casualties.
Trials and extraditions
The Xussman getaway driver, Boleslaw Siyanovich, refused to cooperate with Paleocacherian law enforcement. The Xussman government requested his immediate extradition. The Superior Court of Liberty City charged Boleslaw with multiple crimes including murder, to which he pleaded not guilty and requested deportation to Xusma.
Immediately after the disappearance of the seaplane, Paleocacher requested that Xusma extradite the other mercenaries. Paleocacher also requested that G4S CEO Lev Shchegolyayev testify in Liberty City. Xusma stated that the whereabouts of the five mercenaries are unknown and that it would not cooperate until Boleslaw was extradited to Xusma.
On June 6, after the Reian military captured the six escaped mercenaries, they were charged and found guilty of illegal possession of firearms, illegal immigration, first degree attempted murder, and assault with intent to do great bodily harm. All of the men were sentenced to 75 years in prison. They were sent to an undisclosed maximum security prison in Reia but bail was posted at 5,000,000 QBC per man.[10]
Paleocacher requested that the mercenaries be extradited to Paleocacher for trial.[11] The Reian Office of the Prosecutor and the Supreme Court decided that before extradition, to preserve the equality of the court proceedings, the side of the Xussmans must be heard first, and postponed the extradition.[12] G4S CEO Shchegolyayev offered to pay the 25 million QBC total bail for the mercenaries.[13] Reia and Paleocacher came to an agreement to extradite two of the mercenaries, one being the sniper, and release the other two to Xusma.[14] On June 13, the three mercenaries in Paleocacher's custody, Boleslaw, Nikodim Zhirenkov, and Dmitri Kriutchkov, were sentenced to 20 years in prison.[15]
On July 17, the Xussman government filed a letter of invocation to the International Court of Terraconserva stating that the continued detention of the three Xussman mercenaries was illegal according to TCN Resolution 026. Xusma requested that the three men be retried following the proper procedure for crimes committed in two nations or more.[16] The Paleocacherian government conceded that the mercenaries should be tried in an international court. Paleocacher also sought to try Shchegolyayev and file a class action lawsuit against G4S.[17]
The International Court agreed to hear the case in Bostonia. On November 16, 2020, Boleslaw, Zhirenkov, Kriutchkov, and the other members of the Xussman assault team agreed to a plea deal. They pleaded guilty to six counts of murder in the third degree and received concurrent sentences on those charges for a minimum period of fifteen and a maximum period of twenty-five years incarceration. CEO Shchegolyayev and three indicted G4S officials pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and criminal facilitation and received sentences of five to ten years in a minimum security prison. G4S pleaded guilty to reckless manslaughter and paid a fine of 250,000,000 Paleocacherian selkies. The plea deal further stipulated that the mercenaries and G4S would not need to provided Paleocacherian law enforcement with records of bank transactions and contracts regarding who hired them to assassinate Ernest Pyle and how they were paid. Paleocacher also agreed to pay 118,000 selkies per defendant of restitution for imprisoning the Xussman mercenaries for an extended period without an international trial.[18]
Investigations
All of the Xussman mercenaries were unresponsive to Paleocacherian and Reian interrogations. However the Paleocacherian government claimed repeatedly that G4S was hired by the Terranilian government. Paleocacher stated that Terranihil wanted to silence Pyle after his investigative journalism and cited the statement by the Terranilian Department of Foreign Affairs which calls for the death of Pyle. The Terranilian government denied all allegations. No conclusive evidence directly linking the Terranilian government to the assassination attempt has been published. The plea deal agreed upon at the international court protected the mercenaries and G4S from having to release any relevant documents.
Responses
Pyle immediately claimed that the assassination attempt was a plot orchestrated by the Terranilian government and accused Chairman Draıčren Armǎk of being involved. The assassination attempt triggered protests of over 1 million demonstrators in Paleocacher as part of the 2020 anti-Terranihil protests. It escalated already occuring protests across Terraconserva.
The Terranilian government denied all allegations of contracting G4S to assassinate Pyle despite its call for his death.
References
- ↑ "Terranilian Department of Foreign Affairs calls for death of Ernest Pyle".
- ↑ "Xussman mercenaries enter Liberty City".
- ↑ "Firearm iincident at Liberty City Airport".
- ↑ "Mercenaries stay at Middle City hotel".
- ↑ "Palliser Award Ceremony for Pyle".
- ↑ "Xussman mercenaries prepare to assassinate Pyle".
- ↑ "Xussman mercenaries fail yo assassinate Pyle".
- ↑ "Panic at the ceremony parking officer approaches mercenary getaway vehicle".
- ↑ "Mercenary getaway is disrupted".
- ↑ "Reian trial of Xussman mercenaries".
- ↑ "Paleocacher requests extraditino of Xussman mercenaries from Reia".
- ↑ "Reia postpones extradition of Xussman mercenaries".
- ↑ "G4S CEO offeres to pay bail for Xussman mercenaries".
- ↑ "Reia extradites and releases Xussman mercenaries".
- ↑ "Paleocacher sentences three Xussman mercenaries".
- ↑ "Xussman letter of invocation to International Court".
- ↑ "Paleocacher agrees to international court".
- ↑ "Paleocacher offers plea deal to Xussman defendants".
