PORTUGAL REFUSES TO EXTRADITE GEORGE WRIGHT

KILLER

WRIGHT TODAY

A PORTUGUESE court is refusing to extradite a murdering militant, who was convicted of killing a war hero and allegedly hijacked a plane before spending 41 years on the lam.
As we reported here George Wright's murdered gas station attendant and father of two, Walter Paterson, in Wall, NJ back in November 1962.
But eight years into his 15 to 30 years sentence, for killing the decorated World War Two veteran, in 1970, he manged to escape with three other men from the Bayside State Prison. 
Disappearing, the FBI think he hooked up with the Black Liberation Army in Detroit, living in a "communal family"and hatching a daring plan to hijack the plane.
Dressed as a priest, and using the alias Rev L. Burgess,  in July 1972, it's thought Wright boarded a Delta Airlines flight from Detroit to Miami.         
Together with three men, two women and three small children  including his own two-year-old daughter they took the 86 passengers hostage.
Then they forced the plane to fly to Algeria, but while they were eventually allowed to stay, the government there returned the plane and the money to the U.S.
Wright then went on the run before he eventually turned up in Portugal, found because a fingerprint provided by U.S. authorities was matched to his in a national Portuguese database.
He got Portuguese citizenship through his 1991 marriage to a Portuguese woman and after the tiny West African nation Guinea-Bissau, a former Portuguese colony, gave him the new name of "Jose Luis Jorge dos Santos" complete with fake names for parents and made him a citizen.
But although the U.S want him returned  Wright's lawyer, Manuel Luis Ferreira, told The Associated Press that the judge accepted his arguments that his client is now Portuguese and that the statute of limitations on the killing had expired.
U.S. officials were "extremely disappointed" with the denial for extradition and "will review the decision and consult with Portuguese authorities to determine a path forward that results in Mr. Wright's return to the United States," according to a statement from the U.S. Embassy in Lisbon.
The case could be appealed to a higher Portuguese court.

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HIJACKING KILLER GEORGE WRIGHT: 'I'M PORTUGESE'

THE MURDERING militant who was busted in Portugal after almost 40-years on the run for murdering a war veteran and hijacking a plane is claiming his new identity should prevent him from being deported.
U.S authorities are trying to extradite George Wright, now 68, to serve the remainder of his 15 to 30 year sentence for the 1962 murder of war hero and father of two Walter Paterson in Wall, NJ.
 ack in 1970 he escaped from prison and went on to hijack a plane with fellow members of the  Black Liberation Army, including his children securing a whopping $1million ransom  for the lives of the 86 passengers and crew on board as we reported here.
It was the biggest amount of money ever paid at the time, but after they escaped to Algeria, they never got to enjoy their spoils and it was handed
back to the US by the country's authorities. 
Wright meanwhile was granted political asylum by the west African country Guinea-Bissau in 1980s and he became a Portuguese citizen, called Jose Luis Jorge dos Santos, in 1991 after marrying a Portuguese woman.
His lawyer Manuel Luis Ferreira says that he has the right to serve the time in Portugal because he has Portuguese citizenship based on his new identity.
He said: "As a Portuguese citizen, if he has to answer to any authority or if he has to serve any sentence, it has to be to Portuguese authorities and in Portuguese territory." 
Official documents belonging to Wright and provided to the AP show Portugal accepted his new identity papers when it granted him citizenship.
Wright has a Portuguese passport, issued in 2007, and other documents including a Portuguese social security number, driving license and voter registration card.
"There's no doubt whatsoever about his nationality," Ferreira said, adding that Jose Luis Jorge dos Santos "is now his real name."
Ferreira is due to present his written arguments to the judge on Thursday after an initial hearing last Tuesday when Wright opposed his extradition.

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