Power of the Internet could nudge Brazilians

“Karl Hoerig and I were squadron members at Youngstown for many years.

“Karl and I also flew together in Saudi Arabia in 1997. He was my copilot and we flew many combat support missions ... there for almost 1 month during the summer of that year.”

Thus begins a testimonial from retired Lt. Col. Larry Diemand for his Air Force Reserve colleague Karl Hoerig in a Facebook site entitled “Justice for Karl Hoerig.”

Hoerig was murdered more than two years ago in his Newton Falls home and a Trumbull County grand jury has indicted his wife, Claudia, on a charge of aggravated murder with a gun specification. However, Claudia is living in Brazil, having fled to her native land before her husband’s body was discovered.

She is now beyond the reach of Prosecutor Dennis Watkins, who has been seeking her extradition, and of congressmen Tim Ryan, D-Niles, and John Boccieri, D-Alliance, formerly of New Middletown. Boccieri is a major in the Air Force Reserve.

Diemand, who served as manager of the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport, believes that shining the public spotlight on this case could prompt Brazilian officials to end their intransigence. He may be right.

But we have no doubt that the Facebook story of Hoerig’s murder and the subsequent failure to bring the accused to trial will get the attention of members of Congress and the Obama administration.

Powerful political tool

The Internet has become a powerful political tool, and as the American public becomes familiar with the life and death of a military man, there will be greater pressure on the federal government to intercede on behalf of Prosecutor Watkins and congressmen Ryan and Boccieri.

In late December, we urged President Obama to use the power of his office in this case, just as he did in the case of a 9-year-old boy, Sean, who was returned to his American father, David, after being taken by his Brazilian mother to Brazil five years ago.

Obama discussed the matter with his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, while the U.S. Senate put on hold a trade deal worth about $2.75 billion a year to Brazil.

The boy is now with his father in New Jersey.

Hoerig, a major in the Air Force Reserve, served his country with distinction. His murderer must not go unpunished.

The contention of Brazilian officials that their country does not permit extradition of its citizens to stand trial in a foreign country is asinine, given that Claudia was an American citizen at the time of her husband’s death and the crime was committed on American soil.

Watkins is simply seeking the return of an American citizen to stand trial in an American court of law.

The Obama administration must know this incident will not go away — Larry Diemand has now made sure of that through the “Justice for Karl Hoerig” Facebook.

As we have noted in the past, Brazil’s hosting of the 2016 Olympics puts the government in a potentially embarrassing position. As it tries to reassure the world that its long history of lawlessness, especially in Rio de Janeiro, is a thing of the past, its refusal to cooperate in the case of Karl Hoerig undermines any public relations spin.