International

Southport killer, who killed three girls, sentenced to 52 years in prison

18-year-old Axel Rudakubana, guilty of the murder of three girls in the English town of Southport (northern England) on July 29, 2024, was sentenced this Thursday to a minimum prison time of 52 years, according to a Liverpool court.

Judge Julian Goose imposed a life sentence on Rudakubana, but since he was a minor at the time of committing the crime, and British law does not allow life imprisonment for minors, a minimum of 51 years and 190 days in prison was determined, discounting the time he has already been under bars since his arrest.

“(Axel Rudakubana) will spend most of his life in prison. I think it is quite likely that he will never be released and that he will be in prison all his life,” Goose added in the reading of the sentence, where he commented that, if he had been 18 years old, he would have sentenced him to life imprisonment without a minimum period.

Rudakubana, who did not express remorse after killing the minors, had pleaded guilty on Monday to the charges of stabbing murder of 6-year-old Bebe King; Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, 9; and of trying to murder eight other minors and two adults during a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport.

In total, Rudakubana was convicted of a total of 16 charges, including the production of ricin, a biological toxin and the possession of an Al Qaeda training manual, although he admitted that there was no evidence to consider the attack a terrorist cause, but he did commit “equivalent” actions.

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“I am sure that Rudakabana had a fixed and determined intention to carry out these crimes, and that if he had been able to, he would have killed each and every one of the minors, all 26 of them, as well as all the adults who had stook in his way,” said the British magistrate.

Shortly after the punishment against infanticide became known, the Prosecutor’s Office announced that it is considering the possibility of filing an appeal with the Court of Appeal if it concludes that the sentence has been “excessively lenient.”

During the incident, Rudakubana stabbed at least 122 times the youngest of the victims, 6 years old, and tried to “decapitate her,” according to the pathologist who examined the body.

The Rudakubana case has also highlighted the errors in the British anti-terrorist prevention system, after it was revealed this week that the young man had been referred to the youth program ‘Prevent’ from the age of 14 until three times.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a statement after the conviction was announced that the Southport massacre is “one of the most heartbreaking moments” in the history of the United Kingdom.

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“What happened in Southport was an atrocity and, as the judge has stated, this vile criminal will probably never be released. After one of the most heartbreaking moments in the history of our country, we owe those innocent girls and all those affected the change they deserve,” he said.

He alluded in this way to the “fundamental change” in the protection of minors that he asked for on Tuesday after Rudakubana pleaded guilty, when he dropped that the legal definition of terrorism should be changed to include actions such as that of Southport.

International

Trump urges Putin to reach peace deal

On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated his desire for Russian President Vladimir Putin to “reach a deal” to end the war in Ukraine, while also reaffirming his willingness to impose sanctions on Russia.

“I want to see him reach an agreement to prevent Russian, Ukrainian, and other people from dying,” Trump stated during a press conference in the Oval Office at the White House.

“I think he will. I don’t want to have to impose secondary tariffs on Russian oil,” the Republican leader added, recalling that he had already taken similar measures against Venezuela by sanctioning buyers of the South American country’s crude oil.

Trump also reiterated his frustration over Ukraine’s resistance to an agreement that would allow the United States to exploit natural resources in the country—a condition he set in negotiations to end the war.

International

Deportation flight lands in Venezuela; government denies criminal gang links

A flight carrying 175 Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States arrived in Caracas on Sunday. This marks the third group to return since repatriation flights resumed a week ago, and among them is an alleged member of a criminal organization, according to Venezuelan authorities.

Unlike previous flights operated by the Venezuelan state airline Conviasa, this time, an aircraft from the U.S. airline Eastern landed at Maiquetía Airport, on the outskirts of Caracas, shortly after 2:00 p.m. with the deportees.

Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, who welcomed the returnees at the airport, stated that the 175 repatriated individuals were coming back “after being subjected, like all Venezuelans, to persecution” and dismissed claims that they belonged to the criminal organization El Tren de Aragua.

However, Cabello confirmed that “for the first time in these flights we have been carrying out, someone of significance wanted by Venezuelan justice has arrived, and he is not from El Tren de Aragua.” Instead, he belongs to a gang operating in the state of Trujillo. The minister did not disclose the individual’s identity or provide details on where he would be taken.

International

Son of journalist José Rubén Zamora condemns father’s return to prison as “illegal”

Guatemalan court decides Wednesday whether to convict journalist José Rubén Zamora

The son of renowned journalist José Rubén Zamora Marroquín, José Carlos Zamora, has denounced as “illegal” the court order that sent his father back to a Guatemalan prison on March 3, after already spending 819 days behind barsover a highly irregular money laundering case.

“My father’s return to prison was based on an arbitrary and illegal ruling. It is also alarming that the judge who had granted him house arrest received threats,” José Carlos Zamora told EFE in an interview on Saturday.

The 67-year-old journalist was sent back to prison inside the Mariscal Zavala military barracks on March 3, when Judge Erick García upheld a Court of Appeals ruling that overturned the house arrest granted to him in October. Zamora had already spent 819 days in prison over an alleged money laundering case.

His son condemned the situation as “unacceptable”, stating that the judge handling the case “cannot do his job in accordance with the law due to threats against his life.”