Nothing is more threatening to our democracy than the illegal links that are forming between power elites and our secret security / intelligence agencies. It does seem that these Spy agencies are fast morphing into a secret police. Zersetzen is not the tool of a democratic State. Developed by the STASI in the former communist east block, Zersetzen is the tool of totalitarian and authoritarian States.
Some of our security agencies are becoming a law unto themselves and, where they are involved, our elected politicians don't seem to matter. There is a form of “Overton Window” developing where establishment Bully Boys with Spy agency connections can override the boundaries of decency normally set by the Rule of Law - and persecute innocent citizens with impunity.
Zersetzen involves the intentional shutdown of all the normal avenues for the resolution of grievances. It is about a deliberate "failure to protect" its citizens by government. As a result of this there is a complete "denial of justice". Where the secret spy agencies are involved, the Rule of Law no longer applies
Unfortunately our politicians are too scared of our Spy Agencies to rein them in. Once the secret intelligence agencies are involved, people are too scared to help - police, politicians, human rights agencies, media, the Courts. All the support structures and the institutions that one normally relies upon for justice simply freeze up. The rules are still there, but they are not followed
My complaint involves two countries – UK and Canada. The Zersetzen attacks initially started in Vancouver, Canada. Thinking they were localized to Canada, I fled to the UK only to find that the attacks continued there as well.
Most of the incidents (i.e. Zersetzen attacks) are documented in the Russell Zersetzen Report. - see Section 2 of this Site. To go to the Table of Contents click on the hamburger sign on the left of this page.
Two UK Members of Parliament made strenuous efforts to have this matter honestly investigated by the UK government; unfortunately, in vain - so strong is the cover up conspiracy to obstruct justice.
Three times the Rt. Hon. Hazel Blears MP -- UK Cabinet Minister [then] responsible for their secret security / intelligence services (MI5 & Special Branch) -- rejected the MP’s requests for an honest investigation providing written excuses that are not only untrue but actually contradict each other. Sinisterly, at the same time as the MP’s were making their written requests for an investigation to Minister Blears, my wife and I were also being intimidated, threatened and harassed to get us to stop complaining.
The only consistency in Minister Blears' three letters was that she ensured that my issue - intimidation, harassment and threats - was always covered-up and never investigated
These letters to/from Minister Blears can be seen by downloading the OneNote version of the “Russell Zersetzen” Report and viewing sub-sections L1 and L2.
After I had returned to Canada one of the UK Members of Parliament, who had been helping us, summarized this failure to obtain justice, writing –
“Government [UK] have not been at all helpful in all the enquiries made on our behalf”
(John Leech MP, March 13, 2007).
After returning to Canada I again made strenuous efforts to get this stuff – intimidation, harassment, threats, intrusive surveillance – honestly investigated. These efforts are described in Section M of the “Russell Zersetzen” Report.
I made a formal complaint against the CSIS (Canada’s Intelligence Agency) to its oversight body the SIRC. The SIRC dismissed my complaint – without interviewing myself or a single witness.
Indeed, the SIRC’s then Chair and Chief Executive, Dr. Arthur Porter, stated on the radio that the CSIS would not do such things. The SIRC’s integrity can well be judged by the subsequent history of its former Chair Dr. Arthur Porter. The following year Dr. Porter had to resign from the SIRC as he faced yet another scandal.
A few years later the intelligence oversight chief, Dr. Porter, would die in prison in Panama, fighting extradition back to Canada to avoid facing charges that included bribe taking, money laundering and conspiracy.
Hardly surprising that, with a history like this, the SIRC is little more than CSIS’s rubber stamp.
Indeed, there is nothing new in this. These services have been involved in Zersetzen-style abuses with others and, though they continue to deny such involvement, there are many precedents to the contrary.
Indeed look at the degree of the cover up - to deny justice - in my own case, that is outlined in the narrative on Sections L and M. of the “Russell Zersetzen Report” (see Section 2).
Governments / Authorities don't cover-up to protect crime of this nature carried out by criminals; they cover-up to protect themselves or crime carried out by their own security services.
In the Section headed “Cover-up”, there is substantial evidentiary proof that the Authorities, who should be protecting and investigating, are covering this up to pervert justice. I would argue that a cover-up in itself is an admission of guilt. As often is the case it’s not just the act, it’s the cover-up that pins them.
That this horrible persecution has in fact taken place is beyond a reasonable doubt. The evidence is overwhelming. The proof that there has been "a failure to investigate" and a "denial of justice" by the Authorities in the UK and Canada is also overwhelming
I have made every attempt to have this matter honestly investigated by the Authorities. It has been reported to the Police themselves in three jurisdictions on many occasions. It has been reported in the UK to the Public Prosecutor, IPCC and Parliaments Intelligence Services Review Committees, and through a Member of Parliament to Politicians of Cabinet Rank.
In the Section headed “Cover-up”, there is substantial evidentiary proof that the Authorities in both the UK and Canada who should be protecting and investigating, are covering this up to pervert justice. They are scared as to where an honest investigation might lead
I would argue that a cover-up in itself is an admission of guilt. As often is the case it’s not just the act, it’s the cover-up that pins them.
It is a great mistake to pretend that what is a human right and a Civil Liberties issue, a systemic failure of justice after all, can be dealt with adequately by the legal system of the country where the abuses have taken place.
As my own experience shows it is clear that the legal system in the UK and Canada cannot deal effectively with abuses by institutions that are part of the Five Eyes such as Canada’s CSIS or the UK’s MI5, MI6 and GCHQ.
As has been said – “Eye-witnesses to such things may hence find themselves targeted.” That’s exactly it? Not just witnesses, also Lawyers, Police, Politicians, Judiciary, Journalists etc.
For example: one of my sons getting (recorded) death threats because he is a witness, and having shots fired at him for the same reason, and so much more. Not to mention the cover-up to pervert justice.
But it goes beyond eye-witnesses. A Medical Doctor and Author who was supporting my comments on a blog suddenly came under cyber-attack. I will not go into the details, but it was nasty and vicious, and he was clearly threatened.
That’s why human rights issues such as this are also a political issue, and one that a free press, that had an interest in the rule of law, would also have an interest in.
As one Member of Parliament wrote to me - "As you are aware the Government have not been at all helpful".
The one consistency has been - a constant failure by the Authorities to investigate.
And that's a denial of justice by the Authorities
Using Canada’s Access to Information Act (ATIA) I requested that the CSIS (Canada’s Spy Agency) disclose any records that they have on me. CSIS refused claiming exempt status for any such records.
I didn’t believe that I got fair disclosure from CSIS, so I filed in Canada’s Federal Court for a JUDICIAL REVIEW. – including filing with the Court over 100 pages of sworn testimony from (5) five supporting Affiants. In September 2019 the Judge issued his judgement that “CSIS correctly found that the actual or hypothetical records requested by Mr. Russell fall within the exemptions authorized by the ATIA”
There were Orders surrounding these proceedings in Canada’s Federal Court that had the effect of creating SECRET PROCEEDINGS such that the Counsel for the Attorney General of Canada was allowed to introduce to the Court sworn testimony/affidavits and argument that were kept secret from myself the Applicant.
While I understand that this is the Law in Canada, and as such has to be followed, I nevertheless brought my written objection to the Court’s attention. In allowing testimony to be kept secret from one of the parties the law is, in my view, in this regard FUNDAMENTALLY UNJUST as I wrote the Court citing the following reasons:
Firstly, it is UNJUST because the Applicant has no realistic possibility to rebut in cross examination such secret testimony by the Respondents’ Affiants. The Applicant cannot rebut in cross-examination testimony that he has never been allowed to hear or read in the first place.
Secondly, it is UNJUST because the trade craft of CSIS and other similar services within the “FIVE EYES”, as with all spy agencies, is deceit, deception and lies. In the absence of a cross examiner who knows the facts behind the case (such as myself), and can dispute the facts with the secret witnesses, where necessary, the CSIS in my view is likely to adjust their testimony to suit their objectives, regardless of the truth.
Thirdly, there are other ways to protect the identity of the CSIS’s operatives without trampling on the basic civil liberties of the Applicant (Roderick Russell) .
As I mentioned to the Court at the hearings I was also concerned with other matters unrelated to the secrecy of the court proceedings, that in my opinion went to fairness, including the CSIS’s approach to changing the goal posts at the last minute -- see the last few paragraphs of Chapter 5 of this Site that is headed “Blacklisting, Spies, Lies” for details.
John Alderson, a Former Police Chief, referring to the UKs Spy Agency “MI5” said – “[They] Infiltrate organizations, people’s jobs and lives. They operate almost like a cancer. At the moment the acorn of a STASI has been planted”
The measure of a government’s integrity is surely not whether they adhere to the “Rule of Law” most of the time, but whether they still adhere to the Rule of Law when it becomes inconvenient for their Power Elites to do so.
Zersetzen is not as uncommon as one thinks. That Canada’s CSIS and the UK’s MI5/6 Spy agencies (all in the “five eyes”) can persecute a decent family for Power Elites in the deep state, and scare governments into a cover-up conspiracy, is symptomatic of a crisis in our democracy. If some want to dispute any of the well-witnessed facts in my own case, then there is only one honest way to do it - charge me and bring me before a jury of my peers.
But it all begs the question – where else are power elites pulling our government’s chain? Human Rights and Civil Liberties seem unimportant
. That our Politicians are scared to enforce Rule of Law is symptomatic of a crisis in our democracy.
Sadly, this divergence from democracy is not new. Researchers “Block and Fitzgerald” writing back in 1993 quote an interview with a former senior intelligence officer in the Irish Times:
“Be clear on one point above all else. The intelligence world is accountable to nobody - not the Prime Minister, not Parliament and not the Courts.”
The surveillance state has fundamentally changed society. The surveillance state is about control; it is about subverting the democracy from within. It has changed society from being more or less a democracy into that very dangerous thing – an authoritarian state disguised as a democracy.
Continuous snooping means that these secret police agencies end up knowing everybody’s secrets, and this information can be used to control us – Politicians, Judges, Journalists, or those who appoint them. Literally anybody of political influence. There are very few people (and even fewer politicians) who don’t have some cobweb in their closet that they can be blackmailed on. And if blackmail isn’t sufficient, then, as I write about it, they can be subjected to a Stasi-style persecution.
“Eternal vigilance is the price of democracy” Thomas Jefferson
“It is necessary only for the good man to do nothing for evil to triumph” Edmund Burke
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View the "Russell-Zersetzen" Report and/or The Zersetzen “Documentary Video” for the blueprint on Zersetzen.
That our politicians are too scared of our Spy agencies to enforce the Rule of Law is symptomatic of a crisis in our democracy.
These Spy Agencies are a major threat to our Democracy and our Liberty.
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