opposition led by guzman, sancho accused president mikey. so of using the courts, the institution to eliminate the opposition ahead of this parliamentary election that's expected to take place on july 31st, belgians king has repeated that he profoundly regrets his country's colonial past. and what is now the democratic republic of congo, king felipe and queen, matilda attended a wreath lang ceremony and the capital kinshasa. it's the 1st time a belgian market has travelled there in more than a decade. millions of congolese were killed or mutilated under colonial rule. it's bessy to lex when a pastor colonial power, the way it was, was based on exploitation and domination. this new situation was based on an unequal relationship that we can't justify. mark by paternalism, discrimination and racism, families, lebanon, this power generates extractions and humiliation. assuming for my 1st trip in congo

here, it's on facing the convolution people owe me to those who today are still suffering from it. i want to reaffirm my most deepest regrets for these past wounds. ah. so without 0, these are our top stories, at least $10000.00 civilians in the eastern ukrainian city of severity. nascar trapped the mare says it's impossible to evacuate them as it is now mostly under the control of russian forces. after weeks of fighting, charles stratford has more from bavaria on the outskirts of the capital cave. the situation here dire indeed, we are on a farm, northeast of the capital city up until already a few weeks ago, russian forces were positioned in areas around these fields. the week that you see in this field was actually planted before the war started. and bear in mind that the farm, like many farms in this area,

many of their silos are already full from last year's harvest. this week that you see here is going to be harvested in the next few weeks. farmers here have basically got no answers whatsoever. they are very concerned indeed because their silos, as i say, are full. they have no idea what they're going to do with the crops like this. in the next few weeks, somali present hassan shake. muhammad is being integrated as a sammy in mogadishu. hammered may be his main history last month by becoming the 1st president to be elected twice he was that states, as i've heard from an 11 year old school girl. he survived last month's school shooting, and texas is one of several testimonies. calling for action, a house of representatives later passed gun control measures which the senate is unlikely to approve. turkey's pres him at ap type, agile and his attending military exercises taking place in the city is near the drills of the largest joint exercise ever held in the region involving 10000

turkish troops, and at least 1000 foreign service men from 37 countries, greece has criticized the maneuvers. there is a r headlines. one is announces era after fault lines. outside of the conflict in the ukraine. how concerned should we be about designed to build up? we bring the store reason developments that are rapidly changing the world we're living. because the want to come roches new dollars, it becoming rushes new dawn, counting the coast on al jazeera ah, in 1996, joseph writings, a 21 year old manager of an electronic store was killed during an armed robbery and knoxville, tennessee. 3 young people were involved. amanda jo, good and al muir. nance were both 16. robert manning was 20. he gave almira gun and

they both went into the radio shack armed amanda waited in the car. manning leader testified that he told the manager with a shot to the head even though i'm your nance didn't pull the trigger. he was convicted a felony, murder, and sentenced to a minimum of 51 years in prison. he's 43 years old. now i've been here through my whole twenties, thirties, and i've been outside of food. when i say count time, i got to go in room. they locked the door and come out. and miss life a miss in the world. come isn't the dog amier actually represent. so many people that were just there and they're held accountable for things that technically they did not do. tennessee has the longest mandatory sentence in the

united states for a teenager convicted a felony murder if they're 16 or 17 if they're carrying a gun. and i know they're not supposed to have a gun and they're involved in a criminal act. they know that's wrong. and you can't afford to let those people out fault lines travel to tennessee, as the state supreme court considers whether these 51 year sentences violate the constitution. it's unfair. it's like they're trapped. they're in some sort of a nightmare that they can't get out to my daughter's grown. she's in her twenties. i've been in prison. her whole life. she's never known me outside of a visitation gallery. you don't want to give him a chance to like become a better person for his family. 51 years before poor o is ridiculous phyllis, the point i've been imprison more years than i've been freely mystery. i

wasn't old enough to bat cigarettes when i was only a few promo way for him. should he be punished? nice. but 51 is what kind of justice miss say. mm. mm mm mm. on january 18th, 1996, the day of the shooting. robert manning showed up to all mir's house and flashed a pistol. didn't get into a renewal. what i remember most about robert manning is that he had no off switch. that was always struck by the fact that he seemed to have no conscience at all. he did not seem to have true remorseful regret for anything you did. and that made him an incredibly dangerous i got shot or are you mad?

robert manning had a history of violence. he had shot and injured one of our mears friends earlier that day. a mean wasn't, was afraid for his life. and he every right to be afraid. i don't know. fair. i probably would have gotten a call a amanda was the other teenager in the car that day of the drug. she asked us not to show her face rebel, do you have any memory of whether on the or wanted to come along to do this thing? i think it's the same as me. he had no idea it was gonna turn out the way that it did. mm. and i do know for a fact after that he did tell me or wait right here with her, come with me on me or sit in the car with her l mayor. so you can kind of imagine

maybe what the conversation was like. after the shooting the group rob to home nearby and tied up the couple blocking them in the trunk of her car. a robber manning was pulling the strings from the get go. he decided that they would go to the radio shack as his palm, and that was always my sense about both those young people. is that for robert manning neither they cancelled or had been in the situation. the subject being interviewed lee black male subject named el near nance. almost a week after the suiting amir nance was arrested in the middle of the night and interrogated at this knox county sheriff's office building a 16 year old with adipose. without my permission or

data, tony aid and then opposite, kept me now all night long. subject this interview will be the homicide only or told police that robert manning killed joseph. right. are you sick? i was no like time trying to run. i just do it. when i was, i get the do up to do open, and i heard a shut. amir says he repeatedly asked for a lawyer that night, but never got one. last with me, they told me they were going to a name. there was no, there is a 16 year old kids been woken up at gunpoint with dogs cut off from his mother, and he still shows the presence of mind to invoke council. i want a lawyer. we reviewed the trial transcripts with chris erwin, a former public defender that any money and for me, an activist in knoxville in court. the officer who, questioned honor, testified that he didn't recall him asking to see an attorney and the officer lied

when he was on the stand. under oath did he and bow council. he said, oh no, he did not. he comes back with his notes and hands and he goes, oh, he did, and bowman's right to counsel the officer's own hand. written notes contradicted his testimony under oath, but the judge refused to throw out al me, your statements to police. what impact does not have on the rest of his teeth? when you have some 6 year old talking about his involvement, he would have said anything. the constitutionally, this statement obviously should have been suppressed, was obviously a coerced confession. i couldn't even explain to you. yeah. a sorry i feel i i respect know that to happen. may i really? i know not about the last thing mama. so be the end of this interview with elmer news. initially robert manning blamed the shooting

anal mirror, but he later testified in court that he pulled the trigger. i'm you know, pushing yeah. oh yeah. it shows. yeah. robert manning was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole awe. while in prison, he stopped a man and sat him on fire, killing him. she did not respond to any letters from fault lines, but amir was sentenced to a minimum of 51 years. that wasn't the case for the 3rd person involved in the robbery. amanda jo, good. she did how much time and jill did 2 years, 40 years, 10 years. she did one year she was incarcerated. what's the difference between her? allow him, the person who has a darker skin color is gone and he had more time that has been proven. you had a white judge why prosecutor white defense attorney white cops,

and then you have this fly kid the sitting there 16. what had happened and gets nailed the color of his skin was not my concern. and never was any nickos was the district attorney at the time and oversight. the prosecution of i'm, here's case, don't you see a double standard? and the way that a 16 year old white girl gets a year, how do you explain that? well, i, i can explain it to, you know, and then like, say, people wish to draw the conclusion that it was a racially motivated. they would be free to do that. the only thing i can say is that's just not the way it was. he got out of the automobile and went into the store. she did not. exactly, he had a hand gun. she did not. we tried to base our decisions on the facts that we could prove in court. and i believe i did that in this case. do you think that

a juvenile who doesn't actually kill anybody? should go into prison as a teenager and come out as a senior citizen, as you look at it in know some 30 years later her chance it was overly harsh. i wouldn't or you that. but i continued to be able to live with la decision on this case, right or wrong. so we're on our way to the old knox county court house to meet with a juror and ami our trial this year. in particular, it said that really wanted to talk to her. she said that she'd been thinking about this case for 25 years and have been feeling guilty for 25 years. i don't feel like what we did was just best disturbed when the sentence was

pronounced. we're again, i'm really naive. i. i thought the jury would have some input to the half. do you remember how you felt when you heard this 51 year minimum tenant hours? stoned shot your life was taken and that is a terrible tragedy. a great injustice to the victim, to his family had all the people whose the ripples of his life would have gone out to 4 generations. but taking al mir's life when he just started in and wasn't even formed into who it is going to become yet really i felt horrified. now feel like i follow the instructions but law wasn't just and i regret being with

that you're asked us not to use her name because she's concerned about possible backlash for sharing her feelings about amir sentence. it was like a death blow. it was like overkill even. you know, it's just, it's cruel and unusual. if you think about it. definitely. if he point black, you on doing he was definitely in humane and it was no just, no just served. no bad. it looked him lucky was nothing and ain't no, he didn't deserve it and they didn't care. they didn't care. oh, isn't a pre a call for an inmate at the tennessee department correction northwest correctional complex. hello. hey.

i live in today's yes and this land, betty. what eventually will you with no, i don't want to have all the branch center on the tank. that's not 1st time you ever played david. tough guy and engineers with that i haven't really seen him in a while. and i'd love to just have him home. even if it was just for a few hours, you know this, let us go do something together. anything. what goes through your head? anything about the fact that your dad is serving a felony, murder, senates and didn't murder anybody? it just makes me like realized that the system does not always work the right way. they know that i didn't shoot this person.

is mendoza brown as like to say his name and i like to just say the person or the victim. i like the dignify the main body, me saying his name, but they know i didn't kill this person can be charged with felony murder if they take part in a crime in which someone is killed, even if they didn't cause the death. united states is one of only a few countries in the world with such a law, felony murdered doctrine in and of itself is a fiction because it transfers the intent of a felony which is not murder. and they shouldn't be treated like they intended to kill. because they did do a series of rulings over the past 20 years. the supreme court has concluded that juveniles convicted of murder should be sentenced differently than adults. nearly 12000 people in the u. s. are serving life sentences for crimes. they committed as a juvenile in juveniles are different because they are sort of uniquely susceptible

to peer pressure from outside. they have a greater capacity for change and growth overtime. their brain does not fully develop until they're 2021 between 21 and 25. so we know a lot more about brain development, and if that juvenile is thinking like an adult, or if they're thinking like a child, you don't really understand things like at that age of 16, you don't think life as like, forever, you know, your normal things right? now to day and next week, since 1995, 236 juvenile offenders and tennessee have received 51 year minimum sentences. 72 percent of them are black compared to just 17 of the states population. ah, all of these factors, race, peer pressure, youthful decision making, and a difficult childhood, played

a role and i'm your case. i grew up in a drug addicted home. my mother was on drugs. my father was absent. i spent a lot of time living with my grandmother, so i was really a kid. i had no big brothers. i had no father figures lawanda hang on without a gun and doing things that i shouldn't have been dornen. and i was easily manipulated. you know, you, blank staff and feel like you won a good enough mom, but i did the best i can. what i now i never want a job again in my life. it cost me too much keys. hash me a little bit about your family. i can my mother's close by guys way as he straightened up her life as he works, since he's got a nice place for when i talked to her as often as i am. if you see where i came from and i know i was allows home, people never thought i would amount anything at 20 years claim today.

i live in truth that people can change if given the tax is like i know i may have given a chance that one now i am more troubled him at all period. the people don't change. then i know, i don't know when we get along as much as we can and any way i can be a board or source of hope or something. so i get the tell them know that i'm in school, that i'm doing something i know is not just sitting in her, you know, brown cups off the bars like you would imagine. how does it feel when he says like, i've never been able to treat it or something? i sat in a vending machine. it's really just her branch encouraged her. what have

been the times that stick out in your mind or you've especially messed him around prom birthday. ah. but as long as i didn't want anything from her birthday, but for him the walk through the door. you know, how, like little videos are the soldiers come home? i always imagine like, that'd be me like my dad getting out of prison is the prize and me somewhere there still a dream even now and i'm well ah, people deserve a chance to make mistakes and learn from them and grow up. you know, he's death and not the same person. he's a better man. there's no way he should still be there all these years later and we all know he didn't kill any man.

tim hutchison was the sheriff, went on your nance was convicted, i can understand that 51 years. he has no problem with him spending 51 years behind bars. what are you going to do? you say, oh, well, he was 16 and had a weapon, but he didn't need to do just a couple of years because of his age. no, there's not. that is the act. there are a lot of people who say there should not be felony murder charges because you shouldn't be considered a murderer if you'd and pulled the trigger or felony. murder is a way to get these people off the street, people mouth the street, and they need to be off the street. and the same goes with mr. nance. he knew he was born inside the store to rob the store. what would your response be to people who say this isn't really working, talking people out doesn't actually solve any problems. well, for those as a, it doesn't really solve any problem by locking the juveniles up for a long period of time. elmer nance hadn't been involved in any more violent crimes

since the supreme court rulings states around the country have been reconsidering life sentences for people like i'm here in 2021 at bill past the tennessee state senate that would have reduced the mandatory senates from 51 years to $25.00. there was opposition to it in the house, so the bell didn't move forward. seat senator john lumbergh voted against it. he's an influential voice in the legislature opposing criminal justice reform. these are heinous murders and acts mom. and the unfortunate part, i think, we have to admit, and we may not like it as a society. but there are some folks who are just born bad. and some of those people probably best at your behind bars. if it's their child, if it's someone in their community who is making these mistakes, they don't believe that their child was born bad. it is only people from other

communities, people with different backgrounds, people that they don't have a connection with that they can sort of forget what they really know which is that children are different. are the tennessee supreme court will be deciding soon if the state will treat children any differently. it's considering a case similar to i'm yours, challenging the constitutionality of 51 year sentences for juveniles. the 1st time you are eligible for releases when. oh, well, it's kind of nonexistent. you know, it's 16 years old. if you give a person 51 years, a u. s. supreme court will that mandatory life sentences for juveniles are cruel and unusual punishment, violating the 8th amendment. so i don't even look forward to the day, but tennessee argues that 51 years is not a life sentence, because eventually they could get out if they manage to live that long. i don't see

any one surviving of 51 year life sentence. i can't see even if you didn't for the trigger, even if you the annoying thing about it felony merlin, darrell k with you which you die in in prison. ah, we spoke with the family of joseph writing, but they declined to take part in our story. his mother cited our old saying, if you have a sore place that escaped over, don't pick out it because it will bleed movie

. i've been incarcerated for 26 years. ah, deciding may say throw those guys away, but i don't have to feel that way about myself, but i want the family day, you know, they never want to give up on you for what time i have lived, i choose to try to be the best version of myself that i can be hello. hey i'm here . we go by when god baby mirror, i try to be as much a source of support and inspiration from a dark place on a sand light. even from here. if i came for them, i live, i live in a family home, you meet them around became let me know when and you know, i will. my mom is seen humble. talk about

a mile detain. eagle had to come out and get him a job. you know, my mom, she's at 80 said he's still with me. good. yeah. okay. why does they use the waiting? everybody lives up even from worries. oh no way. oh, i have never given up hope and i never will till he comes home. a change very soon. how good are where he needed to get dr. you know when he did our way you hear me go to the b and i feel no one in us. yeah. i will see i'm, we get a chance to get in the car ra with me. his keys in town with his dog.

i'm sitting at a triple a. i believe he's don't get a chance one day to come right in the store and i'm a be able to hug me, talk to him. i learned schofield to write a jew on al jazeera, as well as invasion of the free and the coaches, the 100 day mark. we bring you the latest from on the ground and the wars global employer. and you 3 part series describes the struggle for the return of african art, funded by colonialism and still housed in european museums. today. the g 7, i'm nato, hold key summits with the water ukraine on the growing global food and the cost of living crises. this much to discuss as the influence of far right politics grows.

the big picture examines francis struggle to live up to the self proclaimed ideals of liberty, policy and fraternity. the men's world cup, qualifying i mailed wising opportunity for countries to secure their support for cutout 2022. june on al jazeera cats are always official airline of the journey with with mm.

pool an official and on the journey, unprompted and done interrupted discussions from our london broadcast center on al jazeera. ah, this is al jazeera ah. you're watching the news, our life from headquarters in delphi. i'm debbie.