Agent Provocateur

An Agent Provocateur incites crime. Simple? It qualifies as Entrapment. No doubt lawyers will make a meal of it but then dragging out cases makes more money.

Agent Provocateur ex Wiki
An agent provocateur (French for "inciting agent") is a person who commits, or who acts to entice another person to commit an illegal or rash act or falsely implicate them in partaking in an illegal act. An agent provocateur may be acting out of their own sense of duty or may be employed by the police or other entity to discredit or harm another group (such as a peaceful protest or demonstration) by provoking them to commit a crime, thereby undermining the protest or demonstration as a whole.

The proper plural form of the term adds an s to the end of both words, agents provocateurs. A female agent or spy is called an agente provocatrice.[citation needed]

To prevent infiltration by agents provocateurs,[1] the organizers of large or controversial assemblies may deploy and coordinate demonstration marshals, also called stewards.[2][3]

Common usage
An agent provocateur may be a police officer or a secret agent of police who encourages suspects to carry out a crime under conditions where evidence can be obtained; or who suggests the commission of a crime to another, in hopes they will go along with the suggestion and be convicted of the crime.

A political organization or government may use agents provocateurs against political opponents. The provocateurs try to incite the opponent to do counterproductive or ineffective acts to foster public disdain or provide a pretext for aggression against the opponent.

Historically, labor spies, hired to infiltrate, monitor, disrupt, or subvert union activities, have used agent provocateur tactics.

Agent provocateur activities raise ethical and legal issues. In common law jurisdictions, the legal concept of entrapment may apply if the main impetus for the crime was the provocateur.

By region

Russia

The activities of agents provocateurs against revolutionaries in Imperial Russia were notorious. Dr. Jacob Zhitomirsky, Yevno Azef, Roman Malinovsky, and Dmitry Bogrov, all members of Okhrana, were notable provocateurs.

In the "Trust Operation" (1921–1926), the Soviet State Political Directorate (OGPU) set up a fake anti-Bolshevik underground organization, "Monarchist Union of Central Russia". The main success of this operation was luring Boris Savinkov and Sidney Reilly into the Soviet Union, where they were arrested and executed.......

Europe

In February 1817, after the Prince Regent was attacked, the British government employed agents provocateurs to obtain evidence against the agitators.[7]

Sir John Retcliffe was an agent provocateur for the Prussian secret police.

At the 2001 G8 summit in Genoa, police and security services infiltrated black blocs with agents provocateurs. Allegations first surfaced after video footage in which "men in black were seen getting out of police vans near protest marches" [8][9]

Francesco Cossiga, former head of secret services and Head of state of Italy, advised the 2008 minister in charge of the police, on how to deal with the protests from teachers and students:[10]

He should do what I did when I was Minister of the Interior. [...] infiltrate the movement with agents provocateurs inclined to do anything [...] And after that, with the momentum gained from acquired popular consent, [...] beat them for blood and beat for blood also those teachers that incite them. Especially the teachers. Not the elderly, of course, but the girl teachers, yes.

It is alleged by British Liberal Democrat MP Tom Brake that the Metropolitan Police made use of agents provocateurs during the G20 Protests in London.[11] [ They also perpetrated the G20 Massacre ] Another example occurred in France in 2010 where police disguised as members of the CGT (left trade union) interacted with people during a demonstration.[12]

After the 2011 anti-cuts protest in London, a video filmed by the BBC was distributed throughout the internet, which might show an alleged agent provocateur being passed through police lines after displaying his identification to the officers. There are other explanations however, such as the man being a member of press.[13]

Canada

On August 20, 2007, during meetings of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America in Montebello, three police provocateurs were revealed by Dave Coles, president of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada. The police posing as protestors wore masks and all black clothes, one was notably armed with a large rock, they were asked to leave by protest organizers. After the three masked provocateurs had been revealed, their fellow officers in riot gear handcuffed and removed them. The evidence that revealed these three men as police provocateurs was initially circumstantial, they were imposing in stature, similarly dressed, and wearing police boots.[14][15] According to veteran activist Harsha Walia, it was other participants in the black bloc who identified and exposed the undercover police.[16] After the protest, the police force initially denied then later admitted that three of their officers disguised themselves as demonstrators; they then denied that the officers were provoking the crowd and instigating violence.[17] The police released a news release in French where they stated "At no time did the police of the Sûreté du Québec act as instigators or commit criminal acts" and that "at all times, they responded within their mandate to keep order and security".[18]

During the 2010 G-20 Toronto summit, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) arrested five people, two of whom were members of the Toronto Police Services.[19] City and provincial police, including the TPS, went on to arrest 900 people in the largest mass arrest in Canadian history.[20] RCMP watchdog commission saw no indication that RCMP undercover agents or event monitors acted inappropriately.[dubious – discuss]

Israel

In October 2015, Reuters correspondent Luke Baker observed Israeli provocateurs disguised as Palestinian youths inciting violence. Baker's claim was backed up by video footage. The Israeli provocateurs quickly turned sides when Israeli police arrived, drawing their guns on the Palestinian protesters.[23][24]

 

Entrapment ex Wiki
In criminal law, entrapment is a practice whereby a law enforcement agent induces a person to commit a criminal offense that the person would have otherwise been unlikely to commit.[1] It is a conduct that is generally discouraged and thus, in many jurisdictions, is a possible defense against criminal liability.

Depending on the law in the jurisdiction, the prosecution may be required to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was not entrapped or the defendant may be required to prove that they were entrapped as an affirmative defense.

Sting operations are fraught with ethical concerns over whether they constitute entrapment.[2]

 

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
The main authority on entrapment in the United Kingdom is the decision of the House of Lords in R. v. Loosely; Attorney-General's Reference (n.3 of 2000). A grant of a stay is awarded if the conduct of the state was so seriously improper that the administration of justice was brought into disrepute. In deciding whether to grant a stay, the Court will consider, as a useful guide, whether the police did more than present the defendant with an unexceptional opportunity to commit a crime.

In Loosely, Lords Hoffman and Hutton indicated certain factors that should be considered in deciding whether proceedings against a defendant should be stayed. These include:

  • Whether the police acted in good faith;
  • Whether the police had good reason to suspect the accused of criminal activities;
  • Whether the police suspected that crime was particularly prevalent in the area in which the investigation took place (Williams v. DPP);
  • Whether pro-active investigatory techniques were necessary because of the secrecy and difficulty of detection of the criminal activity in question;
  • The defendant's circumstances and vulnerability; and
  • The nature of the offence.

It has been held that it is generally acceptable for the police to conduct test purchases (DPP v. Marshall) or pose as passengers to catch unlicensed taxi drivers (Nottingham City Council v. Amin).

England and Wales

Entrapment arises when a person is encouraged by someone in some official capacity to commit a crime. If entrapment occurred, then some prosecution evidence may be excluded as being unfair, or the proceedings may be discontinued altogether.