Free Queen

The Greek case was brought to the European Commission of Human Rights in September 1967. It alleged violations of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) by the Greek junta, which had come to power in a coup and launched widespread political repression. A second case alleging additional violations, including of Article 3 forbidding torture, was added in 1968. In 1968 and 1969, a subcommission questioned witnesses and embarked on a fact-finding mission to Greece. Their report proving systematic torture was leaked to the press and turned European public opinion against Greece. On 12 December 1969, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe considered a resolution to expel Greece. To save face, foreign minister Panagiotis Pipinelis(pictured) denounced the ECHR and walked out. Greece returned to the organization after the Greek democratic transition in 1974. The case was influential as a precedent in human rights jurisprudence, especially for the legal definition of torture. (Full article...)

• ... that the original entrance to New York City's 72nd Street station(pictured) was once called 'a miserable monstrosity as to architecture' and recommended for demolition?
• ... that Canadian geneticist Phyllis McAlpine was among the first to promote a unified gene nomenclature system and helped found the HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee?
• ... that Class 1 protected forests in Sabah, such as Tenompok Forest Reserve, Tawai Forest Reserve, Binsuluk Forest Reserve, and Ulu Telupid Forest Reserve, are threatened by encroaching agriculture, illegal logging, and man-made fires?
• ... that Philadelphia Phillies backup catcherAndrew Knapp changed his number in 2018 to honor Roy Halladay and then a second time in 2020 to honor Dick Allen?
• ... that in Open Wounds, Vicken Cheterian argues that 'by censoring the Armenian Genocide, its impact, traces and consequences do not simply disappear. It continues in various forms'?
• ... that the 2011 single 'Chic C'est la Vie' by Luann de Lesseps was called 'stunningly un-self-aware and over the top' by a critic?
• ... that actress Bertha Belmore starred in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1925 with W. C. Fields and Will Rogers?
• ... that there is a mountain of gold in France?

• In Israel, at least 45 people are killed in a crowd crush at a religious festival on Mount Meron.
• China launches the Tianhe space station module (pictured) on a Long March 5B rocket, the first module in the upcoming Tiangong space station.
• American astronaut Michael Collins, the command module pilot for Apollo 11, dies at the age of 90.
• At the Academy Awards, Nomadland wins three awards, including Best Picture.
• A fire at a COVID-19 hospital in Baghdad, Iraq, kills at least 82 people.

May 2: Flag Day in Poland

• 1559 – Presbyterian clergyman John Knox(pictured) returned from exile to lead the Scottish Reformation.
• 1863 – American Civil War: Confederate general Stonewall Jackson was wounded by friendly fire during the Battle of Chancellorsville, leading to his death by pneumonia eight days later.
• 1964 – Vietnam War: An explosion caused by Viet Cong commandos led USNS Card to sink in the port of Saigon.
• 2003 – Spurred on by the Indian Union Muslim League, a mob of Indian Muslimskilled eight Hindu fishermen in Kerala.
• 2011 – Osama bin Laden was shot and killed by U.S. Navy SEAL Team 6 in a private residential compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.