this is g.w. newsline from berlin europe's top human rights court condemns russia over the death of the anti-fraud campaigner a surrogate magnitsky to the court the dragnets these treatment imprisoned led to with death in 2009 so what if any will be the consequences blocked out. also coming up the results president rejected an offer of aid to help fight fires in the amazon the g 7 group of wealthy nations for post an emergency fund of 20000000 dollars to help contain the blazes by jarboe so narrow says there are strings attached so he

doesn't want to. campaigning for votes in the final days ahead of the regional elections in germany more than ever smaller parties like the environmentalist greens are expected to change the political landscape. i'm sumi someone's going to thank you for joining us the european court of human rights has condemned russia for multiple violations against the late sergei magnitsky a russian corruption whistleblower who died in detention in 2009 magni death came after he was except he exposed widespread tax fraud that implicated russian officials the european court determined he had been ill treated and denied medical assistance in prison following his arrest for allegedly tax evasion his death resulted in the u.s. congress passing the magnitsky act which allows the government to freeze ask.

that's and band b. says of human rights violators around the world and we're going to turn to a one time friend of surrogate magnitsky bill browder is head of the investment fund hermitage capital management which was once the largest foreign portfolio investor in russia he led a campaign to punish russian officials for magnitsky as death and later lobbied the u.s. congress to pass the magnitsky act bill browder joins us from london good to have you on d. w. bell i know that magnitsky was your lawyer when he said he uncovered massive fraud by russian officials so what do you make of the verdict from the european court of justice today. well 1st and foremost this is 10 years in the coming magnitsky family and myself and various other friends of sergei magnitsky have been fighting for justice for 10 years and so it's nice and it's a big vindication for his family now that he's gotten justice 2nd and more importantly the russian government has been lying and spreading propaganda about

sergei magnitsky during this 10 year period trying to change the narrative of what happened to him and this unanimous decision by the european court of human rights that completely destroys the russian government's narrative and basically says that the russian government murdered surrogate magnitsky and that's a very important. court finding from the european court for human rights what consequences does it actually have for russia though bill. well the main consequence is that as a result of surrogate magnitsky is murder there are now 6 countries that have magnitsky x. the magnitsky act says that human rights violators should have their visas taken away and their assets frozen vladimir putin has made it his largest priority to try to repeal the magnitsky act by attacking the magnitsky story and by having this verdict in place it means of the magnitsky acts won't be repealed and that hopefully soon the european union and germany and many other countries in europe

will have their own magnitsky acts but the reality on the ground bill is that nobody has actually been convicted in russia for the death of certain magnitsky. that is correct and until the putin regime and i don't expect that they will be convicted in russia and since we can't convict people in russia we have to get justice outside of russia and the kind of justice that we can get outside of russia is to go after these people's money and their freedom to travel which may not sound like true justice and it isn't true justice but it's something that these people value very preciously and the fact that we can take that away and with the magnitsky act is something that really does and the impunity that they're enjoying right now we should say that the russian government does that that there is nothing to this case that this is part of an effort to boost anti russian sentiment across the world how confident are you that the european union would now pass pass the similar magnitsky act to that which what the congress passed the u.s.

congress passed in 2012. well the the proposal has already been put forward by the dutch government in the last year has been supported by the german government by the french government by various scandinavian governments and i think it's something that will happen and it only improves our the probability of it happening with this european court for human rights ruling because to the extent that anyone believed the russian narrative which which you just summarized very nicely that has been rubbish by this court ruling you've been investigating what happened to the millions of dollars that disappeared when your investment fund was raided what were your findings. will that one of the most important findings is that so we paid to the russian government $230000000.00 of taxes and what surrogate magnitsky had discovered was that a group of corrupt officials refunded those taxes to themselves we've traced that money and the most important recipient is

a man named surrogate role doogan who is who was exposed by the panama papers as being putin's nominee so effectively vladimir putin has been the recipient of the crime that sergei magnitsky was killed over which is one of the reasons why putin has made it such a high priority to try to school quassia this law and try to change the story because he's involved right bill browder a joining us from london well thank you for sharing your insights with us today. not some other stories making news around the world hong kong leader kerry lam says the escalation of violence in the chinese territories anti-government protests is becoming more serious lamb was speaking publicly for the 1st time since police through its water cannons and fired live ammunition during last weekend's demonstrations the protests in hong kong have been continuing for 12 weeks. chinese australian writer how for 7 months in china has been formally arrested for spying there

a charge that is punishable by death yanking june was originally detained in the southern city of joe in january the australian government says it has serious concerns for his welfare. former folks who are going chairman and chief executive has died at the age of 82 as the head of v.w. cash was credited with reviving the company's fortunes and turning it into a global empire and the spanish capital madrid has been hit by flash flooding as heavy rains swept across the country streets look like rivers and several metro stations had to be closed after the sudden downpour on monday in some areas residents had to clear away huge piles of hail stones that had built up along the street the brazilian president has rejected an offer of aid from g 7 countries to fight the fires in the amazon the group said it would give brazil $20000000.00 to help contain the blazes but both the narrow question their motives and earlier he accused the g 7 host french president in monaco of treating brazil

like a colony more than $80000.00 fires are burning in the amazon and many of them are out of control. the air is thick with smoke and it's hard to bring if the military are now on the ground in the states or britain tonia which has been hardest hit by the blazes as soon as one fires under control the next one breaks out huge areas now resemble under another landscape. supposed to fall if there are as one or 2 big fires we could deal with them better than all the small ones. money was a pool since there have been widespread protests since the fire started on friday under international pressure brazil's president both narrowed deployed soldiers to the region to fight the places brazil has said it will accept aid from israel and argentina but also now responded shoppy to a pledge of $20000000.00 from g 7 leaders on twitter he accuses french president

among them all michael of having a colonialist attitude towards brazil. oh you know it will go again do you think someone gives money without wanting something in return saying good lord why do they have their eye on the amazon what if it was lord i'm going to get a laugh since entering office both narrow has slashed environmental protection in the amazon in a bid to open up the area to industry and spur economic growth for a while landowners have reportedly been lighting many of the fires trying to clear forests for cattle ranching and agriculture something president wilson r.-o. has supported in the past we spoke to our correspondent daniel colp in portobello brazil and asked him if also naro could change his approach. well i personally don't think that this is going to change because also these farmers are some office big supporters they have been saying that in the past former brazilian president never really paid attention to the interest of those farmers now they are seeing

that president. you know having this difference a strategy that he has been you know supporting basically that those you know farmers you know which are burn their land in order you know to have more space there for for their animals so i don't really think that this situation is at the end going to change because these are you know his voters that he will need also in the future now it's being called a watershed moment in america's opioid crisis a court in oklahoma has ordered drug maker johnson and johnson to pay more than half a $1000000000.00 for its role in an epidemic that has killed thousands of people it is the 1st case of its kind to go to trial and it could be a model for litigation elsewhere in the u.s. the judge says the company was motivated by greed johnson and johnson denies any wrongdoing. he's probably impeded box's son austin is one of 6000

kleiman spill e 2 have died from an opioid overdose since the start of the millennium a promising american footballer he died in his prime austin was living a nightmare the nightmare of prescription drug abuse now the 1st of thousands of lawsuits aimed at toting manufacturers and distributors to account has made it through trial cleveland county district judge that might have said prosecutors have proven johnson and johnson to create a public nuisance it would take decades to repair. still today judge walkmen has affirmed our position that johnson and johnson motivated by greed and avarice is responsible for the opioid epidemic. johnson and johnson will finally be held accountable for thousands of deaths and addiction caused by their

activities. the company was accused of flooding the market with painkillers and deceptively marketing them denies wrongdoing saying its sales claims were backed by science it plans to appeal against the oklahoma court's decision. we have sympathy . for all who suffer. from substance of the use. but johnson and johnson. did not cause the opioid abuse crisis here in oklahoma. anywhere in this country. so many more claimants disagree with the company with 2000 go to court in ohio later this year. let's get more on this story with our reporter rob watts he's with us here in our studio hi rob this really is a landmark case but remind us of the background here this opioid apa demick that

really has been ravaging american towns and cities for years now you know as the 130 americans die from opioid overdoses every single day i mean the cases are looking at figures like 400000 americans dying from overdoses of opioids between 190-920-1760 extension 00 of those are thought to have been in oklahoma and it's in oklahoma that we've had this very 1st occasion on which one of the drugs companies has made it to trial and in this instance it's been found against them what it's said is that johnson and johnson by the oklahoma prosecutors is that they were using marketing techniques that both played down the addictiveness of painkillers but also played up the safety of them and played to the benefits of them to the point where doctors were overprescribing them there was more addiction and so there were more deaths johnson and johnson for their part tonight that's the

case they say that that painkillers only made up for a small proportion of those that were prescribed to him during the period was talking about but nevertheless they are facing is accusations in thousands of cases which is the judge saying the ruling well. folkman came down very heavily on them he says the phrase used was false misleading and dangerous marketing campaigns were used by the company he says that they exponentially increased rates of addiction and overdose deaths he also said they had increased the number of babies being born already addicted to opioids so it's a damning. it's from the judge in this case he rather creatively used oklahoma's public nuisance laws to find a way to prosecute johnson and johnson in this is ordered them to pay as we mentioned 572000000 dollars that's going to go towards a year's worth of trying to recover from this opioid crisis so we're talking about things like i am see if the clinics for example he described the situation in

oklahoma as an imminent danger and a menace to lives rob you touched on this but how is johnson and johnson to reacting to this case they have immediately said that they are going to appeal against it they've said that they didn't use aggressive or misleading marketing campaigns instead the 2nd planes were all backed by science they've also said that . the these this finding isn't supported by the facts in the case what might surprise you is that shares in johnson and johnson today are up something like 3 percent because though they've been essentially find this hard 1000000000 the prosecutors next to him over seeking 17000000000 so investors have clearly felt relieved by that but there's likely to be more of these on the way with some 2000 more cases yet the right our reporter rob what's bringing us this story thank you very much thank you. now health officials in the u.s.

say a person who used east cigarettes has died after developing lung disease at least 200 cases of respiratory illnesses have been reported across the state of illinois but it is still unclear if the death or the illnesses were caused by the use of the cigarettes which is also known as vapor. they've been marketed as a healthier alternative to tobacco cigarettes are now a $1000000000.00 industry popular with teens and young adults but after a wave of a ping related illnesses including a death in the u.s. experts are scrambling to pinpoint the cause. at this time here in illinois we do not know what is contributing to these respiratory illnesses the common link among our 22 cases is that all individuals have a reported history or recent dating or use of electronic devices urge people to use caution and consider avoiding the use of such material while tobacco use is at an

all time low in the u.s. they ping is on the rise more than 3 and a half 1000000 teens used electronic devices last year. no clear link has been established between cigarettes and illness but the devices do contain heavy metals and cancer causing chemicals the american dating association has rejected claims that vaporizes are harmful blaming the cases on quote tainted black market t.h.c. products the team from the center for disease control is now investigating the cause of the on this is. now germans into eastern states go to the polls the sunday to elect new regional governments and these votes are being closely watched because it is expected that the far right alternative for germany could emerge as the strongest political party in one or both of the 2 states meanwhile the environmentalist green party has also won more support the greens already the 2nd largest party nationally but they have traditionally had. little support in the

east of the country but in the state funded book they now look set to double their share of the vote compared to the last regional elections in 2014 where they only got 6.2 percent now it is a similar story in neighboring saxony where the latest polls indicate that the greens share of the vote would increase to double figures compared to just 5.7 percent in that last election in 2014 those numbers could transform the greens in eastern germany from a friend's party to a force to be reckoned with and beyond that the greens co-leader about how beck is being talked about as a possible future german chancellor is chief political editor michelle was out on the campaign trail with opic. this man cycling through small town saxony could well be on his way to succeed as germany's next chancellor in recent months harvick has taken his green party to new heights in the opinion polls they're expected to

double their share of the vote in next sunday's regional elections in the eastern states of brandenburg and saxony a development that raises big questions about bigger ambitions here god am i walking through the countryside here with the future chancellor of germany. most of all you know walking next to a party leader he's campaigning in saxony in brandenburg together with his colleagues from the beginning of the year everyone said sure you have good opinion poll did you get all crushed in brandenburg and sectioning and now the opposition could happen as germany's big 10 parties lose support the greens have been going mainstream. of the greens the new center of force of jump politics. your visits nearly certainly hold positions other parties used to hold the forests and that have become part of germany's d.n.a. like the fact that a social market economy is there to serve the people and that we don't want to die

hard capitalism and that europe has to be the core aim of german foreign policy. the former rebel greens at ease with becoming establishment so again ready for chancellor. it's a fair question as we've been around the 20 percent mark for a while now but it's too early for that opposition. in saxony the greens try to prove they are unafraid of the right wing populism that is dividing the country further north they're aiming even higher whereas this side of the road here in saxony the greens are unlikely to significantly change the political game just across the road in the neighboring state of brandenburg the greens are well on the way into regional government. here they have been able to score with voters in the race to offer alternatives to the far right if tea party the tightly contested race between those pushing for change and those promising the return to good old days

sees the greens also an anonymous a trained doctor up against the if tea parties and the us kind of gets an army veteran. because we cannot afford to fail on our climate targets time and time again we finally need to get serious about meeting the 1.5 degree target of the paris accord we only have a couple of years left to do that the navy yard a liberal leaning crowd feels the a if the protests too much overt rhetoric on migration. we have to openly address the problems people have and that's what the f.d.a. is about we don't start fears. over the high hopes of the greens prove that the political battle in eastern germany is not simply about the rise of the far right it's also about who might replace angle america as her political era draws to a close. and our political correspondent is with us for more on this

story hi emma what do you think these state elections tell us about the german political landscape but it definitely shows us that there's a shift of the voters away from the traditional parties and towards parties like the greens on the one hand and on the other hand now the far right party or the could become the 1st party who is around 21 percent of the voting intentions and it's actually deaths goes up to 25 percent which means percent which means that if you could become the 2nd political force in the region now do greens affair and defeat explains in the book and into force base in saxony what does that mean if means that a devoted trust has shifted indeed and those changes could be beneficial for both parties but a bit of a so for the greens and even perhaps even more so for the greens because those states ministers in london before president ministers so the people who regional parliament declared that they would never enter a coalition with

a far right party but will consider a coalition with the green party what we mentioned at the greens have seen their share of the vote in these 2 states rise but there's still a 4th and 5th in these 2 states why do they have such a hard time building momentum there well if you look at the history of the green party indows ridges to greens started out in the west where there is a different mentality different preoccupations and all the name shows the focus is meant mostly on environmental questions while. most of the program patients evolve that revolve around the economy situation and that's where the 2 worlds 2 worlds collide how can a party i like to greens promote renewable energy in a region east germany where the economy revolves around the coal industry for example and that's where the challenge lies for the green party and the inspiration for it if on sunday we see the far right come out with a strong. party in both states what does that mean for chancellor angela merkel and

her government here in berlin well look at the campaign of the d.f.t. played on the voters' frustrations on feelings of having being forgotten by the federal government the time of their initiation and the. xenophobic and racist minority in those regions using populists with or make anti immigrant feelings now that each day feds read about a dozen actions that would be another said for and america's government and another truth is that voters don't place their trust anymore in mainstream parties step back does that mean they would actually threaten the stability of her coalition government the coalition government is. already fragile but of course it would set on the stability all right our political correspondent covering the story for us thank you so much for your insight thank you with those elections in saxony this weekend one of the local football clubs says also gotten into the campaigning mood but honestly the team rb leipzig have chosen to put up their own banners calling

for tolerance and harmony in stadiums and in society but the club which is backed by energy drinks giant red bull insist they have no political motives. party election posters have been filling up the streets in saxony for weeks the far right a.f.p. are expected to do well in sunday's election. but some of the plaque cards look slightly out of place they're not from a political party but from blues legal football club. posters featuring the coach and star players have been plastered around like beyond proudly declaring the club's drive for diversity and openness it's nothing to do with party politics they say these are just basic principles. and it's not about party politics it's about the values that we stand for in society respect tolerance openness diversity we're proudly in favor of an open society we've got 40 nationalities playing in our team our players live diversity we live it as a club the decision to take a stand is

a recent development on the street as on social media not everyone has got the message. it's a big confusing i wasn't sure what it was about i thought it was about football though the club is keen to avoid indorsing any party the timing is no coincidence everyone has something to say had an election why shouldn't i be. there are more than $300.00 of the posters hanging across the state but it's at the polling booth and not the stadium that section these near future will be determined. coming up on day w. news asia looking for an exit can the u.s. and how about negotiators finally reach a deal to not notice the withdrawal of american troops from afghanistan you know your ports from doha. and up blast from the past the japanese farm provides traditional techniques to deliver luxury items.

plus a chance we'll have those stories coming up on in g.w. news asia in the meantime go to our website p.w. dot com for all the latest thank you for watching.

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a whole lot of solution for climate change and the turn. only brief search out. just you tell me news coming up after 18 years fighting the u.s. and the taliban look to end hostilities in afghanistan but the afghan government doesn't have a seat at the table we look at what the doha talks mean for actual peace on the ground plus what about the women and baby explore more freedom since the taliban fell from power could your games be lost once again. and a japanese farm that produces luxury items an old fashioned way to add something special to a.