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==Biography== ==Biography==
Di Stefano was born in ] near ] in rural ]. His father emigrated to England to work in a shoe factory, and his wife and children followed him later to ] in ], in 1961, when Di Stefano was six years old.<ref name="untohimself" /><ref>{{cite news | journal = ] | title = Il palazzinaro di Milosevic | author = Orlando Sandro | date = 1999-04-12 | url = http://archiviostorico.corriere.it/1999/aprile/12/palazzinaro_Milosevic_ce_0_990412164.shtml }} (online translation)</ref><ref name="king"/> Di Stefano was born in ] near ] in rural ]. His father emigrated to England to work in a shoe factory, and his wife and children followed him later to ] in ], in 1961, when Di Stefano was six years old.<ref name="untohimself" /><ref>{{cite news | journal = ] | title = Il palazzinaro di Milosevic | author = Orlando Sandro | date = 1999-04-12 | url = http://archiviostorico.corriere.it/1999/aprile/12/palazzinaro_Milosevic_ce_0_990412164.shtml }} (online translation)</ref><ref name="king"/> He went on to study at ]<!--not "wellington", like one source says-->.<ref name="untohimself" /><ref name="cianfanelli" />, and in his twenties he gained a fortune by importing videotapes from Hong Kong.<ref name="king"/>, he considers himself a "citizen of the world".<ref name="cianfanelli" />, and has started an array of businesses in several European countries.


⚫ By 1995 he had lived almost all of his life in England, except for a few years in ]. He traveled to ], where he became friend of ], who granted him Yugoslav nationality by especial merits and a Yugoslav passport.<ref name="cianfanelli">{{cite news | work = ] | title = Il Boss di Belgrado City | author = Renzo Cianfanelli | language = italian | date = 1995-06-12 | url = http://archiviostorico.corriere.it/1995/giugno/12/BOSS_BELGRADO_CITY_co_0_95061210041.shtml }} (online translation)</ref> He befriended Arkan in London, meeting him again in 1998 in Serbia where he had become a paramilitary leader, becoming his spokesman, business partner and lawyer.<ref name="peracchino" /><ref name="devil" /> He claims that he met Osama Bin Laden before he became famous.<ref name="peracchino" /><ref name="devil" /> He states that he good friends with Serbian president Milosevic and Italian president Berlusconi.
He won a scholarship to study at ]<!--not "wellington", like one source says-->.<ref name="untohimself" /><ref name="cianfanelli" /> In his twenties he gained a fortune by importing videotapes from Hong Kong.<ref name="king"/>

⚫ By 1995 he had lived almost all of his life in England, except for a few years in ]. He later traveled to ], where he became friend of ], who granted him Yugoslav nationality by especial merits and a Yugoslav passport.<ref name="cianfanelli">{{cite news | work = ] | title = Il Boss di Belgrado City | author = Renzo Cianfanelli | language = italian | date = 1995-06-12 | url = http://archiviostorico.corriere.it/1995/giugno/12/BOSS_BELGRADO_CITY_co_0_95061210041.shtml }} (online translation)</ref>

Di Stefano has started a number of assorted businesses in several European countries, and he considers himself a "citizen of the world".<ref name="cianfanelli" />

He met Arkan in London and became friends with him, meeting him again in 1998 in Serbia where he had become a paramilitary leader, becoming his spokeman, bussiness partner and lawyer.<ref name="peracchino" /><ref name="devil" /> He claims that he met Osama Bin Laden before he became famous.<ref name="peracchino" /><ref name="devil" /> He states that he good friends with Serbian president Milosevic and Italian president Berlusconi.


===Legal career=== ===Legal career===

Revision as of 01:13, 8 January 2009

For other people named Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster), see Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster) (disambiguation).
Photo taken in Jordan at a press conference after seeing Saddam Hussein

Giovanni Di Stefano (born 1 July 1955) is an Italian lawyer who practises occasionally in the United Kingdom. Based in Italy, he has made a reputation in the United Kingdom for acting for high-profile defendants in England and Wales. His work defending notorious clients has earned him the nickname by the media in Europe as "The Devil's Advocate". He was a business associate of Serbian paramilitary leader Arkan (Željko Ražnatović) and was one of the defence team in the trial of Saddam Hussein. He also has founded a political party, taken a considerable interest in football, and been a music producer.

Biography

Di Stefano was born in Petrella Tifernina near Campobasso in rural southern Italy. His father emigrated to England to work in a shoe factory, and his wife and children followed him later to Irchester in Northamptonshire, in 1961, when Di Stefano was six years old. He went on to study at Wellingborough School., and in his twenties he gained a fortune by importing videotapes from Hong Kong., he considers himself a "citizen of the world"., and has started an array of businesses in several European countries.

By 1995 he had lived almost all of his life in England, except for a few years in Los Angeles. He traveled to Yugoslavia, where he became friend of Milosevic, who granted him Yugoslav nationality by especial merits and a Yugoslav passport. He befriended Arkan in London, meeting him again in 1998 in Serbia where he had become a paramilitary leader, becoming his spokesman, business partner and lawyer. He claims that he met Osama Bin Laden before he became famous. He states that he good friends with Serbian president Milosevic and Italian president Berlusconi.

Legal career

Di Stefano runs an international legal practice from offices in Rome, the Studio Legale Internazionale. He has been involved in a number of cases in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, and is well documented in the UK media for defending "some of the country's most notorious villains", and for his comment that he would "...defend Adolf Hitler or Satan."

He explains that he "defends the indefensible", which is also the name of his self-published book about him.

The Scotsman describes Di Stefano as a "colourful and often controversial lawyer"; The Guardian has called him "surely the only man in the world to claim the personal friendship of Saddam Hussein and the personal enmity of Delia Smith".

Notable cases

Notable clients that Giovanni Di Stefano has defended include Saddam Hussein, Tariq Aziz, Patrick Holland Jeremy Bamber, Nicholas van Hoogstraten, John Gilligan, Charles Bronson, Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as Chemical Ali, whose death sentence Di Stefano is trying to overturn, Gary Glitter, pop star and Ian Strachan, one of the defendants in the 2007 royal blackmail plot. He has also represented Ronald Biggs, one of the Great Train Robbers, in his claims for release from prison, and, since at least April 2006, his law firm's website has hosted a petition to free him.

In 2002 the Governor of HM Prison Belmarsh opposed Di Stefano's access to a client in prison, but the case of R (Van Hoogstraten) v Governor of Belmarsh Prison in the High Court (23 September 2002) ruled, without addressing the substance of the challenge to his credentials, that Di Stefano could not be denied the right to visit a client. On 17 March 2007 he wrote to Lord Goldsmith, at that time the Attorney General for England and Wales, asking for leave to prosecute Judge Rauf Rashid Abd al-Rahman (the judge who sentenced Saddam Hussein) under the Geneva Conventions Act 1957. On 14 January 2008 he was reported as saying "Hurried justice is no justice" after a UK client who had won £1million in the National Lottery failed to attend court as a witness in an assault case. Di Stefano stated in court that she had booked a holiday to Spain before being summoned and had not been able to prepare her statement on her return, but the judge jailed her for 14 days anyway.

In January 2007 Di Stefano asked the International Criminal Court to make a full investigation on the Al-Dujail trials of Saddam Hussein's half-brother Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti and Iraq's judiciary head Awad Hamed al-Bandar. Di Stefano circulated a note handwritten by Barzan where he explains that he wasn't responsible for the killings at Dujail for which he was sentenced to death.

In October 2007 he complained that the investigation of Blackwater's civilian deaths on Iraq was unjust because they were forced to operate in a climate and conditions that didn't allow them to ask first and shoot later when they were under attack.

Also in October 2007 he argued that Iraqi officials had to accept a pardon application for Ali Hassan al-Majid (Chemical Ali) because the 30-day execution window set the trial had passed, otherwise it would be an illegal execution. The US military later refused to release Ali for his execution until the legal questions were solved. Ali was sentenced to death again on February 2008 for different charges. The execution was further delayed on December 2008 as a new trial has been opened against him with different charges.

Further, in October 2007 he asked the British Secretary of State for posthumous pardon of Hawley Harvey Crippen, on the basis of new forensic evidence indicating that the body found was not that of his wife, and a letter from his wife that was sent after the date of the alleged murder and was never presented on the trial, and that he never murdered her. The request was filed on behalf of the doctor's last living relative.

On 15 January 2008 Di Stefano said that he knew of a sixth victim of Moors murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley called Jennifer Tighe who he said had disappeared after saying she was going to the cinema in Manchester on 30 December 1964. He said he had a photo of her, and intended to speak to Brady to see if the killer would confess to this latest allegation. On 21 January 2008 the Greater Manchester Police (GMP) issued a statement saying that Jennifer Tighe was alive and that the suggestion that she was a victim was speculative and had no basis in fact. The spokesman added "Mr. Di Stefano has previously made claims regarding the Moors murders in the media but has not provided any detail to Greater Manchester Police."

Ian Brady has been force-fed at a top security hospital since he started a hunger strike on 2001. In September 2007, Ian applied via Di Stefano to be moved to a conventional jail where he intended to starve himself to death. Later, on November 2008, when Ian was still being force-fed, Giovanni accused the state of legally starving Ian to death by not giving him enough food. Di Stefano states that Ian is bound to die in three months unless he is made to eat more.

In a statement released on his website dated 21 January 2008, Di Stefano stated and cited email correspondence with the GMP and invited them to interview his client, who he said had always been "ready, willing and able" to assist with any inquiry. He also stated that no evidence had been supplied by the GMP other than a statement that Tighe was actually alive, and invited the GMP to provide proper evidence.

Personal legal history

Di Stefano reports being motivated by "a sense of injustice" after his 1986 conviction for fraud "was quashed". According to The Sunday Times Magazine, in 1986, Di Stefano was convicted after a 78-day trial and was jailed for five years. A BBC article reports that Di Stefano says the conviction was quashed on the second appeal and that "a sense of injustice remains, making each victory against the system a sweet revenge." The charges were for conspiracy to obtain property by deception and fraudulent trading. On 15 January 2004 The Guardian reported that Di Stefano's legal status was under investigation by the British police and the Law Society. Following that investigation no action was taken against him.

The Scotsman has published records which it says show that Di Stefano's first attempt to appeal the conviction was dismissed.

In 1990, Giovanni Di Stefano travelled to New Zealand, where he made several multi-million bids on property on behalf of a Beverly Hills-based company. The authorities discovered that he had not disclosed a conviction in England in 1986, and declared him a prohibited inmigrant.

Around 1992, the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service deported him from the United States due to a fraud conviction in the UK in 1986. Months later he applied for a noninmigrant visa for re-entry, and was told that he needed a waiver of grounds of inadmissibility to be eligible for a visa. The waiver application was denied by the INS, causing the visa to be denied. In 1993 he appealed to a district court, which ruled that it lacked jurisdiction to review the denial of a waiver application. In 1995, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court, ruling that Di Stefano did not have standing to challenge the waiver denial under the Immigration and Nationality Act, though Di Stefano has been able to enter the United States since then for limited periods of time through the Visa Waiver Program, which does not require a visa.

Other interests

Football

When he went back to Italy to his birth region, he bought the local team Campobasso Calcio, altought the club had to close a year later due to financial problems. In association with Arkan he purchased control of the Serbian second division football club FK Obilić; within two seasons the club had won a place in the UEFA Champions League. Di Stefano announced his intention to purchase Dundee F.C. in 1999, however his bid failed due to adverse publicity. In January 2001, Di Stefano announced his intention to purchase a stake in Norwich City F.C. from its former vice-chairman, however the deal failed to materialise. In 2002, Di Stefano entered into talks to purchase a 60% stake in Northampton Town F.C., however Di Stefano's valuation of the club changed following an EGM, and the deal fell through. Di Stefano approached the Dundee board again in 2003, and was appointed as a director on 7 August 2003. Initially the club attracted big-name players such as Craig Burley and Fabrizio Ravanelli, but the club quickly ran into financial difficulties, 15 senior players were released from their contracts, and Di Stefano resigned from the club in 22 January 2004. In April 2005, he proclaimed an interest in investing approximately €1m in Irish football club Shelbourne F.C., but the club rejected his interest, citing his decision to let his intentions be known to the media first as the reason. In October 2007, Di Stefano announced through his website his renewed interest in taking control of Norwich City F.C.

Music producer

In 2007, he produced and launched Seriously Single, an album by Italian singer JustCarmen that included Everyone's Gone to the Moon, a track written by Jonathan King, who gave permission for its use. Stefano's idea was to put a relatively unknown singer into the studio with recordings of big stars from the past. Featured artists included The Bachelors, Elvis Presley and Al Martino.

Founder of political party

In April 2004, Di Stefano founded a political party, the Radical Party of Great Britain, by registering it at the Electoral Commission with himself as its leader, but the party fielded no candidates in the 2005 general election, the 2008 London Assembly election, or the 2008 local elections.

In a November 2007 interview with Dublin's Hot Press magazine, Di Stefano is reported as expressing an interest in running in the Republic of Ireland in the European Union elections with an anti-immigration manifesto.

Complaint against Misplaced Pages

On 2 July 2008, Irish magazine Hot Press reported Di Stefano's claim that he had lodged a formal complaint to the Rome Public Prosecutor alleging defamation committed against him by representatives of the Wikimedia Foundation and several editors who had edited the article about him. Di Stefano explained that, unlike other EU states, under Italian law defamation is a criminal offence.

References

Notes

  1. The sobriquet The Devil's advocate has been used by the European press to describe not only Giovanni Di Stefano but also Jacques Verges.
  2. The right of a qualified European Union lawyer to practise in a country other than their country of origin was, until July 1 2007, governed by the provisions of the (United Kingdom) European Communities (Services of Lawyers) Order 1978 (SI 1978/1910) (Amended 2004).
  3. "A spokesman for the City of London Police said: 'We are not prepared to confirm or deny whether we have an investigation at this stage.'"—The Independent (see paragraph 11)
  4. "I'm going to run in Ireland in the European elections. You better believe it. I'm perfectly entitled in the European election to run in any EU state. You don't need to be resident or Irish. I will take my seat in Ireland because a lot of people will follow me. We are not a right-wing party. We may be radical in name but not in nature. One of the things we'll have to deal with, as a matter of urgency, is immigration. That is the key thing because otherwise you are going to dilute Irish blood to such an extent that you'll almost wish that Cromwell hadn't got ill!" -- Paid access. A free PDF version of the article is hosted at Di Stefano's website.

Footnotes

  1. ^ "Jonathan King's 'best friend'". BBC News. 2005-03-31. Retrieved 2007-05-24.
  2. ^ Esther Addley (2002-10-25). "The devil's advocate". The Guardian. Retrieved 2007-05-24.
  3. Cohen, Roger (1995-02-20). "Serbia Dazzles Itself: Terror Suspect Weds Singer". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
  4. Saddam's attorney: 'When is this man going to be charged?'
  5. "CNN transcript: "Case Against Saddam; Behind the Verdict"". CNN. Aired 14 June 2005. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ Russell Miller (21 August 2005). "A law unto himself". Times Online (www.timesonline.co.uk). {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  7. Orlando Sandro (1999-04-12). "Il palazzinaro di Milosevic". Corriere della Sera. (online translation)
  8. ^ Renzo Cianfanelli (1995-06-12). "Il Boss di Belgrado City". Corriere della Sera (in Italian). (online translation)
  9. ^ Maria Margherita Peracchino (2006-12-12). "Parla Di Stefano, l'avvocato italiano di Saddam". News ITALIA PRESS (in Italian). (online translation )
  10. ^ Cowan, Rosie (2004-01-21). "Fraudster lawyer's claim to act for Shipman is bogus, says family's solicitor". The Guardian. Retrieved 2008-04-20.
  11. "studiolegaleinternazionale: Cases list". Retrieved 2007-12-29.
  12. "Defending the Indefensible - out now". Studio Legale Internazionale.
  13. Wright, Angus (2003-12-04). "Marr brothers promise to write off Dundee debts". The Scotsman. Retrieved 2007-12-29.
  14. Sources:
    • AP Photo/Mohammad abu Ghosh. "Photograph". Giovanni di Stefano, a defence lawyer for Saddam Hussein, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in the Jordanian capital of Amman, Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2006.
    • David Fickling and agencies (2006-06-21). "Gunmen kill Saddam lawyer". The Guardian. The London-based lawyer Giovanni di Stefano, who is on Saddam's defence team ,(...)
    • "Haider Aziz Al-sayer Jassim Ali Rasheed, et al., vs. Saddam Hussein, et al., Civil Action No. 04-1862 (EGS)". US District Court for the District of Columbia. 2006-12-18. (...) Defendant Saddam Hussein (...) to request the Court for an Order to permit Giovanni Di Stefano, Mr. Hussein's lawyer, to have reasonable access to meet and confer with Mr. Hussein, in private, to advise him of the existence of this civil action and to take instructions from Mr. Hussein to present whatever objections he might raise to this pending civil action (...) Defendant Saddam Hussein through one of his lawyers, Giovanni Di Stefano
  15. Iraq: Ex-deputy PM is innocent, says defence lawyer
  16. "Five guilty of £10m kidnap plot". BBC News. 2008-04-28. Retrieved 2008-07-29.
  17. BBC article and video interview for HARDtalk by David Jessel (first broadcast 2004-03-25)
  18. "Hoogstraten to fight conviction". BBC NEWS. 12 March 2003.
  19. Shelbourne scraps talks with controversial Di Stefano
  20. Visiting time: Charles Bronson invites us into his cell
  21. ^ Charles Bronson faces parole hearing
  22. Glitter planning move here 'as soon as he can'
  23. Cathy Vervier (4 November 2007). "Checkered career of blackmail case 'devil's advocate'". Independent UK.
  24. "Biggs' bid for Christmas release". BBC News. 4 April 2008.
  25. "Internet Archive Wayback Machine". Retrieved 2008-05-01. {{cite web}}: Cite uses generic title (help)
  26. Regina (Van Hoogstraten) v Governor of Belmarsh Prison 1 WLR 264
  27. ""Annex 10A European Communities (Services of Lawyers) Order 1978"". Society's Regulation Authority. 2007-07-01. Retrieved 2008-09-05. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  28. "Prosecuting Saddam's trial judge in the UK". JURIST. 2007-04-27. Retrieved 2008-04-20.
  29. "Jailed lotto winner loses appeal". BBC News. 2008-01-14. Retrieved 2008-04-20.
  30. ^ "Barzan's final plea". The Telegraph. 2007-01-17.
  31. "Investigation of Blackwater is unjust". JURIST. 2007-10-08.
  32. Gabriel Haboubi (2007-10-17). "'Chemical Ali' execution further delayed". JURIST.
  33. "Execution of Al Majid without response to pardon petition would be murder". JURIST. 2007-10-16.
  34. Brett Murphy (2007-11-17). "'Chemical Ali' transfer for execution will wait until legal questions answered: US". JURIST.
  35. ^ "Saddam loyalists face new charges". BBC. 2008-12-28.
  36. "Di Stefano calls for Crippen pardon". Studio Legale Internazionale. (online video statement)
  37. ^ Neil Sears (2009-01-01). "Descendants of notorious killer Dr Crippen launch legal bid to clear his name". Mail Online.
  38. "Will the Devil's advocate get a pardon for Crippen?". Camden New Journal. 2007-12-17.
  39. "'Jennifer sixth Myra victim'". 2008-01-16. Retrieved 2008-01-17.
  40. "Did Myra Hindley murder 17 more children?". 2008-01-20. Retrieved 2008-01-20.
  41. "'Sixth' Myra victim identified". 2008-01-15. Retrieved 2008-01-15.
  42. Moors murder 'victim' is 'alive - Accessed 26 January 2008
  43. Stefanie Marsh (2007-10-30). "The face". Times Online.
  44. ^ "Brady 'to die in 3 months'". The Sun. 2008-11-28.
  45. Studio Legale Internazionale (21 Jan entry)
  46. ^ Tom Geoghegan (31 March 2005). "Jonathan King's 'best friend'". BBC News. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  47. Cowan, Rosie (2004-01-15). "Police probe Shipman lawyer claim". The Guardian. Retrieved 2008-04-20.
  48. Bennetto, James (2005-05-31). "Saddam's defender accused of falsifying his legal credentials". The Independent. Retrieved 2008-08-12. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  49. Hannan, Martin (2003-10-12). "Giovanni Di Stefano: The Truth". The Scotsman. Retrieved 2007-12-29.
  50. ^ NZPA (2007-10-31). "Familiar name in royal case". NZ Herald. Retrieved 2008-07-24.
  51. Jason Bennetto (2005-06-01). "'Lawyer' under British scrutiny". NZ Herald. Retrieved 2008-07-24.
  52. Scott MacLeod (2003-11-08). "Soccer team next goal for fraudster". NZ Herald. Retrieved 2008-07-24.
  53. ^ Australian Associated Press (2004-07-02). "Fraudster claims to be defending Saddam". Yahoo! News Australia & NZ. Retrieved 2008-07-24.
  54. Chris Barton (2004-07-31). "Will the real Giovanni Di Stefano please stand up?". NZ Herald. Retrieved 2008-07-24.
  55. Kate McClymont (2004-07-09). "Marsden's invitation to Baghdad". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2008-07-24.
  56. ^ 53 F.3d 338 (9th Cir. 1995).
  57. ^ "Di Stefano on board at Dens". BBC Sport.
  58. "Canaries sing for stakeholder power" (PDF). Department of Culture, Media and Sport. June 2002. Retrieved 2007-11-08.
  59. "Arkan's lawyer has ambitions to take over Northampton". The Independent. 2002-05-22. Retrieved 2007-11-05.
  60. "Cobblers Deal Off". BBC Sport. 2002-08-27. Retrieved 2007-11-05.
  61. "Di Stefano steps down". BBC Sport. 2004-01-22. Retrieved 2007-11-05.
  62. Huband, Graham (2004-01-23). "Di Stefano quits but still has eyes for Dundee FC". The Courier. Retrieved 2008-04-20.
  63. "Di Stefano requests Shels talks". BBC Sport. 2006-04-20. Retrieved 2007-05-24.
  64. "Statement regarding Di Stefano's interest in investing in the club". Shelbourne Football Club.
  65. "Saddam's lawyer wants to help Canaries". 2007-10-24. Retrieved 2007-11-08.
  66. The Independent 14 May 2007, p16 Devi's Advocate takes his case to the charts
  67. The Daily Star 15 May 2007
  68. News of the World p.37 20 May 2007
  69. MacDonell, Hamish (2005-03-03). "Saddam's lawyer eyes Dundee poll". The Scotsman. Retrieved 2008-04-20.
  70. "The Electoral Commission Register of political parties".
  71. ^ Jason O'Toole (2008-07-07). "Misplaced Pages Faces Legal Battle". Retrieved 2008-07-20. Free-access copy at Di Stefano's law firm website.

External links


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