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CNN International: Russian Court Upholds Detention Of WSJ Reporter; SAF Issues Conflicting Statements On 24-Hour Ceasefire; Jury Selection To Resume In $1.6 Billion Defamation Case; "March Of The Living" Taking Place At Auschwitz-Birkenau; Israel Stops In Silent Reverence As Sirens Blare; Children Deported To Russia Return To Ukraine. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired April 18, 2023 - 08:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[08:00:00]

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster in London. Just ahead, a Moscow court upholds the detention of American journalist Evan Gershkovich. The latest on that in just a moment.

Then, the high stakes media trial everyone's watching. Starting today, more on the showdown between Fox News and Dominion Voting Systems. And the latest shocking incident of gun violence in the U.S. A man is charged with shooting a teenager after the 16-year-old rang the doorbell at the wrong house.

An American journalist accused of spying on Russia will remain behind bars, at least for now. A Wall Street Journal Reporter, Evan Gershkovich, appeared at a hearing in Moscow just a short while ago. You can see him here standing inside that glass case. The U.S. Ambassador to Russia is demanding his immediate release.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LYNNE TRACY, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO RUSSIA: I can only say how troubling it was to see Evan, an innocent journalist, held in these circumstances. I was able to meet Evan yesterday at the Court of a Prison. It was the first time he was (INAUDIBLE) since his wrongful detention more than two weeks ago.

I can report he's in good health and remain strong despite his circumstance. We will continue to provide all appropriate support to Evan and his family. And we expect Russian authorities to provide continued consular access to Evan.

The charges against Evan are baseless, and we call on the Russian Federation to immediately release him. We also call for the immediate release of Paul Whelan. Paul has been held more than four years in Russia. Both men deserve to go home to their families now. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin has made a rare visit to Ukraine near the front lines. A video released by the Kremlin claims to show the Russian president meeting with military commanders in the occupied Kherson region. It doesn't indicate exactly when that was. There's a lot to discuss.

Clare joins me now. First of all, you know, this reporter stuck there, clearly getting the support not just of the American government, but many Western governments.

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, certainly this is something that has sparked international attention. As you say, his appeal was denied. The next hearing, his lawyers say, will beat the end of May, which is when this stage of his pretrial detention expires.

We heard a little bit about what his life is like, Max, in Lefortovo Prison, that notorious prison in Moscow. He's said to be keeping his spirits up, reading, apparently "War and Peace", exercising, trying to keep his health up, which is significant because, of course, we've seen the health of multiple detainees in Russia deteriorate. Trevor Reed, among them, Alexei Navalny another. So that's significant.

Pretrial detention, it can be quite long in Russia. We saw that Paul Whelan, who is still detained on the same charges for espionage, was in pretrial detention for about 15 months. Trevor Reed, also over a year. Brittney Griner was the shortest, actually. She was in pretrial detention about five months, but her charges were less severe, and plus she had pleaded guilty as well.

So, look, I think we can expect perhaps more of the same as we move towards trial. The Russian authorities have made it very clear they want to see this play out in the courts.

FOSTER: Let's look at this video as well of Putin because, you know, we haven't had it confirmed he's actually where he was. But have we got any reason not to believe it?

SEBASTIAN: I mean, you have to look at these things skeptically. We don't know for sure exactly where or when the visit happened. We believe this is the second public visit to these regions illegally annexed by Russia since the invasion of Ukraine. It's usually these tight shots which are a little bit difficult to identify.

We have seen one road sign in one of the videos released by the Kremlin, which shows the town of Henichesk, which is just across the border from Crimea in the Kherson region. He is meeting with commanders. He asked for a report on the situation in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, which is significant because we are at the stage of the war now, where we are expecting Ukraine to launch some kind of spring counter offensive.

So, you know, that's perhaps why he's there at this moment, but also because we are in the lead up to victory day in Russia. And I think it's important for Putin to show a domestic audience that there are areas which Russia controls in Ukraine.

FOSTER: OK, Clare, thank you.

In Sudan, a 24 hours ceasefire is supposed to get underway in about four hours, but the Sudan Armed Forces issuing conflicting statements about the truce. Its Facebook page says it's not aware of any truce, but the head of Sudan's Armed Forces tells CNN that its forces will adhere to a ceasefire proposal.

[08:05:13]

In the meantime, the violence continues. This explosion in Khartoum unfolded on live television. At least 180 people have been killed as the fighting enters a fourth day. The rival generals battling for control of trading blame for instigating all of this fighting.

Nima is joining us now from London with the latest on this. I mean, it's changing every day, but we're not getting all the information. What are you learning?

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Well, this issue of the ceasefire and the conflicting statements around it is just emblematic of the way that it has been so difficult to get any genuine sense of what is unfolding on the ground or any clear line of sight on how this will end.

What we do know is that fighting unbelievably continues to intensify. There's been a lot of overnight aerial bombardment of areas within the center of Khartoum around that key army headquarters. Area houses and districts that had previously managed to maintain access to water and electricity have now lost that.

And we are going on day five, Max. We've had four whole days of this, and now people are running out of food. They've been told by both sides to continue to shelter at home, but it's hard to do that when you have hungry family members around you and there is really nowhere for them to go.

Even the hospitals now. We have these extraordinary images, Max, of nurses trapped inside of hospitals, of doctors forced to evacuate. Doctors have now said that all the major hospitals in Sudan have either been hit by one or other of the warring sides or they have been forced to shutter.

FOSTER: OK, Nima, thank you for that latest update.

The trial between Fox News and Dominion Voting Systems will soon get underway. Dominion accuses Fox News of knowingly airing false claims that the company's voting machines were used to rig the 2020 presidential election against Donald Trump.

Jury selection was delayed on Monday amid reports of possible settlement tours, but Dominion is asking for $1.6 billion still in damages. However, as of yet, no settlement has been announced and opening statements are set to begin later in the day.

Our Senior Business Reporter Oliver Darcy joins us now from outside the courthouse in Delaware. You think it's going to go ahead then, Oliver?

OLIVER DARCY, CNN SENIOR MEDIA REPORTER: It seems like all signs are pointing toward go, yes. So what's going to happen ahead (ph) today is the judge is going to finalize the jury and then afterward, yes, opening statements are set to begin in this $1.6 billion defamation case. It comes after, of course, some 11th hour drama where the trial was unexpectedly and really inexplicably delayed.

But things are set to get underway and opening statements are set to take place today. It's going to really be an agonizing process, I think, over the next five to six weeks. For Fox News, you're going to have some of the highest profile stars. People like Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson come to this courthouse and have to testify about their role in promoting Donald Trump's election lies in the wake of the 2020 election.

You're also expected to see executives, very high profile executives like Fox Chairman Rupert Murdoch, have to come testify about what his network did after Biden won the election. So it's set to be a really high stakes trial, a high wattage trial with a lot of stars coming down to Wilmington to testify.

And it's going to be a really interesting trial because Fox News hasn't really been held accountable in any real way after promoting these election lies. This is a real chance for a jury to send a message to Fox News that what they did about destabilizing American democracy was not OK. And it'll be interesting to see how this, of course, plays out in court.

FOSTER: OK. Oliver, thank you. We'll see.

A gunman opened fire, meanwhile, wounding two men in Jerusalem on Tuesday morning. Israeli police are searching Jerusalem, including from the air, after what they say was a suspected terror attack. The two men were taken to a hospital and are said to be in moderate condition.

They were in a car close to the Shimon Hatzadik tomb, a holy site in Judaism that's located in the mostly Palestinian neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, a place that's often been the site of protests and clashes between Palestinians and Israelis.

Also today, Israel marks Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The whole country pause for two minutes to the sound of sirens in memory of the 6 million Jews killed by the Nazis during World War II. The day is also marked by the March of the Living, where Holocaust survivors, their children and grandchildren gather at the Auschwitz- Birkenau death campsite. You can see these live pictures coming into us now, that very powerful walk.

[08:10:15]

Our CNN's Hadas Gold joins us live from Jerusalem. What's the atmosphere like there today, Hadas?

HADAS GOLD, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, Max, the Holocaust Remembrance Day is an incredibly meaningful and somber day for Israel, the Jewish state that was really founded in the aftermath and the embers of the Holocaust. And many, many Israelis have a personal connection to the Holocaust, usually in the form of family members, either parents, grandparents, great grandparents who perished or survived the Holocaust.

And the most notable event of the day is, of course, that two-minute long siren that blare is exactly at 10:00 a.m. And it's an incredible scene to see, really, people stop in their tracks. They might be crossing the street, they will stop in the crosswalk.

People driving along the highways will pull off to the sides and they will get out of their cars and they will stand for two minutes in complete silence in remembrance to the millions upon millions of people who were killed in the Holocaust.

There are many different ceremonies today, especially at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial and Museum there. There are six different torches that are lit to represent the 6 million Jews killed. They are each lit by a Holocaust survivor.

Max, there are more than 147,000 Holocaust survivors still living in Israel in 2023. More than 400 of them have celebrated their 100th birthday. So they have very clear memories of what happened in the Holocaust.

And interestingly, they have noted that in the past year, more than 500 of them have come just recently from Ukraine. So moved from Ukraine because of the situation there, moved to Israel, and are designated as Holocaust survivors.

Now, today is the type of day that politics is put aside. The Israeli President, Isaac Herzog, appearing alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and is saying that despite the divisiveness in Israeli society over politics, over the proposed judicial reform, he said, today is the day to put that all to the side and to unite. Max?

FOSTER: OK. Hadas, thank you for joining us from Jerusalem on that very powerful moment today.

We'll be back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: Is gun violence in the U.S. becoming normalized? Prosecutors in Kansas City, Missouri, have charged an 84-year-old homeowner with two felonies after he shot and wounded a 16-year-old boy. He went to the wrong address by mistake.

Andrew Lester told police he grabbed his gun when he heard his doorbell ring and that he opened fire through a locked glass door when he saw Ralph Yarl standing there. The teen says his mother had asked him to pick up his siblings, but there was a mix up over the address.

[08:15:00]

Instead of going to Northeast 115th Street -- Terrace, rather, he went to Northeast 115th Street. Lester said he thought the teen was trying to break in and that he was scared by the boy's size. Without elaborating, police say there was a racial component to the case. Lester is white, and Yarl is black. Lester was initially taken into custody but released shortly after fueling protests in Kansas City.

And on Saturday, a 20-year-old woman was shot and killed in Upstate New York after she and some friends drove into the wrong driveway by mistake. Let's bring in CNN Legal Analyst Joey Jackson, who's in come at New York. Thank you for joining us.

Two cases then, not of, you know, a shooting incident, as we often hear about in America, but two relatively isolated, sporadic incidents, sort of situations any of us could walk into.

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, Max, without question. When you look at the issue of guns, I mean, you know, we talk about churches, schools, malls, it's just incredible. And it's incredibly disappointing. And certainly in these particular instances, you have to ask yourself whether it was necessary in the case in Missouri with respect to knocking on a door, ringing a doorbell, you certainly wouldn't expect or anticipate that you'd be shot for that.

Now, obviously, there are laws in the states, and those laws provide for you to defend yourself. There's a stand-your-ground law in that jurisdiction in Missouri. And that stand-your-ground law, Max, indicates that you can fire your weapon if you're in immediate fear of death or serious physical injury.

The question here is, was the homeowner in such fear? Apparently, prosecutors think not. Pivoting to the issue in New York, New York does not have a stand-your-ground law. Very briefly, all the stand- your-ground law says is that you don't have to retreat, move away, find safe harbor.

You can stand your ground, but it's not a license to kill. It's not a license to shoot and fire. It's a license to protect yourself if necessary and if immediately necessary. And so if you look at the issue in New York when someone goes in the wrong driveway and then indications are that they're driving away, you have to ask yourself the question, were you an immediate fear of someone who's driving out of your yard? Prosecutors think not again, and therefore he is charged with second degree murder.

So too many shootings, too much violence, and too little justification for the shots that are fired.

FOSTER: Race often involved as well, sadly, in many of these cases. Let's hear from Ralph Yarl's attorney about what he said there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN CRUMP, RALPH YARL'S ATTORNEY: We can only imagine if the roles were reversed and you had a black man shoot a 16-year-old white child for simply ringing his doorbell and the police took him in for questioning and let him come home and sleep in his bed at night, how much outrage would there be in America?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: What do you think, Joey?

JACKSON: I think that he has an incredible point. The bottom line is that you can't have instances where you're shooting someone simply because of the color of their skin. Now, the prosecutor, certainly the home owner, is entitled to a trial. The laws in the United States provide for there to be a jury trial where a jury of your peers have to unanimously evaluate whether you did something wrong.

But early indications are that why were you shooting at someone who was simply ringing your bell? What was the immediate fear that you were facing at the time? Why did you feel the need to shoot him in the head and then the need to shoot him in the arm? What specifically was he doing that represented a threat or danger to you?

Why was he released? Why was he not charged then? So I think all of the information that Ben Crump raises, who obviously protects and defends civil rights of African Americans every day, I think are valid questions, and I think they need to be answered more importantly, if there needs to be some sense of justice. And we'll see what that justice looks like as the homeowner gets a trial and has the ability to explain himself.

But early indications are that he has a lot of explaining to do in terms of the shooting looking like it was not justified at all.

FOSTER: We're covering these stories every day, as you know, gun violence stories. Do you worry that it's becoming normalized that the stories aren't just -- aren't landing with people anymore, they're just so used to hearing them?

JACKSON: Yes, I worry deeply about that with respect to the -- not only -- look, there's the coverage of them, but then there's the issue of what is the government doing about it. We have in the United States a system where you have a President of the United States, the 50 states, but then you have a Congress. Those are the legislatures. They pass laws, and those laws should be designed to protect us.

[08:20:07]

In the event you talk about gun control in the United States, there's a segment of the population that goes berserk. Guns don't kill people. People kill people. It's the mental health of parties and people, et cetera.

The reality is that you need common sense regulations, common sense reforms predicated upon who should have a gun, what their mental health history should be, how old they should be, what should be the quality of background checks.

And so I think all of those are fair game. But it's happening too often, too much in too many areas. No one is immune. And so you have to say there's a problem. What, if anything, are those who we elect doing to fix that problem? That's a critical and a fair question to ask, Max. FOSTER: Yes, well said. Thank you so much, Joe Jackson, for joining us from New York.

Next, the journey, no child should have to face. Some of the Ukrainian children taken to Russia as war broke out are now returning. We'll hear their stories firsthand next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: As we've been reporting this hour, Russian state media has shown Vladimir Putin making a rare visit to parts of Ukraine occupied by Russia. They included Kherson, where children have recently been returning to families after controversially being deported to Russia.

Nick Paton Walsh is in Kherson with some of their stories.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR (voice-over): Kherson may be free, but it's haunted by occupation. When Russian troops fled last year, blowing the bridge, it was to only just across the river from where their snipers and artillery now regularly fire. Thursday, shelling, killing a local man here and Saturday, a mother and child.

Haunted too is the homecoming here of Bogdan, age 13. We first met him in Kyiv when he'd just been rescued from occupied Crimea. He was one of thousands of children Ukraine says were forcibly deported by Russia, a charge that's led to a war crimes indictment against Putin.

But home is tough. And on this hard-hit island off of Kherson so dicey with Russian troops near this bank and shelling the water. The police won't let us over the bridge.

This is Bogdan's first time outside since he got back when we get him ice cream and pizza.

Home isn't great. A violent row there the night before left glass broken and his hand cut up. The bangs outside make it harder still.

BOGDAN, CHILD REFUGEE (through translator): Explosions are heard day and night. I want to leave for Kyiv. I'm scared at night that because of these sounds the windows my shatter.

IRINA, BOGDAN'S MOTHER (through translator): The windows yes, but it's important it doesn't hit the house.

WALSH (voice-over): The camp in Crimea had gentle indoctrination, daily Russian Anthems but it wasn't his thing.

BOGDAN (through translator): They told us how it was a long time ago with Russia and Ukraine that once they were together.

WALSH (on-camera) (through translator): And how did you feel hearing this? BOGDAN (through translator): It wasn't cool. In the lessons, I put my head down and looked at my phone. I didn't want to listen. I wouldn't stay in Russia.

It, firstly, isn't a pretty town there and there's trash everywhere. They don't clean anywhere or develop. Better to be in Kherson than there.

[08:25:15]

WALSH (voice-over): The town has its troubles. Locals angrily queuing here for cash handouts. And Irina has endured animosity from neighbors ever since she let Bogdan go to what she thought would be a safer place for just two weeks.

IRINA (through translator): On the island there is contempt from people that I gave Bogdan up. Even at the humanitarian aid center, they despise me. One of them shouted, where is your Bogdan? Ira, where is your Bogdan?

Some of the women in the line were whispering about me and looking at me. But I don't pay any attention. It is what it is.

WALSH (voice-over): Home here can be hard. Kira, 10, was also sent to Crimea. Her parents are separated badly and she came back straight to her father, Alexander.

KIRA: (Speaking Foreign Language).

WALSH (voice-over): But in this shop, as they gather handout toys, clothes and food because her father has lost his job in the war, the background chatter is also that parents who let their kids go to the Russians should be treated with caution as sympathizers.

KIRA (through translator): What's in the bag?

ALEXANDER (through translator): I don't know, maybe more toys for you.

WALSH (voice-over): I ask Kira how the Russian camp was where she stayed.

KIRA (through translator): It was super at the camp.

WALSH (on-camera): (Speaking Foreign Language).

KIRA (through translator): Super.

WALSH (on-camera): Super (foreign language).

(voice-over): I ask if it's better to be home. Their world is still spinning between two sides of a war, leaving them nothing but dizzy.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Kherson, Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE) FOSTER: Now, before we go, they say a picture tells a thousand words. But this one tells the story of just two letters A and I. You're looking at the image that won at the Sony World Photography Awards. The only problem is it was made using artificial intelligence. The artist behind it says he won't accept the prize money and entered the photo as an experiment to spark debate, which he's certainly done.

Thanks for joining me here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster in London. World Sport with Amanda is up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)