Killer Fabrikant to stay in prison, parole board says
Professor who murdered four colleagues remains a paranoid man, members find
According to a Parole Board of Canada decision, nothing about Valery Fabrikant has changed since 1992, when he walked into Concordia University's downtown campus and killed four of his fellow professors in a paranoid and delusional rage.
On Wednesday, the parole board denied the 80-year-old's request to be released on full parole. It was the second time in five years that the board has denied Fabrikant any form of release.
His parole hearing was held last week through a video conference at the Archambault Institution, a federal penitentiary where Fabrikant has been incarcerated since 2011, following transfers from other penitentiaries. The two parole board members who heard his case deliberated on the matter before they released their decision Wednesday.
The written summary of their decision portrays Fabrikant as a paranoid man who incessantly seeks to bring the smallest of issues before a court or tribunal — something he has done since he was convicted of the murders in 1993. In 2000, he was declared a vexatious litigant, or a person who seeks to waste time in court. The decision means a judge can dismiss a case filed by Fabrikant without having to hear his arguments.
The summary of the parole board's decision also notes that Fabrikant still has issues with an article published by the Montreal Gazette in 1994.
“The board also considered the victims' written representations dated August 24, 2014, May 3, 2015, June 1, 2020, and June 4, 2020, where multiple victims presented the impacts of the murders on their lives and also the harm you caused them since your conviction and incarceration. They mention many activities and situations that their beloved father, husband or brother will never know,” the author of the summary wrote.
On Aug. 24, 1992, Fabrikant brought three loaded firearms to the university's Henry F. Hall Building and killed professors Matthew Douglass, Michael Hogben, Jaan Saber and Phoivos Ziogas. He also wounded a secretary.
The series of events that built up to that tragic day began in 1980. While working at Concordia, Fabrikant published a significant number of articles, between 1980 and 1988, on mechanical engineering in scientific journals that were co-authored by various colleagues. During this period, Fabrikant did not question the issue of co-authorship. But in March 1988, when the university decided to extend Fabrikant's contract for only one year instead of two, he began making allegations about the contributions others made to his articles.
By March 1992, the university was preparing to discipline Fabrikant (at that point he was an untenured mechanical engineering professor) for psychological harassment of university employees. The following month, Fabrikant filed a civil lawsuit against two professors with Concordia's mechanical engineering department. He claimed he had been forced to include their names on papers he had published. He would later testify that what he alleged in the lawsuit was the source of his anger when he killed four of his colleagues.
The summary of Wednesday's decision reveals that Fabrikant not only continues to believe that people at Concordia plotted against him, but he has added new twists to his delusions. He also compared his situation to that of Jeffrey Epstein, the infamous U.S. financier and convicted sex offender whose death in prison in 2019 was followed by conspiracy theories that deny he killed himself.
“You felt that your life was in jeopardy and that you had to protect yourself against a lasting plot involving (Quebec's) chief justice, teachers and several psychiatrists,” wrote the author of the summary in the Fabrikant decision. “You consider that you acted in self-defence (when he killed the four professors). During your hearing, you reiterated your position that your life was being threatened and wanted to combat threats with threats. You maintain that you believe the plan was for you to be incarcerated for a year and you implied that you would be killed in prison. At one point during the hearing you invoked the case of Jeffrey Epstein and similarities you believe exist with your case.
“During the current incarceration, your caseworkers mention that you devoted most of your energy in seeking the faults of the system, challenging, contradicting, complaining, harassing justice officials at all levels and setting traps with the aim of forcing people to compromise themselves in order to better fulfil your need for control. They are of the opinion that this is the only way you have learned to negotiate with others when you are not happy about something. As a result, you are viewed as a troublemaker who has never displayed any interest in establishing positive relationships with the representatives of the system of justice and with anyone who does not have your respect.”
After refusing to take part in psychological assessments for years, Fabrikant agreed to talk to a psychologist in 2014 and was found to have a paranoid personality.
The same psychologist produced another assessment in June and determined Fabrikant still suffers from a paranoid personality disorder.
In 2015, Fabrikant had his first hearing before the parole board and was turned down for both escorted and unescorted leaves.