Knox & ECHR: How Abysmal Researcher Avrom Brendzel Raises False Hope In The Knox Sheep




1. The Real ECHR Context

Our previous post explained Knox’s slim-to-zero chances of winning at the ECHR.

Her lawyers, knowing how much and how inconsistently Knox lies, and with zero paper trail in support of her claim that she was forced to frame an innocent man, had really only pulled a PR stunt. As thousands of Italian lawyers are known to do every year. 

But ignorant of the highly documented facts, and the ECHR’s admission rules, and Cassation’s final ruling which shut the ECHR out, the gullible Knox sheep still spend hours and hours misleading themselves into thinking their cherub is home free.

And that her three-year felony conviction will be wound back.

2. Avrom Brendzel’s False Claims

The non-lawyer Avrom Brendzel promotes Knox ardently on Twitter. And he has written at enormous length, very misleadingly, twice on Knox and the ECHR.

That second one (The Next Legal Step in the Amanda Knox Case: The European Court of Human Rights) is again riddled with rudimentary errors and PR myths.

Brendzel clearly hasn’t read many or even any of the official court reports and court testimonies - as of course the ECHR will have done.

Instead he has bought into the lies and misinformation by Amanda Knox’s supporters and, too lazy to do any fact-checking, has regurgitated them with bells and whistles here. 

He has relied only on these people for his information for way too long, and it explains why he gets so many basic facts wrong.

1. Wrong on conviction overturn

His long rambling article addressed at them explains why he thinks it’s highly likely that an advisory from the ECHR will result in

...the eventual revision of Knox’s conviction for false accusation, meaning an acquittal or other dismissal of the conviction.

He doesn’t seem to understand that the ECHR has zero power to reverse or quash any convictions, let alone that they will recommend that to Italy.

“The Court does not act as a court of appeal in relation to national courts; it does not rehear cases, it cannot quash, vary or revise their decisions.”

(The European Court of Human Rights)

Judge Marasca stated in his Supreme Court report that Amanda Knox’s conviction for calunnia is protected as a final judgement:

“On the other hand, in the slanderous declarations against Lumumba, which earned her [Amanda Knox] a conviction, the status of which is now protected as final judgement.”

In other words, Amanda Knox’s conviction for calunnia is final and can’t be changed.

2. Wrong on rights violated

Brendzel also falsely claims:

...the Italian Supreme Court of Cassation agreed that Knox’s rights under Italian law had been violated during the questioning and ruled that her statements from the questioning could not be used against her.

The Italian Supreme Court has never stated that Amanda Knox’s rights were violated. That’s the reason why he is unable to substantiate his claim with a verbatim quotation from the Supreme Court.

Amanda Knox’s witness statements could be used against her in the slander trial. They couldn’t be used against her at the murder trial because she wasn’t represented by a lawyer when she made them.

She was warned repeatedly about that but chose to press on. That was not her rights being violated. She chose that.

3. Wrong on Knox “questioning”

Brendzel also repeats the PR lie that Amanda Knox was continually questioned until about 6:00 am:

“The questioning of both lasted until the morning of November 6. Knox’s statements, written out by computer printer in Italian by the police, were indicated as generated at 1:45 am and 5:45 am.”

In fact she was barely questioned all night. She herself insisted on both statements, and she signed. She wasn’t ever questioned after she had made her spontaneous, unforced statement at 1:45am.

She chose to make another witness statement at 5:45am, but she wasn’t questioned at that time and had even been warned she should have a lawyer present at all statements, which she chose to ignore.

4. Wrong on Knox coercion

Brendzel also claims that Amanda Knox was “seemingly being subjected to some form of physically or emotionally painful coercion”. But there is no credible evidence that she was beaten or coerced.

On the contrary, according to the corroborative eyewitness testimony of the two women who were present throughout (Rita Ficarra and Anna Donnino) and one who looked in (Monica Napoleoni), when Amanda Knox was helping them by listing possible perps she wasn’t hit or threatened. At trial Knox admitted this.

5. Wrong on prior suspect

In line with his kneejerk blaming of the investigators, Brendzel also claims this:

The Italian police and prosecutor did not disclose to Knox during the November 5/6, 2007 questioning that she had become a suspect prior to the beginning of the questioning.

But no, Knox had not.

The police didn’t have anywhere near enough evidence to make her an official suspect when she voluntarily showed up at the police station that evening and they were still hunting hard for others.

Amanda Knox was there co-operating only as “a person with possible useful information” or possible witness - not as an official suspect - on 5 November 2007. On that night she built a list of visitors to the house at Rita Ficarra’s request. A mere list. Which is in evidence. That’s hardly a request for a suspect - and the list pointed away from her.

Giobbi’s gut feelings about Amanda Knox being guilty were quite frankly irrelevant, and they conflict with every other testifier at the trial. (He was from Rome and seemingly grandstanding as Knox’s conniption had had nothing to do with him.)

It wasn’t until Amanda Knox spontaneously admitted she was at the cottage when Meredith was killed and claimed she brought the killer back to the cottage that the investigators had anything to provisionally charge her for - and then only of withholding evidence, not murder or calunnia.

6. Wrong on court findings

Brendzel doesn’t mention any of these damning findings of the Supreme Court: (1) she had said she went out multiple times and Sollecito repeatedly said she did; (2) there was overwhelming proof of multiple attackers, (3) it’s a proven fact Amanda Knox was at the cottage when Meredith was killed, (4) she washed Meredith’s blood off in the small bathroom, (5) she knew specific details about the murder, (6) she provably lied to the police, and (7) the break-in was staged.

Cassation also concluded Raffaele Sollecito was present when Meredith was killed. It’s not difficult to work out who Rudy Guede’s co-attackers were - there is no evidence of anyone else being at the cottage on the evening of the murder.

7. Wrong on trustworthiness

The gullible Brendzel regards Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito as credible and trustworthy witnesses and quotes them a lot. That is despite the fact they have both admitted lying to the police.

For felony lying Knox rightly served three years. 

Knox’s numerous lies have been noted in multiple official court reports by the judges who presided over her trial in Perugia and her appeal in Florence and by the Supreme Court.

Judge Massei and Judge Nencini both noted that the computer and telephone records prove that Knox and Sollecito lied repeatedly.  Judge Chieffi and Judge Marasca both noted that Amanda Knox lied in their Supreme Court reports.

Judge Martuscelli comprehensively detailed Raffaele Sollecito’s numerous lies and false alibis in his report - which explained why Sollecito was denied compensation:

Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito’s multiple false alibis and numerous lies remain an Achilles heel of their supporters. Nobody has ever provided a plausible innocent explanation for their lies.

Brendzel, like Peter Gill - another unworldly academic - has chosen not to address them. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s not even aware of them.

3. My Conclusions

There is no justification for Brendzel’s absolute certainty that Knox and Sollecito are innocent. There is no exculpatory evidence whatsoever e.g. verified alibis or CCTV footage that proves Amanda Knox and Sollecito were not at the cottage at the time of the murder.

Surely, as a scientist he should want proof of their innocence. Brendzel is clearly a good academic and intelligent. His scientific contributions are listed here,

However, he clearly lacks emotional intelligence. Nobody with an ounce of common sense would unquestioningly believe and trust two self-confessed liars. This naivety and gulliblity is too common a denominator amongst the Knox sheep.

Posted by The Machine on 05/30/18 at 05:05 PM in

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Comments

The clearly bigoted Brendzel of course writes only in English, far away from Italy, as is typical of his cowardly group, and has contacted NOT ONE of those he impugns.

He now seems to be retired in St Paul and to spend his days obsessing over Knox. The only Italians who have ever heard him rightly despise him. Nice legacy…

Posted by Peter Quennell on 05/30/18 at 08:48 PM | #

I’ve made Avrom Brendzel aware of this post via Twitter. He hasn’t replied to me. It clearly isn’t easy for any of Amanda Knox’s supporters to admit they’ve got basic facts wrong. I suspect this due to the fact they are desperate to believe she’s innocent and they don’t want to even consider the possibility they’ve been supporting a sadistic sex killer.

It should never be about meeting your emotional needs or winning arguments, but ascertaining the truth - whatever that may be. When I first heard the news of Meredith’s tragic murder, I didn’t need Amanda Knox to be innocent or guilty. I just wanted those responsible to be brought to justice. I’ve never understood why some people say they want Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito to be innocent.

Posted by The Machine on 06/01/18 at 12:36 PM | #

Hi Machine

Excellent comment (and post) which will resonate with many here. (Brendzel has never ever tweeted by the way. As you showed he “friends” numerous others.) 

” It clearly isn’t easy for any of Amanda Knox’s supporters to admit they’ve got basic facts wrong. I suspect this due to the fact they are desperate to believe she’s innocent.”

Plus they have been taught to really hate Italy and Italians and Italian officialdom (almost none of them know Italy - or how much worse is the US justice system).

Plus Obergruppenfuhrer Fischer will turn his guns on them if they threaten to blow his huge financial scams.

He even tried them on the Knox-Mellases who despise him now. Once a scammer, always a scammer, as his bankruptcies attest.

I’d bet the addled wealthy retiree Brendzel is one scam victim, and he may have paid in upward of $10,000, maybe keeping the wife out of the loop as the Knox slobberers tend to.

That kind of figure exploded into the open when Frank Sforza was conducting his crimewave in the northwest USA.

One of those Sforza hounded with Fischer’s approval plaintively said he had paid in over $20,000. Search for great posts on this here by Kermit and Ergon.

Posted by Peter Quennell on 06/01/18 at 04:51 PM | #

I see that Giulia Bongiorno is now a minister in the new Italian Coalition Government.

No, not the Minister for Justice, thank heavens, but the Minister for Public Administration Simplification.

This is a position without a specific portfolio but apparently involves looking at ways for regulatory reduction in the public sector i.e cutting laws, cutting costs and cutting bodies (like quangos etc).

Perhaps Sollecito can lend her his knife (sorry - that’s a terrible joke).

Anyway, it’s time that organized charities did more for this sector, like the Mafia, for instance. There may be a few judges wondering about their perks and salaries, I should think. On the other hand perhaps she will give Hellmann a job.

Posted by James Raper on 06/01/18 at 09:47 PM | #

Hi James.  Thats PERFECT.

Whoever fixed this seems to be aware she is a major nuisance and has set this gilded trap for her. 

Nothing drives a Minister more crazy than when they come to realise that with no powerful Ministry under them they are about as useful as a fifth wheel. She will have no staff, few or no legal powers, and no budget.

She will be universally fobbed-off or ignored, as no big Ministry is going to want to hear from HER how to runs its business.

At the same time she will be unavailable to the Sollecitos for legal work even if each wanted the other.

Plus she will get the fright of her life when all Italy awakes to the roles of the Mafias here.

Posted by Peter Quennell on 06/02/18 at 01:27 AM | #

Talking of big bucks… I just came home to find this parked down below. All the infrastructure is stainless steel. Click on the image for a better look.

_

After I bought my place the Harbor designated that spot on the Hudson for such boats to park (the 76th Street marina is to the right, just out of sight) so several dozen similar have parked there over the years. Biggest was huge, oligarch Roman Abramovich’s Grand Bleu.

https://www.superyachtfan.com/yacht-aviva.html

Here is who owns this one and what it cost. 25 crew?! I hadnt heard of Joe Lewis before, perhaps our UK readers have? He owns Tottenham Hotspurs whatever that is (okay I know! Abramovich owns Chelsea, now in the news).  Interesting to google how he made his dough and who his friends and neighbors are.

Posted by Peter Quennell on 06/03/18 at 12:33 AM | #

Pete you have great views!

“Whatever that is?”???!

Soccer is the most popular game in the world. (Cricket is 2nd).

Posted by Cardiol MD on 06/03/18 at 04:19 PM | #

Correction:Most Popular BALL game(s)

Posted by Cardiol MD on 06/03/18 at 11:53 PM | #

Cardiol’s first comment is of course correct! (The second refers to video games I presume so that is as well.)

And Americans are no strangers to British soccer. It’s long amused me that not only are all the main British club games shown on American cable TV every weekend, there’ll be a game or two on the top broadcast channels. Having found a big hit there, the channels are now showing many British 15-a-side and 7-a-side rugby games as well.

Perhaps I should invite Mr Tottenham Hotspur up (he’s still there this am) for a nice cup of tea. I saw crumpets in Whole Foods the other day, first time. English muffins are of course huge, not least because they are a main breakfast item in all the MacDonalds.

Several British items we still lack: kippers and most other smoked fish common in UK shops, bangers (except in Irish pubs), Marmite, pork pies and other meat pies, and scones (okay, we don’t lack those, only they are known as biscuits here). Weetbix is now sold in Trader Joe’s. Maybe the best fish & chips anywhere up in eastern Canada, Nova Scotia & New Brunswick & PEI worth visiting just for that.

Posted by Peter Quennell on 06/04/18 at 03:03 PM | #

Joe Lewis was well known here in Scotland for one thing Pete; he invested £40M in Glasgow Rangers Football Club back in the late 90s, only to see them slip into administration and then liquidation in 2012. A major loss for the Bahamas based fellow and a rare case of bad judgement in an otherwise stellar career from what I can gather.

He seems much wiser with his forays into football these days, sticking with the richest league in the world, the English Premier League. I certainly don’t envisage him sniffing around the Phoenix club that arose out of the ashes of Glasgow Rangers. Once bitten and all that!

Posted by davidmulhern on 06/05/18 at 01:56 AM | #

Hi David

I thought you all played rugby up there. Now I know why! The boat if I can call it that (still here) swings around on the tide, and as all levels are glass walls from the rear it’s a bit hard to avoid seeing what is going on. Several nights there was Joe alone mostly with his back to us watching sports and business TV.

Once you assemble real money its not so hard to make more but how he assembled his restaurant empire in London in his early days was a dash of daring for sure. I did see one report that he took a much bigger hit than £40M (I think over $1 billion) on one bet but his sterling bet had more than covered that.

The surest way to see billionaires here if that is of interest is to go to the big ballets. I’ve seen ex-Mayor Bloomberg there and been in a group at interval listening to David Koch, each worth 8 Joe Lewises. Both have given huge sums to institutions in NYC, a million visitors a week get the benefit of that, so I doubt anyone feels too bad…

Posted by Peter Quennell on 06/05/18 at 08:18 PM | #
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