v bulgarian national tv_claim with all comments

8/14/2019 V Bulgarian National TV_Claim With All Comments

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

Civil Action No.

STATEMENT OF CLAIM

Jurisdiction

And

Venue

1. This Court has original jurisdiction in personam according to 28 USC Section 13311 and ispursuant to 28 USC Section 1332(a) 2, in that the Plaintiff is an alien admitted to the UnitedStates as a permanent resident and whose permanent domicile is the United States .

1 Sec. 1331. Federal question - STATUTE -The district courts shall have original jurisdiction of all civil actions arising under the Constitution, laws, ortreaties of the United States.

2 Sec. 1332. Diversity of citizenship; amount in controversy; costs - STATUTE -(a) The district courts shall have original jurisdiction of all civil actions where the matter in controversy

exceeds the sum or value of $75,000, exclusive of interest and costs, and is between -(1) citizens of different States;(2) citizens of a State and citizens or subjects of a foreign state;(3) citizens of different States and in which citizens or subjects of a foreign state are additional

parties; and(4) a foreign state, defined in section 1603 (a) of this title, as plaintiff and citizens of a State or of

different States.For the purposes of this section, section 1335, and section 1441, an alien admitted to the United States for

permanent residence shall be deemed a citizen of the State in which such alien is domiciled;(b) Except when express provision therefor is otherwise made in a statute of the United States, where the

plaintiff who files the case originally in the Federal courts is finally adjudged to be entitled to recover less than thesum or value of $75,000, computed without regard to any setoff or counterclaim to which the defendant may beadjudged to be entitled, and exclusive of interest and costs, the district court may deny costs to the plaintiff and, in

addition, may impose costs on the plaintiff.(c) For the purposes of this section and section 1441 of this title 19305855.doc Page 1 of 30

MICHAEL KAPOUSTIN

Plaintiff,v.

BULGARIAN NATIONAL TELEVISION INC.

KEVORK KIVORKIAN

MARTIN KARBOVSKY


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2. Venue is proper in this district pursuant to the provisions of 28 USC Section 13913 (d) andpursuant to 28 USC Section 1391(a)(3).

3. The first Defendant Bulgarian National television Inc. (hereinafter BNTV) is a Bulgarian

licensed and registered national radio and broadcasting commercial corporation whoseshares are wholly owned by the sovereign state of the Republic of Bulgaria having aprinciple place of business and incorporation the City of Sofia, the Republic of Bulgaria.The Defendant broadcasts its programming into the Unites States of America via satelliteand the internet.

4. The second Defendant Kevork Kevorkian (hereinafter Kevorkian) is employed by thefirst Defendant as a producer, moderator and host of the first Defendants weekly live hourlong news programEvery Sunday. Defendant Kevorkian is a resident of Bulgaria.

(1) a corporation shall be deemed to be a citizen of any State by which it has been incorporated and of theState where it has its principal place of business, except that in any direct action against the insurer of a policy or

contract of liability insurance, whether incorporated or unincorporated, to which action the insured is not joined as aparty-defendant, such insurer shall be deemed a citizen of the State of which the insured is a citizen, as well as ofany State by which the insurer has been incorporated and of the State where it has its principal place of business;and;3 Sec. 1391. Venue generally -STATUTE-(a) A civil action wherein jurisdiction is founded only on diversity of citizenship may, except as otherwise provided

by law, be brought only in(1) a judicial district where any defendant resides, if all defendants reside in the same State,(2) a judicial district in which a substantial part of the events or omissions giving rise to the claim occurred, or asubstantial part of property that is the subject of the action is situated, or(3) a judicial district in which any defendant is subject to personal jurisdiction at the time the action is commenced,if there is no district in which the action may otherwise be brought.(b) A civil action wherein jurisdiction is not founded solely on diversity of citizenship may, except as otherwise

provided by law, be brought only in;(1) a judicial district where any defendant resides, if all defendants reside in the same State](2) a judicial district in which a substantial part of the events or omissions giving rise to the claim occurred, or asubstantial part of property that is the subject of the action is situated, or(3) a judicial district in which any defendant may be found, if there is no district in which the action may otherwise

be brought.(c) For purposes of venue under this chapter, a defendant that is a corporation shall be deemed to reside in any

judicial district in which it is subject to personal jurisdiction at the time the action is commenced. In a State whichhas more than one judicial district and in which a defendant that is a corporation is subject to personal jurisdiction atthe time an action is commenced, such corporation shall be deemed to reside in any district in that State withinwhich its contacts would be sufficient to subject it to personal jurisdiction if that district were a separate State, and,if there is no such district, the corporation shall be deemed to reside in the district within which it has the most

significant contacts.(d) An alien may be sued in any district.(e) A civil action in which a defendant is an officer or employee of the United States or any agency thereof acting inhis official capacity or under color of legal authority, or an agency of the United States, or the United States, may,except as otherwise provided by law, be brought in any judicial district in which(1) a defendant in the action resides,(2) a substantial part of the events or omissions giving rise to the claim occurred, or a substantial part of propertythat is the subject of the action is situated, or(3) the plaintiff resides if no real property is involved in the action. Additional persons may be joined as parties toany such action in accordance with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and with such other venue requirements aswould be applicable if the United States or one of its officers, employees, or agencies were not a party.The summons and complaint in such an action shall be served as provided by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedureexcept that the delivery of the summons and complaint to the officer or agency as required by the rules may be made

by certified mail beyond the territorial limits of the district in which the action is brought.

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5. The third Defendant Martin Karbovski (hereinafter Karbovski) is employed by the firstDefendant as a producer and co-host of the first Defendants weekly live hour long news

programEvery Sunday. The Defendant Karbovski is a resident of Bulgaria.

6. The Plaintiff Michael Kapoustin, as a permanent resident alien of the United States hassuffered material and temporal loss4 in the United States and elsewhere, this a direct resultof the Defendants broadcasting of an anti-Semitic public statement attacking the characterand integrity of Plaintiff and all the Jewish people and the Defendant broadcasting what areuntrue and slanderously false statements imputing to the Plaintiff guilt for the commissionof a crime against citizens of the Republic of Bulgaria, something the Defendant knew thePlaintiff had been fully acquitted for by a Bulgarian criminal court of law.

Facts

7. On December 16th 2003, a newspaper article appeared in the Edmonton Sun and other

newspapers throughout Canadian and was reproduced in Romania, Greece, France andBelgium, England and the United States as well as other parts of Western Europe. It alsoappeared on the internet. The subject matter and title of the article concerned the Plaintiffand other foreign citizens incarcerated in Bulgarias notorious Sofia Federal PenitentiarySelling..[his] Organs to Raise Cashand posited to the reader the question is Innocence

Enough? References in this article are made to the Plaintiff, a citizen of Canada, and othernon-Bulgarian nationals also inmates at the Sofia Federal Penitentiary and complaining ofhaving Exhausted [of] legal avenues, and more importantly money, [Kapoustin is] now

proposing [he] and several other inmates -- from Poland, Romania, Nigeria and America

-- put their organs up for auction. Offered to the wealthy and the sick, [Kapoustin --

raised in Toronto] -- says the money would help speed up the process for him and the

other foreigners. He hopes even the lunacy of the suggestion will make someone listen .

8. On or about the 17th of December of 2003, and as a result of the December 16 th 2003newspaper article appearing in a Canadian newspaper, the Edmonton Sun, the Defendantdecided to approach the Warden for the City of Sofia Bulgaria Federal Penitentiary andrequest he obtain the Plaintiffs agreement to a live television interview at the prison on theDefendants weekly television news magazine program entitled Every Sunday. The topicof the interview was to be reasons why the Plaintiff and some 30 other non-Bulgarianoffenders had become so desperate and frustrated as to publicly solicit potential buyers fortheir transplantable organs.

9. The interest of the Defendant in broadcasting a television report on the Plaintiff originallystems not from the Edmonton Sun article of December 16 th 2003 but from events inBulgaria that date back to mid-1994 and when Bulgarian prosecutors and police authoritiesfirst used the words pharaoh and pyramid, these words are associated in Bulgariansociety with immoral and criminal behavior and are used only with the intend of publiclyimputing to an individual or company the commission of a criminal offense.

10. The word pharaoh, when applied by the Defendant or any other member of the Bulgarianmedia to the Plaintiff or any other businessman is understood to be a derogatory term

4 Special damages for the purposed of the law of defamation have been defined as any material or temporalloss which is either a pecuniary loss or is capable of being estimated in money. Special damages not confined to

business loss or loss of employment income. Rather, such as the loss of hospitality from friends providing such lossis capable of being estimated in money are also recoverable.19305855.doc Page 3 of 30


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intended to mean an individual who is without any sense or morality and is a hateful anddetestable human being praying on the greed of the innocent.

11. The word pyramid, when applied by the Defendant or any other member of the Bulgarian

media to the Plaintiffs company or any other company is intended to be understood to be aderogatory term intended to impute deceptive practices and criminal activity on the part ofa company and its management and as having no real commercial activity other thanaffecting a massive fraud on the Bulgarian people.

12. In early to mid-1995, the label pyramid was officially endorsed by the Parliament for theRepublic of Bulgaria and the Prosecutors General as a legal description to be publicly reliedon by members of the Bulgarian Parliament, its Council of Ministers and the Office of thePresident when making reference to the Plaintiffs company or any Bulgarian or foreigncompany identified by the Prosecutors General for Bulgaria as dealing in the sale or tradingof private investment contracts or securities in Bulgaria and whose revenues and profits

relying on speculation in unofficial Bulgarian currency and commodities markets as ameans to securing profits.

13. It was on or about October 1995 that the Defendant did in earnest first publicly broadcastand apply the defamatory label of pharaoh to the Plaintiff and the defamatory label ofpyramid to his beleaguered Bulgarian corporation, LifeChoice International Inc.. Thenewsworthy nature of the Defendants interest to report on the Plaintiff and his companyarose from the Plaintiffs then legal and public status as the only U.S. based and non-resident foreign investor in Bulgaria to be accused by Bulgarian prosecution authorities oforganizing and operating in Europe and Canada an international pseudo-religious cult basedon the Jewish secret mystical practice known as the Kabala. Bulgarian prosecutors and

police authorities first claimed that the Plaintiff financed this cult and its activities by thedefrauding of thousands of Bulgarian, Greek, Georgian and Canadian citizens through thePlaintiffs pyramid structures and then laundered the proceeds of his crimes into theaccounts of Canadian banks through the Caribbean. The damages from any libels orslanders damaging Plaintiff as nationally and internationally broadcast by the firstDefendant BNTV between October 1995 and August 2002 could not manifest themselvesuntil after the Plaintiff had first been cleared of any such wrong doing. And then thedefamations could only become actionable against the first Defendant BNTV or others ifthe defamatory words of pharaoh and pyramid were applied to Plaintiff after hisacquittal on the charges and allegations of his having defrauded thousands of Bulgariancitizens.

14. On December 21st 2003, the planned date of the Defendants planed live broadcast, all theDefendants knew that the Plaintiff and his Bulgarian company had on August 16 th 2002,

been cleared on all criminal counts alleging the defrauding of some 4,700 Bulgariancitizens. And as a result the defamatory labels of pharaoh could no longer be legitimatelyapplied by the Defendants when describing the Plaintiff and the label of pyramid couldnot legitimately be applied by the Defendants to the Plaintiffs beleaguered Bulgariancorporation. And this notwithstanding that the Plaintiff was convicted for another offenseunrelated to the so called Bulgarian Pyramids and was sentenced to 17 years ofimprisonment. The crime was the Plaintiffs affecting six (6) separate and otherwise lawfulinternational bank transfers from the bank accounts of the Plaintiffs private company to the

account of a company domiciled in the United States. The transferred funds, according to

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the criminal trial Court, had been lawfully acquired by the Plaintiffs company and were notthe proceeds of a crime. According to the same trial court, the incriminating aspects of thesetransfers could be found in the Bulgaria prosecutions assertions that the transferred fundswas never repatriated from the United Stated to bank accounts of the Company in Bulgaria.

The Plaintiff to this day publicly maintains his innocence and insists that his actions did notconstitute a crime under Bulgarian law or under the internationally accepted norms for whatconstitutes an unlawful misappropriation of funds wholly owned and lawfully acquired by a

private and closely held and managed corporation. The Plaintiff publicly insists that hisarrest, prosecution and conviction and 7 year and 7 month investigation and trial were

politically motivated. It more convenient for Bulgarian authorities to publicly placeresponsibility on a non-Bulgarian western Jew and profiteer for the collapse of theBulgarian economy and currency between 1995 and 1997 and not the Bulgariangovernment officials and other Bulgarian similarly charged.

15. On December 18

th

2003, the Plaintiff advised the prison Warden the he agreed to theinterview solely on the prison Wardens assurances to the Plaintiff that the Defendants hadpromised that its interview of the Plaintiff would be limited to a discussion of the objectiveand subjective reasons leading to the desperate act of the Plaintiff and the other foreignoffenders who issued a public declaration of their willingness to sell organs and so securetheir transfers from Bulgaria to prisons in their own countries. The Plaintiff, his family andthe other non-Bulgarian offenders were each lead to believe by the prison Warden that theDefendants interview of the Plaintiff would provide a platform for their grievances and tospeak out against the Bulgarian governments policies of direct and indirect discriminationas practiced only against non-Bulgarian offenders and also the inhumane and terribleconditions of their imprisonment.

16. On Sunday December 21st 2003, at approximately 5 pm, television engineers and producersemployed by the Defendant arrived at the Sofia Bulgaria Federal Penitentiary to setup theircameras and other equipment in a room designated for the interview of the Plaintiff. On thesame day, at around 5:30 pm, the Plaintiff was informed by a prison guard that he had 5minutes to prepare before being escorted from his cell to the room where the interview wasto be conducted.

17. Sunday, December 21st 2003 was the 26th day of the month of Kislev of the Jewish calendarand 2nd Day of the Jewish festival of Hanukkah. As a result, the Plaintiff would wear to theinterview the JewishKippa orYarmulke. This done in observance of the Plaintiffs Jewishethnic origin, his faith, religious conviction and the festival of Hanukkah.

18. Shortly before 6:30 p.m. the Plaintiff was joined by the third Defendant Martin Karbovski,who would be conducting the interview of the Plaintiff. The two were later joined via a liveelectronic link by the second Defendant Kevork Kevorkian, the principle interviewer andmoderator for the Defendants news program Every Sunday.

19. The Defendants program Every Sunday and its interview of the Plaintiff would air livefrom the Sofia Bulgaria Federal Penitentiary at exactly 6:30 pm Bulgarian time orapproximately 8:30 am east coast standard time in the United States. The program would berecorded and be repeated everyday at different times during the following week.

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20. The December 21st 2003 the program begins with a broadcasting in writing of the followingwords in the programs opening title, that Kapoustin[the Plaintiff]selling off the organsof the Pharaoh. The words are defamatory and nothing more than a deliberate andmalicious attempt by the first Defendant to immediately assassinate what little credibility,

honor and dignity is left to the Plaintiff after the nearly 8 years of false criminal accusationsof his being a fraud or pharaoh and before finally being acquitted by a court of law. Fromthe initial moment of its broadcast the first Defendant wanted it to be understood by theordinary citizens viewing its program that the Plaintiff deserved the derogatory label ofpharaoh for having defrauded thousands of the Defendants Bulgarian viewers. Ordinarymen and women could infer no other meaning from these first words appearing as the titleof first Defendants broadcast except their natural and ordinary meaning to a member ofBulgarian society inter alia, that the Plaintiff was a fraud and a detestable criminaldeserving of their enmity and to be reviled. Ordinary viewers did not and could not beexpected to know that the Plaintiff had been acquitted of all such criminal charges andallegations by a Bulgarian criminal court and so did not in all fairness fairly deserve the

derogatory and defamatory label of a Pharaoh whose organs are being sold off.

21. During the television interview of the Plaintiff, the first Defendants senior moderator, andsecond Defendant, was to be one Kevork Kevorkian who did a few seconds after theappearance of defamatory title and speaking in the background of a live image of thePlaintiff uttered the following slanderous words and made the following untrue statement asif fact when he described the Plaintiff as the the chief of the collapsed pyramid

LifeChoice. These words are intentionally untruthfully and spoken maliciously with theintent of creating the false impression that the Plaintiffs Bulgarian LifeChoice has ceasedto exist, something the Defendants knew to not be true. It was also intended to impute to theDefendants viewers that the same company had been to be a criminal organization

responsible for defrauding Bulgarian citizens, one of the so called pyramid structure,something the Defendants also knew not to be true.

22. Again ordinary men and women viewing the program of the Defendants and hearing theslanderous words spoken by second Defendant Kevorkian could infer no other meaningfrom these words except their natural and ordinary meaning in Bulgarian society asimputing to the Plaintiff leadership of a failed criminal activity or pyramid that hascollapsed. Ordinary viewers did not know and could not know that despite the 10 yearsof the Plaintiffs imprisonment his company still remained in good standing as a registeredcommercial enterprise with the Sofia City corporate registry, had assets that exceed itsliabilities and had been determined by a criminal court of law to be a legitimate commercial

enterprise and not a pyramid, and paradoxically the sole victim of the crime for which thePlaintiff had finally been convicted.

23. This reliance by the Defendants on the words pharaoh and pyramid when describingthe Plaintiff and the Plaintiffs company clearly had no purpose or relevance to the public

protest of the Plaintiff and other foreign citizens as reported by the Edmonton Sun onDecember 16th, 2003. It became apparent from the outset that the Defendants intent wasonly to expose the Plaintiff to further public ridicule and to inflame an already unreasonableand unfounded public hatred and contempt for the Plaintiff as had been previously incited

by Bulgarian authorities when wrongly accusing the Plaintiff for the commission of amassive fraud.

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24. It became immediately apparent that as employees of a Bulgarian state controlled enterprisethe second Defendant Kevorkian and third Defendant Karbovski had set the tone anddirection of the interview to discredit the Plaintiff and thereby also discredit his complaintsand those of other of other foreign citizens in Bulgarian prisons that they are victims of

corrupt practices and discrimination practiced by the Bulgarian state, the sole shareholderof the first Defendant BNTV.

25. The Defendants intend when using the slanderous words pharaoh and pyramid todescribe the Plaintiff and his company was only to divert the public attention from thereasons for the desperate acts undertaken by him and the other foreign citizens and theirlegitimate attempt to draw attention to the suffering and inhumanity of the Bulgarian state.The quoted words are slander because the words were accusations imputing thecommission of a criminal offense for which he had been fully acquitted for by a Bulgariancriminal court of law and is therefore a crime that the Defendants knew the Plaintiff did notcommit.

26. The slanderous defamations inflicted by the Defendants on the Plaintiff did not end withtheir untrue and contemptibly malicious attempt at discrediting the Plaintiff and the otherforeign citizens imprisoned with as anything but reasonable human beings with familiesand a conscience but proceeded far beyond what is acceptable in a civilized and democraticEuropean society. The Defendants interview of the Plaintiff and its program EverySunday deteriorated into a pathetic but no less damaging parody of the racial hatred andfascism that characterized the official policies and politics of the Bulgarian State before1945.

27. The Plaintiff and the third Defendant Martin Karbovski communicated through interpreters

and first exchanged the following words;Karbovski turning to the Plaintiffinteresting hat you have [A reference to the Plaintiffs Jewish scull cap Kippa]The Plaintiff answers

Ah, thank you

Karbovski

What kind of hat is that?Kapoustin

Its a Jewish Yarmulke, Im JewishKarbovski

Youre Jewish are you?

KapoustinYes I am

Karbovski

I was wondering how you managed to cheat5so many people

28. The phrase What kind of hat is that? although cloaked as a question by the thirdDefendant Karbovski is clearly only rhetorical in nature. The third Defendant Karbovskiknows what the Plaintiffs hat represents and admits as much when several minutes laterexplains that he had performed the part of a Jew. Clearly, the third DefendantsKarbovskis only reason for his question was a malicious one and solely intended instead to

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The Bulgarian means deceive, take in; ( ) cheat, defraud, swindle, take in, dupe,fool; hoodwink; () outwit;19305855.doc Page 7 of 30


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draw the attention of millions of the Defendants viewers to the Plaintiffs hat and thevisual significance of that hat in establishing that the pharaoh, the Plaintiff, is a Jew.There is no defense for the rhetorical nature of the statement that follows this question.

29. It was by way of an explanation that the third Defendant Karbovski spoke the slanderousand racially motivated words how you managed to cheat so many people. Clearly theDefendants wanted their millions of viewers to know that its because Youre [the Plaintiff]

Jewish that you managed to cheat so many people. These slanderous and hateful wordsare spoken with a smirk but intended to incite enmity not only against the Plaintiff butagainst all Jews. These words, when taken according to their natural meaning and taken upin their proper context convey not a fair comment but instead communicates to millions oftelevision viewers anti-Semitism and incites race hate. The Defendants imputation with theslanderous is that Jews are better than at cheating, defrauding hoodwinking, and swindlingand the Plaintiff being a Jew finally clears up the Defendants confusion or wonder of howis was that the Plaintiff managed to cheat so many people.

30. By these slanderous words the Defendants meant and were understood by millions oftelevision viewers to mean, that not only is the Plaintiff without any sense or morality and ahateful and detestable human being his being Jewish explains he is without any sense ormorality and this is true because Jews according to the Defendants make the best cheats andswindlers.

31. At 23 minutes and 11 seconds into the interview the third Defendant Karbovski furtherinflames viewer contempt against the Plaintiff and all Jews when further aggravating theinjury already done by asking the Plaintiff the purely rhetoric question of Come on arent

Bulgarians something like financial idiots?. These slanderous words, while appearing to

insult the Bulgarian people, are in fact nothing more than a poorly veiled and distortedattempt at massaging the Defendants earlier anti-Semitic and race related statement and so justify a lesser defamatory meaning to the Defendants earlier defamatory imputationconcerning all Jews, and because the Plaintiff is a Jew, as the explanation for how he, thePlaintiff, managed to cheat so many people. And according to the Defendants, as a Jewthe Plaintiff must surely think that all Bulgarians are financial idiots.

32. From the context of the interview it becomes apparent that the Defendants sole intentionwith the interview of the Plaintiff had nothing to do with the legitimate reasons for hisactions as reported in the international media on December 16th 2003 and that of the otherforeign citizens incarcerated at the Sofia Federal Penitentiary but was in fact nothing morethan the most egregious and deliberate of character assassinations calculated to damage anddiscredit the Plaintiff and all foreign citizens detained in Bulgaria and intended to cause thePlaintiff and his family further anguish and emotional trauma and by making them thefurther subject of ridicule by ordinary members of society who will form their opinionsfrom the distorted, race related and xenophobic opinions of the Defendant. The ordinarytelevision viewer unable to make the fine distinctions between the crimes alleged by theDefendants and attributed to the Plaintiff and the actual acts themselves and findings of factand law as determined by the courts.

33. The statements and the interview conducted by the Defendant contained not a single idea oropinion or a scarp of information of any value whatsoever and is malicious in the extremefalsely suggesting that the Plaintiff has committed a crime against a whole society and notagainst a single private commercial enterprise having one shareholder.

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34. The Defendants calculated their interview so as to engender the maximum amount of hatredand contempt towards the Plaintiff and in fact all Jews and to invite the Defendants viewersto join in the Defendants poorly veiled contempt towards Jews and the characterization ofJews as a people without sense or morality and hateful and detestable human beings by

praying those who are financial idiots.

35. These words of the Defendants together with pharaoh and pyramid are devoid of anytruth and did not communicate to the Defendants millions of television a scintilla ofinformation or ideas of any value whatsoever except the not so subtle attempt to expose thePlaintiff and all Jews to racial hatred, contempt and further public ridicule. The Defendantsintended to and did injured not only the reputation and integrity of Plaintiff but of all theJewish people, the slanderous and racially motivated words had only the intention to doharm and nothing in the words of the Defendants could suggest otherwise.

36. It is later in the interview that the third Defendant Karbovski goes on to suggest that the

Plaintiffs and other prisoners attempt at selling their organs is a reasonable act and atleasta solution for your problem. The third Defendant Karbovski then goes on to againslander the Plaintiff again when again imputes a crime to the Plaintiff for which theDefendants know the Plaintiff is acquitted and proceeds to directly blame the Plaintiff forthose people who received problems because of the collapse of your pyramid and thatthey dont even have that solution of selling their organs.

37. The third Defendant Karbovski goes on to say to the Plaintiff that It seems you want to getout faster because you have hidden it [the stolen money]somewhere and you now want touse it. And that if he, the third Defendant Karbovski, had stolen and hidden 2 or 3 milliondollars somewhere, something he insists to his viewers the Plaintiff has done, he would

go ahead and sell a kidney and then to go to the place where I hid the money, it comesout that way sometimes.

38. When the Defendants are asked by the Plaintiff if they consider the Plaintiffs transfer to aprison in Canada or his possible parole after more than 8 years in a Bulgarian prison asfaster, the third Defendant Karbovski replies with the words Youve got 11 and a halfleft! From these words and the immediately preceding exchange of words and theDefendants unsupportable assertions of the Plaintiff having caused peopleproblemsbecause of the collapse of your pyramidand that the Plaintiff had hidden money in themillions of dollars and was only seeking a faster way out of prison are clearly slanderouswords and defamatory assertions whose malicious intend is to aggravate the existing publicenmity towards the Plaintiff by maintaining in a delusion in the public mind of thePlaintiffs guilt and criminal responsibility for an act the Defendants known the Plaintiffwas acquitted for. The sole purpose of the interview was to foreclose any possibility of thePlaintiff securing his transfer to a prison in Canada near his wife and small son and alsoruin any chance of the Plaintiffs later parole or attempts at a rehabilitation of his publicreputation or pursuit of a livelihood.

39. The interview of the Plaintiff is a deliberately false and vicious verbal attack on a personwith no public persona and a wholly unjustified attack upon the character and reputation ofthe Jewish people and was not done in the public interest, but is the alternative, an act toharm the public interest by continuing a falsehood intended to deliberately manipulate

people of good faith to perceive the Plaintiff as the perpetrator of a massive fraud andintentionally precipitated the perpetuation of a slanderous anti-Semitic anecdote that Jews

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are better swindlers than Gentiles. Neither of these acts of the Defendants works towardsthe creating of a community committed to equality, liberty and human dignity and thereforethe interview cannot have be said to have been in the publics interest.

40. And while these assaults by the Defendants on the Plaintiff did not involve acts pf physicalviolence, the motivation behind the assault is still the same and it did involve a violentassault in front of millions of television viewers and could result in nothing else but injuryto the Plaintiff, his family and the Jewish people. An injury that will have far more lastingand serious affects that that of the physical injury of being beaten and bruised. Themotivation for this assault on the Plaintiff and Jews is the same whether the violence is tothe flesh and bone or to the integrity of one individuals reputation or the reputation of awhole nation of peoples. The Defendants intended their television interview as a toolintended only to inflict an injury that would cause the greatest and most severe pain. Theirmaliciously slanderous statements and distortions of the facts contained no truth, no honest

belief except for Defendants thinly veiled racial slurs against the Jewish people, and

conveyed no valid opinion except the Defendants expression of contempt of the mostmalicious kind and calculated to destroy the humanity of the Plaintiff, the other inmates andthe credibility of their complaints against inhumane conditions and treatment at the SofiaFederal Penitentiary and to represent before millions of viewers the anecdote that theJewish people are better swindlers.

41. The work of numerous study groups shows that racism, anti-Semitism and recentlyxenophobia are current and present evils in not only in the formerly totalitarian state ofBulgaria but is a rising phenomena in the United States and Europe. These remainscancerous growths that are still very much alive and make vulnerable the Plaintiff andothers like him who belong to such a minority and made him susceptible to injure from the

deliberate and injurious lies as those perpetrated during the Defendants interview of thePlaintiff and from the Defendants intentional reliance on injurious false statementsdisguised as fact or authentic research and malicious racist anecdotes used to spur onnationalist, racial and religious hatred and intolerance towards the Plaintiff, Jews and allthings foreign.

42. The first Defendant BNTV made no retraction or sufficient public apology and did not exertany effort to mitigate the damages resulting from the racist remarks and public insults madeagainst the Plaintiff and the Jewish people by the third Defendant Karbovski. Instead, thefirst Defendant BNTV acted to aggravate the damages already caused by the one liveinterview of December 21st 2003 and repeatedly re-broadcast a recording of this interview

and the defamations by satellite and cable for the next 7 (seven) days. And did so withoutany consideration for the injury it would cause to the Plaintiff and his family who hoped intime to regain the good will of reasonable and fair people or to the dignity of the Jewish

people whose suffering an loss of human life at the hands of the Bulgarian state is historicfact.

WHEREFORE AS THE PLAINTIFF HAS SUFFERED SERIOUS INJURY AS A RESULT

OF THE DEFENDANTS WRONGFUL ACTS FOR WHICH THE PLAINTIFF

DEMANDS FULL COMPENSATION FOR THAT SUFFERING AND LOSS SUSTAINED

BOTH AS PECUNIARY AND NON-PECUNIARY LOSS FOR AN ATTACK ON HIS

REPUTATION AND DIGNITY AND THE REPUTATION AND DIGNITY OF THE

JEWISH PEOPLE AND SEEKS A JOINT AND SEVERAL JUDGMENT AGAINST THE

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DEFENDANTSFOR TE SUM OFTEN MILLION DOLLARS plus pre-judgment interest,post-judgment interest, costs, attorneys' fees and such other relief as this Court deems just andproper.

Plaintiff Consents to United States Magistrate Judge under Title 28, U.S.C. Section 636 (c).

Place of trial: District of ColumbiaDated at the City of Washington in the District of Columbia on .. January 2006.

Robert KapOn behalf of and asAgent for the PlaintiffMichael KapoustinAddress for service:Chicago, Illinois

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EVERY SUNDAY

Shows Title

Another Life

A Direct Broadcast from the Sofia Prison

Kapoustin

selling off

organs

of the Pharaoh

Various Bulgarian newspaper clippings

The Interview

December 21st 2003 at 6:30

Kevorkian;

the Edmond Sun advises that from his cell at the Sofia Central Prison Michael Kapoustin

intends to sell his organs at auction for transplantation

Sentenced to 17 years of prison the chief of the collapsed pyramid LifeChoice, Michael

Kapoustin is already behind bars 7 years. He fills his time with writing and drawing.

The money he hopes to receive from the auction will put the into a one way ticket for Canadasays Kapoustin

Kevorkian

Kapoustin, another life

Michael

Good evening Mr. Kevorkian, good evening Martin

Kevorkian

Is Martin they already

Karbovski

Yes Im here and then turning to Kapoustin

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interesting hat you have

Kapoustin

Surprised he answers Ah, thank you

Karbovski

What kind of hat is that?

Kapoustin

Its a Jewish Yarmulke, Im Jewish

Karbovski

Youre Jewish are you?

Kapoustin

Yes I am

Karbovski

I was wondering how you managed to cheat6so many people

What are you going to sell first?

Kapoustin

First of all my first response to you is that what you said sounds anti-Semitic

Karbovski

Well I was just kidding, it was just anecdote7

Kapoustin

Was it also a joke that I. [Cut off]

Karbovski

I just didnt know you are Jewish, I dont have anything against you

6 The Bulgarian means deceive, take in; ( ) cheat, defraud, swindle, take in, dupe,

fool; hoodwink; () outwit;7 The Bulgarian anecdote, funny story; ~ a stale joke about Jews19305855.doc Page 13 of 30


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Kapoustin

Fine, fine[cut off]

Karbovski [here the words are not understandable, but sound something like]

its a mere pretext I performed the part of a Jew, playing Maxim

Kapoustin

Fine fine

The objective is for the doctors to decide but obviously I am sure you and Mr. Kevorkian are

educated enough to know that only certain body parts can be transplanted from a live organdonor without causing harm to the donor but with significant benefits to the transplant

beneficiary

Kevorkian

Why are you doing this? Is this some sort of jest desperation or some sort of theatre? Excuse me

for.

Kapoustin

Yes it is from desperation

Kevorkian

No theatre?

Kapoustin

There is an enormous sense of frustration felt by me and by many other foreign prisoners, which

we have difficulty expressing because Bulgarian is not our language many of us do not havefinancial resources, I dont know, to hire international lawyers to pursue certain avenues that are

necessary to secure our rights as foreigner citizens deprived of liberty in Bulgaria. The lawsguarantee us certain rights but as anything one can say that justice reaches only as far as your

pocket book. And for those who are in prison and who have no money or other financial

resources to pursue their rights it is then often time necessary to pursue a desperate act, but onewithin the law and something which you have absolute disposition over which is your own body.

I took the decision some months ago as well there are some others that possibly the answers toour problem, solving our problem, was to offer to become organ donors in exchange ask

someone to pay the Bulgarian state the money that it seeks and in order to be able to secure not

only legal assistance but as well to pay off the other money demanded by the Bulgarian state

which we have no other way of paying.

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Karbovski, looking at Kapoustin

Theater?

Kevorkians gave as an example Theatre.

Is there theatre?

Kapoustin

Theater?

No there is no theatre, I am completely serious.

To understand you would have to spend 2 plus years isolated in a cell and then another 5 yearsin a Bulgarian prison separated from your family, never seeing your son, your wife, your

parents.

There is no opportunity possibility to visit with them or to be a part of their life. In my case they

are thousands of kilometers away. To be frustrated by all the obstructions keeping you fromobtaining the most elementary of necessities and having to have your Embassy to try and reach a

reasonable solution.

Then at some point and time you reach the end of your nerves, throw your hands into the air and

you ask yourself How am I going to solve this problem of this constantly demanded money fromme which I and my family dont have and I am sure both you and Mr. Kevorkian both know that

it is uncommon for individuals in poorer countries to sell their body parts.

Kevorkian

Yes, Michael, excuse me, but what exactly are you selling?

Kapoustin

Well again one has to reflect on when you say exactly the human body can only surrendercertain of it parts, the kidney, parts of the lung, bone marrow is also possible there is also from

what I understand there exists the possibly of partly transplanting of the liver but I am notmedical expert or doctor and am not claiming to understand all the medical aspects but mostly

commonly the subject of transplants is the kidney.

Kevorkian

What are expecting to receive against that?

Kapoustin

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Well from what the historical record we have been able to identify threw my family abouttransplant operations possibly it can cost the beneficiary of the organ 150-250,000 dollars but I

am personally not interested in making any money from this, that would be idiotic, what I hope

for is to use this mechanism to find someone who will be committed to provide the necessary

money for the lawyers and other expenses necessary to securing my transfer to a Canadianprison. I believe that this is actually the desire of most of the foreign prisoners here and that is tospend what remains of their sentences in their own countries where they can be near their

families just as Bulgarian convicts are near their families here and to make their time in prison

more humane. Bulgarian has signed an international treaty for this and we are struggling to getBulgarian officials to fulfill this commitment.

Kevorkian

When you discuss this subject with your lawyers does it become obvious that it is possible forBulgarians serving sentences in Canadian prisons to be transferred to a Bulgarian prison?

Kapoustin

Yes, actually I am the only Canadian citizen in a Bulgarian prison and there are far morenumerous Bulgarians in Canadian, American and Western European and their transfer is an

option which is open to them and Bulgarians do not experience the same type of problems whichI have experienced, The Canadian Embassy and Foreign Affairs Canada in Ottawa had made

the request for my transfer and as early as 1999 and all of the indications where that as soon as

the trial was finished and the sentence was in force then the transfer would be made possible andthere are documents to that affect from the side of the Prosecutors General. However, when the

moment actually came there appeared new problems or inventions surfaced only to delay theprocedure.

But in reply to your question, Bulgarian citizens in Canada do have the right to be transferredand serve their sentences in Bulgaria.

Kevorkian

Whether thats true I am not at all so sure but never mind lets talk about something else.

To this moment how is this auction that your doing gone so far? In there anyone interested in

what you are offering?

Kapoustin

Mr. Kevorkian this is a slow process and it is not going to happen over night. Neither I nor

anyone close to me is under any illusion that tomorrow afternoon everything will be in place.The process began several months ago and articles appeared only recently in the press in

Canada and the United States. The offer also appeared in some Jewish newspapers. There aremany older people who have the financial resources to help me and which I could repay by

donating an organ.

Kevorkian

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Martin its your turn

Karbovski

I want to ask something very important. Maybe this will sound political Michael. We dont know

each other but you appear a sympathetic and persuasive 8 man and now you are selling your

organs. You say that they have brought me to this but I have met people who have complainedthat you have taken their money and for them, and they are not as intelligent or young so as to

sell their organs, simply please dont get angry at me for this question.

Kapoustin

No Martin Im not angry with you for that question or Im not angry with anyone who is angrywith me. There is so much negative media coverage from 1995 forward

Karbovski

I have seen these people

Kapoustin

I have seen those articles and understand their suffering

Karbovski

I am not talking about articles in the press but I have personally seen them and pensioners whoare crying because LifeChoice took their pensions and last saved money

Kapoustin

Martin you didnt understand me. Let me clarify something from the outset. When I say that theyreally smeared9my name in the media you have to remember that public opinion is most often

the result of what journalists like yourself say on television and public opinions are formed by

the direction that the media takes. Public opinions is created from impressions relying very muchon journalistic honesty

Karbovski

You are young, intelligent and convincing and you spare your organsdo you smoke?

8 The Bulgarian meaning to be convincing, persuasive; (psychologically) credible; ( ) cogent, weighty, strong, conclusive; telling; show just cause for; ( ) convincing, true to life, lifelike; ~( , ) carry conviction9

The Bulgarian word means to blacken (the character of), smear, sully, defame, vilify.

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Kapoustin

No I dont smoke

Karbovski

Are you training?

Kapoustin

Yes I do

Karbovski

Besides that you probably eat healthy food, is it like that?

Kapoustin

No I dont unfortunately. The prison does not provide healthy food.

Karbovski

But, never mind that, you at least have a solution for your problem. But people who receivedproblems because of the collapse of your pyramid dont even have that solution.

Kapoustin

Martin, if I may reply without you interrupting me. In the first instance I think we are both inagreement and I think those same people would also admit that in free society and economy

everyone has the right to make their own decisions. Anyone who undertook to invest in mycompany or other companies and lost money had invested of their own free will and had made

an informed choice. Also there were far more significant and successful failures than my

company but their directors are not in prison. No one was pressed or otherwise forced intoinvesting. However I am being forced to do this and have no choice since this is my only

possibility to finish my sentence in my own country. But these people had a choice and they took

it.

You said that the company was a pyramid let me correct you that a Bulgarian court found me notguilty and innocent of accusations for fraud it as a point of fact what you are saying is not true.

You should restrict yourself to the truth and to the facts.

Karbovski

Since I am not like other journalists and somethings I dont read and dont know among other

things if know you are innocent.

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But a lot of people, and Ill ask the question. If you took the money then where is the moneynow?

Kapoustin

Thats a common question.

Karbovski

It seems you want to get out faster because you have hidden it somewhere and you now want to

use it. If I had 2 or 3 million dollars somewhere and I would go ahead and sell a kidney. Besidesthat I have stones in mine. To for example sell one kidney and then to go to the place where I hid

the money, it comes out that way sometimes.

Kapoustin

Martin do you consider 8 years in prison quick? Is 8 years in prison quick to you Martin?

Karbovski

Youve got 11 and a half left!

Kapoustin

Well Martin even according to Bulgaria law every prisoner has the right to be released after

serving half his the term of his sentence. No dont interrupt me. According to my sentence, andthere is a sentence, the fact remains that law is law and legislated so it can be observed and so

when someone one is criminally sentenced to be deprived of his liberty he is not also deprived

of all his other rights and according to what you are proposing at this moment and the sameattitude thats coming from official representatives of the Bulgarian government are measure that

begs the question of why would you want to take measures that only causes people to suffer andso coercing me and others to take drastic measures only to secure our rights. Instead why dont

you say this man has served his sentenced according to the requirements of Bulgarian law, he

punishment is over. Mine is not a life sentence.

Karbovski

Where is the money?

Kapoustin

For 8 years the Bulgarian government and prosecutors cant find any. And I did not hide any.

Karbovski

Are Bulgarians Stupid?

Kapoustin

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No not all, in no circumstances

Karbovski at 23:11

Come on arent Bulgarians something like financial idiots? A people who are ready to invest in acomplete financial absurdity with huge interests, people who have lost their financial culture.

Kapoustin

No, if I am going to say something on this subject it would be that the Bulgarian media and pressis more likely to wrongly interpret financial instruments. Bulgarians according to me are not

stupid. And maybe you should ask the same questions about what happened and get the version

of their story from those men who arent in prison. Of all of the directors of these so calledpyramids Im the only one serving a sentence all the others are free. Why not ask them.

Kevorkian

OK, whats your version Michael?

Kapoustin

Version of what Mr. Kevorkian?

Kevorkian

Of why only you are in this place?

Kapoustin

Thats a good question. I have asked that same question many times. There were more than 200

plus separate criminal investigates when all these alleged pyramid structures got their start.

Of those more than 200 cases from the 90s only mine received so much attention from theMinistry for Justice and so much attention from the prosecutors office and from the media. All

the others who were accused during the same time had the charges against them either droppedor if indicted were very quickly released on bail and for a variety of reasons the cases against

them are all still pending. In my case I spent 7 years in prison before the passing of any final

sentence and that only happened because I with drew my appeal wanting instead a transfer aprison in my country near my wife, my small little son and elderly parents. At this point I was

just tired and thought the fight would be better elsewhere, like Strasbourg and other courtswhere justice is really more important than fantasy.

Kevorkian

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OK, so you are counting that with this auction to get about 200,000

Kapoustin

I rely on this auction Sir to provide me a means with which I gain some financial support thatwill result in satisfying whatever money it is that the Bulgarian state wants and to provide me

with the necessary means to obtain legal counsel necessary to prosecuting claims in Canada, the

Unites States and Strasbourg. And so that in the end I can return home. And when I say home SirI dont mean home to my house or to freedom but to another prison.

Kevorkian

Yes, OK. What is the total sum of civil cases against you? You are not sentenced for fraud.

Kapoustin

There are none.

Kevorkian

You sure of that?

Kapoustin

Oh I am absolutely positive

Kevorkian

So you are sentenced to 17 years not for fraud by for embezzlement?

Kapoustin

Correct, its exactly like that and supposedly from a company that I incorporated and control100% of the issued shares.

Kevorkian

Of those who consider themselves defrauded, dont have counter claims against you?

Kapoustin

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No not at all. According to several decisions by Bulgarian Supreme Courts any contractualrelationships that existed was with a corporation. Apparently you Mr. Kevorkian have forgotten

that the Bulgarian Ministry for Finance in 1995 legalized each of these transactions by

assessing Value Added Tax on full amount of any sum represented by these contracts. These

transactions during 1995 became lawful on the same day that the Ministry of Finance assessedthe company VAT for each one. After which, the Bulgarian government with the agreement of thecourt sold off all the assets of the company so as to pay the Bulgarian state and not the

individual investors. So let me ask you Mr. Kevorkian why is there been so much noise over my

case but none when it comes to the Tax Administration for Bulgaria taxing with VAT transactionsthat a few minutes ago Martin called fraudulent? If I am not wrong I think at the time this

represented 22% VAT on each transaction. For me it is this paradoxical and in explicable.

I have repeatedly insisted that I did not commit any form of fraud and the trail court accepted

this and agreed that funds were received but my company lawfully. So then who is it who candetermine how to dispose of the money that the company has? Well that would be the board of

directors and they collectively decided how the funds were to be used and I signed the requireddocuments to transfer funds from one company to another. And that is what I have been

convicted for, the transferring of corporate many from a Bulgarian company to a US company,

and this is it.

Sometime ago you were interviewing a gentleman who had succeed to win his Strasbourg. Youwill recall that one of the first successful cases was brought by former Bulgarian prime minister

Lukanov who was arrested in circumstances nearly exactly as mine. He had transferred money

to a number of countries at the request of a Bulgarian parliamentary commission and it wasdecided later that he had misappropriated state funds and violated the law. Later Lukanov was

assassinated. If you will recall, and I so bold as to remind you of your own history, former PrimeMinister Lukanov was arrested with several other members of parliament, maybe you Marin are

to young to remember, but I think it was 46 other deputies who together with Lukanov were

arrested for misappropriation of state property

Kevorkian

Michael, one last question

Kapoustin

I am sorry to have taken so much time with that question

Kevorkian

Ah if you dont find this question a little strange, do you feel any regret for the people who

believed in the idea of getting rich quick

Kapoustin

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Yes Mr. Kevorkian I do. If youll allow me a few more minutes to explain . I feel sorry for those Bulgarian citizens who suffered such losses because I am convinced they acted with good

intentions. However, sometimes good intentions because of other factors end in failure. As a

result I sincerely a sorry and the last thing Id like to say is that regret is not only an empty

gesture. One of the civil claims I am prosecuting in the United States is in the name of everyoneaffected by LifeChoice and if successful will recover the property and will be able to realize ouroriginal objectives.

Kevorkian

Finally at the end something of an idiotic thesis.

One of those cheated, let call them that, please accept this so we I dont have to look for some

other word right now, comes up to you. Would you give one of your organs for transplantation?

Kaposutin

I really dont accept that word but OK lets just say someone who lost his money,

Kevorkian

Very well, yes lost his money. Would you give him one of your organs for transplantation?

Kapoustin

I dont think doing so would serve me in the long term, I have already given to that man and

others 8 years of my life and I hardly intent to pay a higher price than what I have already paidfor him

Kevorkian

OK I understand you Michael, thank you

Karbovski

Hes a very intelligent10man

10 The Bulgarian meaning intelligent, clever, smart; () prudent, sensible; ()shrewd,. cute, brainy; ~ sharp; ~ as sharp as a needle; quick-witted; ~ have o.'s wits

about one.

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To: The Managing DirectorBulgarian National TelevisionFirst Channel

Ref: December 21st

2003National and International BroadcastEvery SundayAt 6:30 Bulgarian TimeInterview with Imprisoned Canadian CitizenMichael Kapoustin

Subject: Possible Civil Claim in the United StatesSlanderous/Libelous and Anti-Semitic RemarksMartin Karbovski and Kivork Kivorkian

Saturday, January 10, 2004

Dear Sir or Madam:

My family and I are formal attempting to reach a friendly agreement with Bulgarian National TV as a

settlement for the anti-Semitic comments and other defamation that was broadcast between 18:30 and

19:00 hrs on Sunday December 21st 2003. We do so solely in order to avoid the costs and emotionally

distress of publicly seeking a settlement by bringing a slander and libel claim against Bulgarian National

TV before the Federal District Court of Washington, D.C. in the United States of America.

We seek some form of agreement in compensation for the injury suffered to the character of the Jewishpeople and to the public rehabilitation of my public image and reputation. With your cooperation and help

we hope to reverse the severe personal humiliation and public injury caused the Jewish character and me

by Bulgarian National TV.

In friendly settlement my family and I are seeking that Bulgarian National TV agree to a national and

international broadcast, with me present, an interview where Martin Karbovski and Kivork Kivorkian

publicly retract the untrue slanderous and libelous statements made by them and publicly apology as

follows;

1. An apology first to the Jewish people for the defamatory and injurious words and phrases made at theopening of the 21.12.2003 live broadcast during the Every Sunday program where interviewer

Martin Karbovski commented on my Kippa and then uttered the slanderous false words and made a

malicious report that was injurious defamation in spoken words and by looks, signs, or gestures that it

is because I am Jew that I was capable and responsible for defrauding so many Bulgarians. This is

a inflammatory anti-Semitic remark and there must be a public apology broadcast;

2. We also demand, as compensation, that Bulgarian National TV do a program on the Macedonian Jews

who each suffered and most died because of the actions of the Bulgarian army/state in collecting and

transporting whole Jewish families to their death in German concentrations camps. We also ask

Bulgarian TV make a contribution of some money to the main synagogue in Skopje;

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3. An apology to my family and me and the retraction of the injuriously untrue defamatory publications

appearing in the written titles preceding my interview by Bulgarian National TV in its broadcast of

Every Sunday. These untrue slanders and libels appeared as written and spoken words during the

same interview broadcast on 21.12.2003. Bulgarian National TV made malicious and intentional false

accusations before millions of national and international viewers that I was a swindler of the

Bulgarian people; had been convicted and imprisoned for defrauding the Bulgarian people, and;

when Bulgarian National TV used the word pyramid it intended to convince its viewers that my

company, LifeChoice International, is a criminal organization rather than the victim of a crime only

the Bulgaria State and not the company alleges I committed. Bulgarian National TV knew its editorial

comments not to be true, and that I had been acquitted of any fraud or injury to the Bulgarian people

by a Bulgarian criminal court of law court. The court having established that the money I am alleged

to have embezzled is the lawful property of my company and NOT the citizens of Bulgaria;

4. An apology to my family and me for the slanderous false words and malicious report that wasinjurious defamation made in spoken words and by looks, signs, and gestures that has unfairly and

cruelly caused us to suffer further emotional distress and injury when Bulgarian National TV

morbidly and callously satirizing for national and international reception by television the suffering

that my family and I have endured, and making seem insignificant and insufficient my punishment

and the conditions of my 8 year imprisonment and separation from my family. Bulgarian National TV

implying that I am psychologically and emotionally unstable by reasons of the fact that I am forced,

together with other foreign citizens in Bulgaria, to seek to become a live organ donor. Bulgarian

National TV having made no effort to report the sole cause for this desperate act is in order to pay

money demanded from me by Bulgarias Deputy Minister of Justice Mr. Mario Dimitrov. I, because Iam a Canadian citizen, am being made to make a payment to the Bulgarian government and others

if I expect to be repatriated to a Canadian prison. Bulgarian National TV having intentionally failed to

report that this is a documented demand made by the Bulgarian Deputy Minister of Justice in

exchange for the possibly of his allowing my transfer to a Canadian prison.

We are also demanding in settlement that Bulgarian TV broadcast an editorial documentary on

the discriminations and harsh conditions intentionally suffered upon foreign citizens within the

Bulgarian penitentiary system. It documented fact and common knowledge that the State of

Bulgaria has denied to foreign citizens any possibly of transfer to prisons within their home

countries solely for reasons of a civil or administrative penal debts the Government of Bulgarian

knows are not collectable. Furthermore, the Minister of Justice Bulgaria has issued ordinances

that directly act to deny foreign citizens their rights according to law, rights which Bulgarian

citizens are allowed to enjoy but foreign citizens are not, even though they are in the same

prisons.

We are also demanding a settlement by contribution of money or equipment to the Sofia Central

Prison, 10th Foreigner Prisoners Group. This amount sufficient to repair the leaking roofs, absent

heating and miserable toilet/shower facilities of the building where foreign citizens are housed,

such a contribution should be sufficient to allow for the establishment of a computer education

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and legal aid center where foreign prisoners could access universities in their own countries or

obtain legal guidance or materials in their own languages on Bulgarian and international criminal

and civil law. This possible only by allowing controlled access to the internet;

5. An personal apology to me to be broadcast on national and international television interviewers

Martin Karbovski and Kivork Kivorkian retracting their untrue and falsely libelous statements.

Interviews Martin Karbovski and Kivork Kivorkian knowingly and intentionally acted to cause

my family and me personal injury by using false words and making a malicious report that was

injurious defamation uttered in spoken words or made by looks, signs, and gestures that unfairly

and cruelly acted to cause further injury to my reputation and to continue the perpetuation of a lie

in the publics consciousness. Specifically, that I was somehow involved in and convicted and

imprisoned for having defrauded and personally taken money from individual Bulgarian

citizens who I defrauded. Interviews Martin Karbovski and Kivork Kivorkian and Bulgarian

National TV knowingly acted to create and maintain in the publics mind these untrue facts and a

defamatory image of my having enriching myself by way of a defrauding Bulgarian citizens

and that my family or I still had in our possession these criminal proceeds hidden somewhere

possibly buried in jars and that I only wanted to a transfer to a Canadian prison so I could

avoid punishment.

We demand that Bulgarian TV broadcast a program that assists in the rehabilitation of my

reputation before the public by broadcasting inter alia the true facts of my alleged crime, my

conviction, the juridical person that it is alleged I have somehow injured, my actual financial

status and why it is that I want to be transferred to a foreign prison.

6. An editorial on why the Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Finance is refusing to investigate the

truthfulness of my signal to them as enclosed?

I have written you in the past and never received an answer. Frankly, I do not now expect an answer.

Therefore this letter is only a formality for my family and me to invite Bulgarian National TV to discuss a

negotiated settlement. In failing that I will then ask my family to proceed to a United States and Canadian

courts of law and then possibly get your attention. So be advised that this time if my family and I do not

receive a reply within 7 (seven) days from the receipt of this letter then we will definitely proceed to court

with our claims.

Michael Kapoustin

Sofia Central Penitentiary

10 Prisoners Group

21 General Stoiletov

Sofia, Bulgaria

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-

24

47

1504

.

Editor and Chief

24hours Newspaper

Ms. Venelina Gocheva

47 Tzarigradsko Shosse Blvd.

Sofia, 1504Bulgaria

Ref: Publications of;

December 16th, 2003 - 11

December 17th, 2003 - 12

December 18th , 2003 - , 13

Saturday, January 10, 2004

-

My family and I are formal attempting to reach a friendly agreement with 24 Hours and this solely in

order to avoid the costs and distress of seeking a settlement by bringing a slander and libel claim before

the Federal District Court of Washington, D.C. in the United States of America.

We seek some form of agreement in compensation for the injury suffered to the public rehabilitation of

my reputation, and thereby attempting to reverse the severe damage already caused by the numerous

defamatory publications of 24 Hours.

Here, I am referring only to the following untrue libelous and defamatory words and phrases published by

your daily as follows.

1. On December 16th, 2003 you published an editorial entitled .. the

use of the word 14 is libelous and defamatory. When identifying me to the readers of your

11 Which (what) are the Muses of Prisoners12 Michael Kapoustin sells his Organs13

I am selling my liver and bone marrow so I can return to Canada14 Pharaoh19305855.doc Page 27 of 30


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publication you attributed and applied to me the negative and derogatory description of .

This description is libelous and defamatory for it directly applies to me the untrue and negative image

of my being a mass public swindler and fraud, something which your paper knew to be untrue, a

Bulgarian criminal court of appeal had acquitted me on all charges alleging fraud and

misappropriation from individual Bulgarian citizens.

2. On December 17th, 2003 you published an editorial piece entitled

.. the phrase 15 is libelous and defamatory

because it untruthfully implies to the public at large that I am convicted for misappropriating money

not having lawfully been the patrimony of my company LifeChoice;

16 is libelous and defamatory because it is untrue and states a falsehood that I am

attempting to buy freedom; 17. 17

is libelous and defamatory because it is untrue and directly implies that my company LifeChoice was

a criminal enterprise and vehicle for misappropriation from third persons.

Again, 24 Hours has continued to injure me by maliciously identifying me in its publication with

the degrading and injurious defamatory and derogatory term of .

Furthermore 24 Hours misleadingly and maliciously describes the reason for my imprisonment

and crime as the . This is libelous and defamatory

because it is untrue and only perpetuates the negative and a deeply disturbing and injurious image

in the publics mind that I was somehow convicted for using my company LifeChoice only as a

means for misappropriating money from Bulgarian citizens. This is not true. My conviction is for

a foreign company having allegedly failed to return funds to my company (LifeChoice), fundsthat I did lawfully transfer abroad with the agreement of directors and shareholders. These

particular funds are established by a Bulgarian criminal court of law as lawfully being the

patrimony of my company LifeChoice and not belonging to any Bulgarian physical person;

Additionally; . is a libelous and defamatory

phrase because it is untrue and falsely creates an impression that I am attempting to buy my

freedom. This is not true;

Again; 17. is a libelous and

defamatory phrase because it continues to perpetuate what your publication knows to be untrue

and acts to aggravate the earlier libels published by 24 Hours. Your publication knowing act to

maintain in the publics mind the malicious falsehood that I was using my company LifeChoice

only as a means for misappropriating money from third persons. This falsehood directly acts to

create an injurious and defamatory impression within the public consciousness that my company

LifeChoice is and remains a criminal enterprise and vehicle for misappropriation and not, as the

15 The Pharaoh stole money through the Pyramid16

He is hoping that with the money he can earn his freedom17 Kapoustin is serving a 17 year sentence for embezzling through the Pyramid LifeChoice19305855.doc Page 28 of 30


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Bulgarian criminal courts Judgment shows, the sole victim of that alleged misappropriation for

which I am sentenced.

3. December 18th , 2003 , ..

...18 is libelous and defamatory because it creates in the

public mind the untrue and injurious image that my company LifeChoice was a criminal organization.

The phrase is offensive, libelous and defamatory because it continues to perpetuate in the public mind

what is untrue and an injuriously defamatory image preventing LifeChoice from reorganizing and

reclaiming its property from the State of Bulgaria.

The settlement my family, the company LifeChoice and I are seeking from 24 Hours is its agreement to

publish a series of editorial pieces retracting the untrue and libelous words and phrases identified above.

Furthermore, 24 Hours to present the actual facts established by the Bulgarian criminal court and the EC

case of Lukanov v. Bulgaria where the EC determined that transferring funds abroad is not a crime and

thereby assisting in the rehabilitation of my reputation before the Canadian, American and Bulgaria

public whom 24 Hours has misled.

Also I am seeking an investigative editorial by 24 Hours that documents, in detail, the official corruption,

discriminations and harsh conditions intentionally suffered upon and by foreign citizens within the

Bulgarian penitentiary system. Foreign citizens are forced to pay bribes to officials of the Ministry of

Justice and to Bulgarian prisoners. This is the only way to have our prison cells repaired and furnished.

We are not allowed to secure work or education and therefore will have no possibly for parole or transfer

to prisons in our home countries, at least not until bribes and the State of Bulgaria are paid or someone in

this government acts to end these abuses. It is a crime to ask foreign prisoners to pay money before theyare allowed access to judicial equality and humane treatment from officials of the Ministry of Justice

Bulgaria, officials who refuse to honor or recognize as binding upon them Bulgarias international

agreements on the treatment of prisoners. Specifically, the 24 Hours editorial should address those

Bulgaria Minister of Justice ordinances that directly act to deny foreign citizens their rights according to

Bulgarian and international law. Legal rights which Bulgarian citizens are enjoying in prisons but foreign

citizens are denied.

An editorial on why the Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Finance is refusing to investigate the

truthfulness of my signal to them as enclosed?

In the past I have written you about such slanders and abuses. Never have I received a reply. Frankly, I do

not now expect an answer. However, the formality is for me to invite 24 Hours towards a negotiated

settlement and failing that to then ask a court of law to get your attention. So be advised that this time if

my family and I do not receive a reply within 7 (seven) days from the receipt of this letter then we will

definitely proceed to court with our claim.

18 The burned from the Pyramid LifeChoice19305855.doc Page 29 of 30


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Michael Kapoustin

Sofia Central Penitentiary

10 Prisoners Group

21 General Stoiletov

Sofia, Bulgaria

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v bulgarian national tv_claim with all comments

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