In the United States, the first of three trials in which Alex Jones is being sued for defamation is now taking place.
the news Get an overview with our newsletter about Ukraine
It’s been nearly ten years since Sandy Hook Elementary School was the scene of what is still the deadliest school shooting in American history.
On December 14, 2012, Adam Lanza entered the school yard and started shooting. 26 people were killed. Six of them were school employees, the rest were children. Before heading to Sandy Hook, he killed his mother. Lanza committed suicide before the police or medical staff could catch him.
On that day, 20-year-old Adam Lanza was responsible for the deaths of 28 people.
At least that’s everyone’s perception of what happened in elementary school ten days before Christmas Eve.
Banned on multiple platforms
Alex Jones is an American conspiracy theorist. He is probably best known for his show called “The Alex Jones Show”. There he speaks, among other things, of what he believes to be political and economic corruption, the “deep state” and pseudoscience operationsFalse flag process refers to a process in which the performer attempts to blame the other party..
Most people write off this as conspiracy theories that have no basis in reality. However, there are many who follow it. For example, he had 850,000 followers on Twitter before they deleted his account permanently In 2018. By that time, he had already been removed from Youtube, Facebook, Apple and Spotify, as he had more followers.
Jones mostly uses the Twitter account to post content and videos from news site InfoWars, according to BBC.
The Alex Jones Show watches YouGovAmericas Ranked 42nd in the most popular radio shows and podcasts in the United States.
pseudoscience process
Now Alex Jones is being sued for $150 million by Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis. They are the parents of Jesse Lewis, who died in a school shooting, when she was only six years old. The amount corresponds to approximately one and a half billion Norwegian kroner.
In the aftermath of the school massacre, Jones claimed, on Infowars, that their son, along with nine other Lanza victims, were actors in a pseudoscience operation.
According to Jones, the “operation” was a pretext for arms control, planned by the US authorities.
Regarding the fact that in the aftermath of the school shooting, Heslin was handed over to him his deceased child, the media gave him an interview. In 2017, studio host Owen Schroer suggested that this sequence is incorrect. He was critical of whether Hesselin honestly said he was holding his dead son, according to the report Austin Statesman. Schroeder effectively wondered if the Sandy Hook massacre had really happened. Jones himself referred to the massacre as a hoax.
The parents suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PSTD) due to the harassment, say psychiatrists who testified at the trial on Monday.
– Psychiatrist Roy Lupitt said that the main cause of their pain is what Jones does, during the trial against Jones in Austin, Texas.
father assaulted
Heslin and Lewis must bear not only the grief of their son’s brutal murder, but also all the attacks against them and their son’s legacy over many years from those who believe in Jones’ conspiracy theory.
Lubett recalled that shots had been fired at Heslin’s home. He was also attacked in the open street. Lewis says she has installed advanced surveillance equipment in her home, and sleeps with a gun, knife, and pepper spray near her bed. They had bodyguards with them during the trial.
– If Alex Jones is spreading lies about Neil being an actor, that means Jesse never existed. This is madness. Michael Crouch, who treated the two, said he takes from them what they know about their son, and what they want to hold on to.
The parents of the six-year-old will testify in the case on Tuesday.
More court cases this fall
The parents are demanding money from Jones in one of three court cases, where a jury will decide how much he must pay the survivors.
In September, Lenny Posner and Veronique de la Rosa, parents of Noah Posner, are scheduled to testify in a second trial. Noah, 6, was the youngest victim of the massacre. Later that month, survivors of the eight other victims will testify at a third trial. Writes The New York Times.
The testimony was rejected as a hypocrisy
Infowars producer Daria Karpova testified in court on Friday. to me AP She said the pressures of multiple lawsuits and trials had consumed Jones. She also said that some believed Jones himself killed 20 of the 26, as she clearly indicated that this lie was a burden to Jones.
Mark Bankston, Heslin and Scarlett’s attorney, replied:
When people lie to you, it affects you negatively. It affects your health, right? Do you see the irony in that, and how hypocritical what you say in this courtroom? He asked rhetorically.
– That’s just the truth. Karpova replied what can I say.
Writes AP.
1 US dollar
Alex Jones claims that the lawsuit is an assault on his freedom of speech.
Jones’ attorney, Andino Renal, opened up his defense by calling him one of the country’s most polarizing figures. Renal also said that there is no doubt that Jones’ statements about the Sandy Hook massacre are incorrect.
However, he advocated that the fact that Jones had actually shut down his social media channels, thus losing millions of dollars, was sufficient punishment in this context.
He asked the jury to limit the payments to Hesling and Lewis to one US dollar, according to the report AP.
The parents suing him say his statements are so malicious and so clearly false that they fall outside the scope of freedom of speech guaranteed by the First Amendment.
“Organizer. Social media geek. General communicator. Bacon scholar. Proud pop culture trailblazer.”