World Exclusive: Richard Chichakli: “Australian Prison Is Trying To Poison Me”

Edited: January 29 2013

Is Richard Chichakli Being Poisoned in Prison?

At the request of Richard Chichakli via his Russian wife – whom is also facing her own charges in Australia – I was contacted to report on Chichakli’s treatment as well as his conditions in his Australian prison. Mrs. Chichakli [her real named is being withheld as per her request] contacted me by email. Here is part of what she wrote me:

Dear Mr. Mapp:

My name is …, I’m Richard’s wife of eight years, a Russian national. We came to Australia together. I’m contacting you as per Richard’s instruction. He called me this morning from Metropolitan Remand Centre where he’s been held since about two weeks. He was in panic because the prison staff insisted on him taking a pill for unknown reason. He’s not on any prescribed medicine. He believes somebody wants to poison him.

Is Richard Chichakli being paranoid – possibly but if you knew his entire story as well as I do — I would have to say his concerns and fears are legitimate.

The Accidental Terrorist

I will not go into detail in this article as far as the how and why or the depth of my relationship with Richard Chichakli. For those of you who have not heard of Richard Chichakli or want some background info, please read: Exclusive: Richard Chichakli Speaks About the Viktor Bout Trial. However, I do discuss my relationship with Chichakli in detail in my upcoming book titled, The Accidental Terrorist, which should be completed this summer. Here is a snapshot of my book:

In his fascinating new book, The Accidental Terrorist, George Mapp describes how he went from an international equity trader on Wall Street, to massage therapist to international globe trotter to an accused terrorist. His unique book will discuss international travel to exotic destinations, a spiritual journey, love affairs, diverse cultures, religious clashes, drugs, terrorism, intelligence agencies, spies, lies and spy games as well as his eye witness account of 9/11.

Solitary Confinement

Mrs. Chichakli in her email to me went into more detail in terms of Richard Chichakli’s prison conditions.

Since he’s been kept in prison he has been moved frequently from one cell to another. He says when he requests the management to attend the issues he has, the only response he gets is a guard.

MRC is a maximum security prison, Richard is kept in solitary. He is only accused of violation of economic sanctions, why they treat him like he’s a murderer?

For more than 2 weeks now he has not been granted visitors. I submitted my request on January 14, and his friends–a day later. Richard said that he put the requests through on the 13th of January. The phone operators in prison keep telling me to call next Wednesday, as their system gets updated on Tuedays. There have been two cycles of updates already with no results. My attempts to contact management through my lawyer took me back to where I started, as the decisions about visitors are made locally in prison, and the names of management are not disclosed. Since I’m not approved, I can’t go and visit him, I can’t bring clean clothes to him, I can send him money to make calls. And Richard is kept in solitary.

Lawyer or Puppet?

After attending everyday of the three week long Viktor Bout trial it was evident that the DEA would stop at nothing in their pursuit of Bout and his alleged co-conspirator a.k.a Richard Chichakli. The DEA operation to catch Bout in an elaborate ‘scheme’ was dubbed ‘Relentless‘ it spanned over three continents and is estimated to have cost U.S. taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. In fact on 17 January 2010, the DEA unsealed a new indictment against both Viktor Bout and Richard Chichakli: U.S. Announces New Indictment Against International Arms Dealer Viktor Bout and American Co-Conspirator for Money Laundering, Wire Fraud, and Conspiracy.

In one of my repliy emails to Mrs. Chichakli, I expressed my concern as to the loyalty and trustworthiness of Richard’s lawyer. What follows is a dialogue between myself and Mrs. Chichakli.

[Me] What do you think about Richard’s attorney [Andrew Sim]– is he really trying to help or is he just a puppet?

Cheers,

George

[Mrs. Chichakli] I was present in court on Jan-17 during Richard’s hearing, his attorney did not appear to be firm, seemed hesitant about what he was about to say. I spoke with him after the hearing inquiring about whether he can handle the case ’cause it may be too big for him, he reassured me that their practice is the largest criminal law practice in Melbourne and that they have staff that will attend the case properly. This morning Richard referred to him as a young boy and said he may dismiss him at the next trial. I don’t know if that was just an emotional statement.

Just for the record, I contacted Richard Chichakli’s attorney Andrew Sim and have not received a reply as of yet. I inquired about his clients’ well-being, his emotional and mental condition as well as a physical description of Chichakli’s actual prison cell.

Edited: 29 January 2013.

Several days after publishing this article I was contacted by a memeber of Richard Chichakli’s defense team. I do find it odd that a defense attorney would not care to comment on his clients treatment in prison. Especially if there are allegations of mis-treatment and abuse. The following excerpt is from Richard Chichakli’s defense team:

Dear George

Your enquiry of Mr Richard Chichakli has been forwarded to me to respond to. 

This email is to let you know that Victoria Legal Aid won’t be making any comment or providing any information on Mr Chichakli outside of court proceedings. 

Kind regards

Paula

Mrs. Chichakli’s Plea For Help

What Mrs. Chichakli wanted more than anything from me was help! She is trying desperately to reach out to the media and to journalists to get her husbands story heard. One thing that caught my attention is that Mrs. Chichakli is in legal trouble in a foreign country – she told me that she is out on bail – yet she did not express much concern about herself only about her husband.

The following excerpts by Mrs. Chichakli are taken verbatim from one of our email exchanges.

Richard mentioned a specific program “current affairs” over the phone and asked me to contact them as well as you. So I did, and the newsroom person pretty much harassed me over the phone–the same issues I described to you were not enough for him–he started offensively asking me what countries Richard [Chichakli] sold the arms to–North Korea, Iran, what countries put sanctions on him, I told him to stop making assumptions and I asked him to refer me to somebody else and he refused saying that he’s the only one there and that I’m not giving him enough information to make the story. He hung up. His name was Jeff. I called again later, and he again told me off.

I’ve spoken with Channel 10 newsroom, they may contact me on Sat or Sun.

I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but a few things don’t seem quite right.

1–for two weeks nobody except for his lawyer is allowed to see him

2- Richard said he put requests for visitors through and the prison system doesn’t reflect that

3- The requests to prison management for urgent assistance for making visits went ananswered

4- The prison personnel made an attempt to medicate Richard by mistake or on purpose?

5- They (the government?) know that there’s nobody here to stand for Richard, they know we’ve been separated and that I’m under pressure and won’t attempt much.

Any help in publicizing what’s going on would be appreciated.

Kind regards,

[Mrs. Chichakli]

Contact Information:

Twitter: Dobroyeutro

dobroyeutro1@gmail.com

Further Reading:

World Exclusive: First Marion, IL. Prison Interview with Viktor Bout

Viktor Bout is Fair Game: In the Midst of the Shadow Wars

Extraordinary Popular Delusions and Madness in the Never Ending Viktor Bout Saga

The Half-Truths and Missing Facts of Disarming Viktor Bout: The Chichakli – Schmidle Files

Exclusive: Richard Chichakli Speaks About the Viktor Bout Trial

Viktor Bout Convicted Over Terrorism Charges

Bout’s case – America’s hidden skeletons

Viktor Bout convicted in ‘arms smuggling’ case, may get life

Case closed? Final arguments heard in ‘Merchant of Death’ trial

More DEA Spies and Lies: Opening Statements in the Viktor Bout Trial

Imaginary Crimes: The Never Ending Viktor Bout StoryThe DEA’s Conduit to Viktor Bout Gets a Slap on the Wrist: Andrew Smulian Sentenced to Five Years

Was Viktor Bout’s sentence just?

Viktor Bout Stung By DEA Operation ‘Relentless’: Sentenced to 25 Years

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