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$100,000 Not Enough from for Injury
The U.S. State Department has decided to make a one-time “humanitarian” payment of $100,000 to Maritime Territory resident Alexander Kashin, several days after he declared a hunger strike. Kashin was injured in a car accident in 1998. American consul in Vladivostok at the time Douglas Kent was responsible for that accident, which left Kashin paralyzed from the waist down. Kashin is not satisfied with the sum proposed by the Americans. He wants $10 million.
Kent was behind the wheel of the consulate's Chevrolet Blazer when it pulled out into traffic on a street in downtown Vladivostok and was struck by the Toyota Camry in which Kashin, then 23 and unemployed, was a passenger. The Toyota was forced into the opposite lane by the impact with Kent's vehicle and struck again by an oncoming SUV. A criminal case was initiated against Kent and then dropped because of his diplomatic immunity and the American was soon recalled to the United States. In 2006, a San Francisco court refused to hear a civil case filed by Kashin against Kent for damages.
Kashin declared his hunger strike on Monday. He states that he has experienced “daily moral and physical suffering for the last nine years” and that the sum of $10 million was determined in consultation with American doctors and lawyers. “I won't get on my feet after receiving $100,000,” Kashin told Kommersant. “I need a much greater sum for treatment.”
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Feb. 21, 2008
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