Talk:Alexander Barankov

IACHR - how to update
Keep an eye on http://www.oas.org/en/iachr/decisions/precautionary.asp to see if the IACHR (Commission) accepts to grant precautionary measures, though I guess that mainstream media are likely to announce the result too. The present version of the page (scroll down to the bottom) lists the first common reason for granting a precautionary measure as "The kinds of situations the IACHR has had occasion to address to preserve the subject of a petition or case have included, inter alia, requests to suspend deportation or extradition orders when there is a risk that the individual being deported or extradited might suffer torture or other cruel and inhuman treatment in the receiving country;..." Boud (talk) 09:07, 20 August 2012 (UTC)

Time's POV
Time (magazine) has Barankov go into exile in Ecuador in 2008, at least 6 months before the bribery and fraud cases are filed against him, has him as an "army captain" as probably a mistranslation of militsiya, and writes his partner's name as Maribel Andrade rather than Mabel Andrade (Expreso). I've tried to NPOV these "reliably sourced" pieces of info at relevant places in the article, except for Mabel/Maribel, where we only cite Expreso. Both given names seem to be quite common, but the Twitter account https://twitter.com/mabela77 sounds like there's a Mabel Andrade who's especially interested in Barankov and who is better rated for Barankov by Google than the many Maribel Andrade's who seem to have Twitter accounts. The man in Mabel Andrade's Twitter picture also looks quite like the various online photos of Barankov. Boud (talk) 10:04, 20 August 2012 (UTC)

Whistleblower?
From this AP story, it would seem that Barankov claims he could be a whistle-blower, but he hasn't revealed anything yet: In Ecuador, a dissident fights extradition Jhs 3345 (talk) 05:04, 21 August 2012 (UTC)


 * The sources seem to diverge on this point, but it's an excellent point, which I missed: Time says that Barankov "then [in 2008?] set up a blog denouncing corruption and other crimes allegedly committed...". So where is the blog? Blogs are websites, and blogs that attract attention tend to get transmitted further and archived, even if they're on volatile servers that disappear.


 * The AP article is somewhat (but not directly) self-contradictory on present vs future whistleblower status: it says that he has already revealed secrets and made claims of corruption, but he also has "explosive" secrets that he didn't wish to talk about. Either way, the story has several new elements for the article, including the 7 June 2012 arrest date, which differs from the 21 June 2012 arrest date (possibly my mistranslation?), and adds more confusion to the claim of being detained after Lukashenko's visit! Boud (talk) 20:22, 21 August 2012 (UTC)


 * i've integrated the new info from the AP article as best as i could. In hindsight, the AP info looks mostly consistent with what we had before, adding new info and clarifying/correcting old info. AP seems to have done better than Time, at least this time around... Boud (talk) 21:18, 21 August 2012 (UTC)

Where is Barankov's blog?
This is a key element of Barankov's notability, but mainstream media apparently haven't thought of looking for his blog or asking him directly for the URL. Boud (talk) 23:22, 21 August 2012 (UTC)


 * Two recent AFP and AP articles (see ref list): AP doesn't say "blog" anywhere; AFP continues to call him a blogger, even in title, and says he blogged his claims, but gives no hint of where the blog is. The blog continues to be a secret blog... Boud (talk) 08:15, 24 August 2012 (UTC)

More Info
There's some information of interest in this El Comercio article. Jhs 3345 (talk) 21:15, 22 August 2012 (UTC)