by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack
FOLEY SQUARE, Sept 9 – We called it a tale of two cases - or three.
On December 10, 2024 in the United Arab Emirates, Dubai authorities arrested Uzbek businessman Ulugbek Shadmanov - while his attorney Marc Angifilo, amid his preparation for the US v. Sean Combs trial, was there. Shadmanov was held with no contact with any of his lawyers then extradited to Uzbekistan.
At a September 9 briefing in Foley Square, Inner City Press asked Agnifilo about his January 2025 statement that "The UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, also known as the Nelson Mandela Rules, clearly state in Rule 61 that prisoners have the right to access legal advice and communicate privately with their legal counsel." (For more on today's UN, see below).
Agnifilo said the briefing is diplomacy, which may later be followed by legal action. Afterward Inner City Press told Agnifilo about the UN's total lack of due process in ousting, and still banning, the Press.
In a parallel world on November 2023 two women were charged with assault as a hate crime for ripping a Star of David off of a 41-year-old woman on West 82nd Street after tearing down fliers about hostages taken in the October 7 attack in Israel.
One of them, Stephanie Gonzalez, has as her lawyer Agnifilo. Inner City Press first reported this and and asked: pro bono?
24 hours later, late on August 28, the WebCrims record was updated to specify that Agnifilo is a Retained Attorney to Stephanie Gonzalez.
Agnifilo on September 9 told Inner City Press he decided to take the case pro bono because it was overcharged. There are many kinds of pro bono.
The UN General Assembly starts later with month - with Press banned.
The UN under Antonio Guterres - who says typically said nothing about the UAE dubious extradition and the Uzbek prosecution, has banned Inner City Press since ousting it, with no answer to its June 19, 2025 application to enter and cover UN80 later this month. And to ask questions like this.
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