Merrick Garland Subtly Rebukes Josh Hawley After Question On Supporting Police

Joe Biden's attorney general nominee brushed off the senator's "defund the police" question with a reference to the Jan. 6 riot.

• By Arthur Delaney
• Igor Bobic, HuffPost US

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) probably didn’t get the answer he was looking for when he asked Judge Merrick Garland, President Joe Biden’s pick to lead the Department of Justice, about his stance on defunding the police.

The Missouri Republican, who led the effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Congress and pumped his fist at a group of Trump supporters outside the Capitol on Jan. 6, described crime surging in cities around the country and asked Garland if he supported defunding the police. 

“As you no doubt know, President Biden has said he doesn’t support defunding the police, and neither do I,” Garland said at his Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on Monday.

The federal appeals court judge then cited the horror Capitol Police officers experienced during the attack as a reason why he didn’t support defunding police departments. More than 140 police officers were injured during the assault on Congress on Jan. 6 and several died following the riot, which was fueled by lies about voter fraud.

“We saw how difficult the lives of police officers were in the bodycam videos we saw when they were defending the Capitol,” Garland said. 

ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

Riot police push back a crowd of supporters of then-President Donald Trump after they stormed the Capitol building on Jan. 6 in Washington, D.C.

Since the riot, Hawley and other Republicans have made a point of lamenting violence against police during Black Lives Matter protests last year (even though the vast majority of demonstrations were peaceful). At his impeachment trial, former President Donald Trump’s defense team frequently drew a false equivalence between the Capitol attack, which sought to overthrow American democracy, and past attacks on police in response to their killings of unarmed civilians. 

Hawley also asked whether Garland considered “assaults on federal property in places other than Washington, D.C.” to be domestic terrorism, a label he recently suggested might not be appropriate for the attack on the Capitol, which he claimed Democrats are using to justify a power grab.  

“The use of violence or threats of violence in an attempt to disrupt democratic processes,” Garland said. “So an attack on a courthouse while in operation trying to prevent judges from deciding cases, that plainly is domestic extremism, domestic terrorism.” 

The Trump supporters who ransacked the Capitol also sought to disrupt the democratic process, namely the certification of Biden’s victory in the 2020 election, which Hawley still says was tainted by irregularities. 

AL DRAGO/GETTY IMAGES

Left: Attorney General nominee Merrick Garland speaks during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Feb. 22. Right: Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) pauses while speaking during Garland's confirmation hearing.

Garland is expected to be confirmed as the nation’s next attorney general with broad bipartisan support. Even Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) heaped praise on the judge, calling him a “very good pick” for the post.

The reception Garland received on Monday couldn’t have been more different than in 2016, after President Barack Obama nominated him to serve as a justice on the Supreme Court. Republicans outright denied him a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee, citing the presidential election later that year. Of course, they dropped the objection to election-year confirmations to the Supreme Court in late 2020 after the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

“It was an election year with a divided Congress,” Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the chairman of the Judiciary Committee at the time, said in his opening statement on Monday.

“Yes, it’s true I didn’t give Judge Garland a hearing,” he added, before going to reference Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing two years later. “I also didn’t mischaracterize his record. I didn’t attack his character. I didn’t go through his high school yearbook.”

Garland, of course, was nominated two years before Kavanaugh. He also hasn’t been accused of sexual assault.

Mexican president slams audit flagging cost of airport cancellation

FEBRUARY 22, 2021

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Monday attacked an official report saying the cost of his 2018 cancellation of a new Mexico City airport started by the previous administration was much higher than his government had asserted.

Mexico’s Federal Audit Office (ASF) said it estimated that canceling the partly-built airport on the city’s eastern flank cost nearly 332 billion pesos ($16 billion), or 232 billion pesos more than the transport ministry stated in April 2019.

“I would like them to explain that figure,” Lopez Obrador told a news conference.

“It’s wrong, it’s an exaggeration,” he added, and suggested the ASF was helping his adversaries.

Following a widely criticized referendum he had called for, Lopez Obrador in late October 2018 announced the termination of the project, his predecessor’s flagship infrastructure scheme, which was initially slated to cost $13 billion.

Lopez Obrador was elected president in July 2018, and he made the cancellation call on the basis of the referendum nearly five weeks before he took office in December that year.

He argued the airport project was riddled with corruption and geologically unsound. Barely 1 percent of the population took part in the vote, which the president’s party oversaw.

The ambitious project’s cancellation rattled financial markets, and though the government spent billions of dollars paying off investors, Lopez Obrador has always maintained that his decision had saved the public coffers billions.

Afterwards, he ordered the construction of a cheaper alternative airport north of the city, overseen by the army.

The ASF report also highlighted other public sector waste during 2019 on Lopez Obrador’s watch, which he also questioned.

“Their figures are wrong,” he said. “I have other data.”

Russian hockey star targeted for support of Kremlin critic Navalny, NHL team says

By Reuters Staff


FILE PHOTO: Jan 19, 2021; New York, New York, USA; New York Rangers left wing Artemi Panarin (10) celebrates after a goal by left wing Chris Kreider (not pictured) against the New Jersey Devils during the second period at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Bennett/Pool Photos-USA TODAY Sports/File Photo

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The National Hockey League’s New York Rangers said on Monday that star forward Artemi Panarin was being targeted for his support of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny by what it called a fabricated report alleging he assaulted a woman a decade ago.

Panarin, 29, is one of the few elite Russian athletes openly critical of President Vladimir Putin. He has publicly backed Navalny, who was jailed this month on what the opposition politician said were politically motivated charges.

“This is clearly an intimidation tactic being used against him for being outspoken on recent political events,” the NHL team said in a statement. “Artemi is obviously shaken and concerned and will take some time away from the team.”

The New York Rangers said Panarin, who was a finalist last season for the league’s most valuable player award, “vehemently and unequivocally denies” the allegations against him.

The statement comes after former NHL player Andrei Nazarov, who briefly coached Panarin in Russia, told the Sports.ru website that Panarin had been detained after beating up an 18-year-old woman at a hotel bar in Riga in Latvia in 2011.

Nazarov has in the past been critical of Panarin’s support for Navalny.

Australia promises quick, independent probe after third rape accusation against Liberal Party

By Colin Packham
FEBRUARY 21, 2021

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia will quickly deliver the result of a planned independent inquiry into parliament’s workplace culture, the government said on Monday, as pressure grows after a newspaper published a third accusation of rape.

Two female employees of Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s Liberal party said last week they had been raped by the same man in 2019 and 2020.

Both have yet to make a formal police complaint, but Brittany Higgins, who has spoken publicly about her alleged rape, said last week that she would do so, though it is unclear if she has lodged one with police.

Finance Minister Simon Birmingham, who is leading an internal inquiry into workplace culture, said he wanted an investigation that is to be set up next week to be impartial.

“I want complete independence,” he told Australian Broadcasting Corp radio. “I want people to have full confidence that this enquiry is genuinely an independent (one).”

The complaint process is expected to be a central element of the investigation, he said, adding, “This is not something that I expect to drag on for weeks.”

Fuelling pressure on Morrison, the Australian newspaper published on Monday the account of a third woman, who said she had also been raped by the unnamed former Liberal party worker on the night of June 29 and the morning of June 30 in 2016.

“I believe his actions constitute sexual assault, because he performed or tried to perform sexual acts on me while I was severely intoxicated and unable to provide valid and informed consent,” the unidentified woman told the paper.

The incident happened outside parliament, she added.

Already dogged by accusations of improper behaviour towards women, Morrison’s Liberals face a barrage of criticism about the way it handled Higgins’ internal complaint to Linda Reynolds, who is now defence minister.

Higgins has said she felt pressure not to proceed with a formal complaint for fear of losing her job.

Reynolds last week apologised to Higgins but denied that she or her staff pressured her not to pursue a police complaint.

Morrison said he only learnt of the alleged complaints last week, and has sought to placate public anger with an inquiry.


Reporting by Colin Packham; Editing by Clarence Fernandez

“Disaster”: Oil spill stains Israel’s coastline, reaches Lebanon

An offshore oil leak has injured marine wildlife and closed beaches in one of the worst oil spills in the country’s history. Authorities say it could take months or years to clean up.

Late last week, a 17-metre-long fin whale and other sea creatures washed up on the shore in southern Israel. Although the cause of the whale’s death is being investigated, the environmental protection minister said it could be attributed to an oil spill from a nearby ship. 

The Nature and Parks Authority said on Sunday that an autopsy had found oil-based material in the whale's body, with further tests pending. (Reuters)

“This is a hazard of a magnitude we have not seen in years. We are doing everything in order to find those responsible for the destruction, and are preparing for the difficult and long task of rehabilitating the beaches and preventing further injury to animals,” minister Gila Gamliel said.

“Dozens to hundreds” of tonnes of tar have stained nearly 160 kilometres of coastline, stretching from Haifa in the north, down to Ashkelon near Gaza in the south.

A woman holds a dead sea turtle covered in tar from an oil spill in the Mediterranean Sea in Gador nature reserve near Hadera, Israel, Saturday, Feb. 20, 2021. Hundreds of volunteers are taking part in a cleanup operation of Israeli shoreline as investigations are underway to determine the cause of an oil spill that threatens the beach and wildlife, at Gador Nature Reserve near the northern city of Hadera, the tar smeared fish, turtles, and other sea creatures. (AP)

European and Israeli agencies are searching for a possible source using satellite images and wave movement models.

It is thought to be an oil spill on February 11 from a ship passing about 50 kilometres from the shore. There were nine ships in that area at the time, which are being investigated.


If the ship is found, Israel could take legal action, which could see millions of dollars in compensation for the ecological damage.

By Monday, the sticky black deposits that showed up on Israeli beaches were also visible on beaches in a nature reserve in Tyre, south Lebanon.

A man shows tar on his hands in the aftermath of an oil spill on the Mediterranean coast that also reached the Tyre nature reserve in Lebanon. (Reuters)

Thousands of volunteers have gathered to help clean globs of sticky tar from the beaches. They are also helping clean turtles, fish, and birds covered in the substance as well as wildlife that may have ingested oil.

Several volunteers were reported to have been hospitalised after inhaling the fumes.

Tar pieces from an oil spill stuck on rocks in the Mediterranean sea as it reached Gador nature reserve. (AP)

Experts are calling it the “worst beach contamination” in Israel’s history.

"We need to look to the future -- this event and similar ones around the world show us how crucial it is to wean ourselves from these polluting fuels, and shift to renewable energy," Gamliel said.

A woman holds a dead fish after she cleaned it from tar. (AP)

The spill is “a promo for a catastrophe that could be 250 times as bad” if a joint Israeli-UAE pipeline deal is not stopped, Rachel Azaria, chair of Life and Environment, an umbrella organization for environmental groups in Israel told the Times of Israel.

The agreement to bring Emirati crude oil by tanker to a pipeline in the Red Sea port of Eilat was signed after the UAE normalised ties with Israel late last year.

In October, after normalisation, Israel’s state-owned Europe-Asia Pipeline Company (EAPC) announced a "binding MoU" with MED-RED Land Bridge Ltd - a joint venture between Abu Dhabi's National Holding company and several Israeli firms - to bring crude oil from UAE to Eilat and then transport it by pipeline to Israel's Mediterranean city of Ashkelon for onward export to Europe.

While coral populations around the world are under threat from bleaching caused by climate change, the reefs in Eilat have remained stable due to their unique heat resistance. (AFP)

Israeli environmentalists have warned that the deal threatens unique Red Sea coral reefs and could lead to "the next ecological disaster".

Professor of marine biology at Ben Gurion University, Nadav Shashar, said that the infrastructure is not set up to prevent accidents and only designed "to treat pollution once it's already in the water.”

With the increase of shipments, "the result will be a constant leak of oil pollution," he said.

Pope's visit to Iraqi Ziggurat to bring together several faiths - and hopefully lure more visitors


By Mohammed Aty

BAGHADAD (Reuters) - Pope Francis is due to hold an inter-religious prayer service at the ancient Mesopotamian site of Ur when he visits Iraq next week - an event local archeologists hope will draw renewed attention to the place revered as the birthplace of Abraham.


Popular with Western visitors in the 1970s and 1980s, Ur is scarcely visited today after decades of war and political instability shattered Iraq’s international tourism industry. The coronavirus crisis now also keeps local tourists away.

Located about 300 km (200 miles) south of the capital Baghdad, the site comprises a pyramid-style Ziggurat and an adjacent residential complex as well as temples and palaces.

It was excavated about 100 years ago by Leonard Woolley, a Briton who recovered treasures rivalling those found in Tutankhamen’s tomb in Egypt. But little work has since been done

on one of the world’s oldest cities, where urban dwelling, writing and central state power began.

According to the State Board for Antiquities and Heritage director for Ur, Ali Kadhim Ghanim, the complex next to the Ziggurat dates back to about 1900 BC.

The father of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, Abraham is described in the biblical book of Genesis as living in the city before God called upon him to create a new nation in a land he later learned was Canaan.

“This is why it is believed that this building, or house, was the house of the prophet Abraham,” Ghanim said, pointing at the residential complex.

According to Ghanim, the housing settlement was restored in 1999, after Pope Francis’ predecessor, Pope John Paul II, announced a trip to Iraq. But his visit was cancelled when negotiations with the government of then-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein broke down.

This time, Ghanim hopes that Pope Francis’ visit will attract international attention to the site, which he says is badly needed to fund restoration works on its palaces and temples.

“Not only tourism, but we believe that there will be a Christian pilgrimage season,” Ghanim said.

Un Ponte Per, an Italian-based organisation, is working with the United Nations Development Programme on infrastructure works such as paths, rest areas and signposts to help visitors.

Roads around the site are being rennovated and powerlines extended ahead of the pope’s visit.


But without adequate funding, Ghanim says his administration has been limited to containing further damage to the site, such as digging trenches to divert rainwater from the ruins.

Basra’s Archbishop Habib al-Naufaly stressed the symbolic importance of the pope’s March 5-8 visit as Iraq is still recovering from the war against Islamic State that destroyed scores of Christian heritage sites.

The inter-religious prayer service will be attended by Christians, Muslims, Mandaean-Sabaean, Yazidi and other religious minorities present in Iraq.

The focus will be on harmony between religious groups in a service the Vatican has named “Prayer for the sons and daughters of Abraham”.

Palestinian COVID vaccine plan faces large funding gap, World Bank says


By Rami Ayyub

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The Palestinians’ COVID-19 vaccination plan faces a $30 million funding shortfall, even after factoring in support from a global vaccine scheme for poorer economies, the World Bank said in a report on Monday.

FILE PHOTO: A Palestinian health worker reacts as he is vaccinated against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) after the delivery of doses from Israel, in Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, February 3, 2021. REUTERS/Mussa Qawasma/File Photo

Israel, a world leader in terms of vaccination speed, could perhaps consider donating surplus doses to the Palestinians to help accelerate a vaccine roll-out in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, the bank said.

“In order to ensure there is an effective vaccination campaign, Palestinian and Israeli authorities should coordinate in the financing, purchase and distribution of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines,” it said.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) plans to cover 20% of Palestinians through the COVAX vaccine-sharing programme. PA officials hope to procure additional vaccines to achieve 60% coverage.

Cost estimates suggest that “a total of about $55 million would be needed to cover 60 percent of the population, of which there is an existing gap of $30 million,” the World Bank said, calling for additional donor help.

The Palestinians began vaccinations this month and have received small donations from Israel, Russia and the United Arab Emirates.

But the roughly 32,000 doses received to date fall far short of the 5.2 million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, territory Israel captured in a 1967 war.

‘EXTRA DOSES’

Palestinians and rights groups have accused Israel of ignoring its duties as an occupying power by not including the Palestinians in its inoculation programme.

Israeli officials have said that under the Oslo peace accords, the PA health ministry is responsible for vaccinating people in Gaza and parts of the West Bank where it has limited self-rule.

Israel reopened swathes of its economy on Sunday after rolling out one of the world’s swiftest vaccination programs. It has been administering Pfizer Inc’s vaccine to its 9.1 million citizens, and has a separate stockpile of an estimated 100,000 doses of Moderna Inc’s vaccine.

While the PA expects to receive an initial COVAX shipment within weeks, the program is at risk of failing, mainly due to a lack of funds. The PA says it has supply deals with Russia and drugmaker AstraZeneca, but doses have been slow to come.

“From a humanitarian perspective, Israel can consider donating the extra doses it has ordered that it would not be using,” the World Bank said.

The PA health ministry said on Friday that Israel had agreed to vaccinate 100,000 Palestinians who regularly cross into Israel for work.

A decision on vaccinating the Palestinian workers should be made soon, Nachman Ash, Israel’s coronavirus czar, told reporters on Sunday.

“From a medical perspective, we think vaccinating the Palestinian workers is very much the correct thing to do.”

Protesters clash with Spanish police in fresh unrest over jailed rapper

By Jordi Rubio, Luis Felipe Castellija

BARCELONA (Reuters) - Protesters threw bottles, stones and rubbish containers at police in Barcelona on Sunday in a sixth night of clashes after a rapper was jailed for glorifying terrorism and insulting royalty in his songs.

The nine-month sentence of Pablo Hasel, known for his virulently anti-establishment raps, has prompted debate over freedom of expression in Spain and sparked protests that have at times turned violent.

“You have taught us that being peaceful is useless,” read a banner carried by protesters.

Five people were arrested for robbing shops and a police officer was injured, according to a Twitter post by the Mossos d’Esquadra, the Catalan regional police force.

About 1,000 demonstrators gathered in the city, local police said.

Protesters had looted shops on Saturday on Barcelona’s most prestigious shopping street, Passeig de Gracia, while also smashing windows in the Palau de la Musica concert hall

On Sunday, a lone man outside the concert hall shouted at protesters: “You don’t touch the Palau.”

Five nights of trashed shops and burned containers has caused 900,000 euros ($1.09 million) in damages in Barcelona, the city council said.

“Apart from the economic damage, we have suffered damage to the image of Barcelona as a welcoming and peaceful city,” Luis Sans, president of the Association of Friends of Passeig de Gracia, told El Pais newspaper.

More than 95 people have been arrested across Catalonia and in other Spanish cities since Hasel was arrested and jailed on Tuesday. One woman lost an eye during clashes in Barcelona, triggering calls from politicians to investigate police tactics.

Oscar-winning actor Javier Bardem was among artists, celebrities and politicians who called for a change in the law covering freedom of expression.

The Spanish government said last week it would scrap prison sentences for offences involving cases of freedom of speech.

Graffiti artists protest over jailed Spanish rapper

By Jordi Rubio, Luis Felipe Castilleja


BARCELONA (Reuters) - A colourful mural showing arrows through the heads of former Spanish king Juan Carlos and the late dictator General Francisco Franco was among images that graffiti artists painted on walls in Barcelona to protest on Sunday the jailing of a rapper for glorifying terrorism and insulting the monarchy in his songs.

The nine-month sentence imposed on Pablo Hasel, who is known for his fiercely anti-establishment raps, has sparked a debate over freedom of expression in Spain and demonstrations which descended, at times, into violence.

The artists’ peaceful demonstration contrasted with five nights of clashes in Spanish cities between protesters and police in which containers were burned, banks smashed up and projectiles thrown at residents.

They called for a change in anti-terrorism and gagging laws which they say unfairly limit people’s right to demonstrate their disapproval in the streets.

“We have been protesting for years and asking for these changes to gagging laws and now everyone is tearing their clothes or burning containers,” said Roc Blackclock, an artist.

Thirty-eight people were arrested in cities across Catalonia on Saturday after demonstrators smashed windows in Barcelona’s emblematic Palau de la Musica concert hall and looted shops on the city’s most prestigious shopping street, Passeig de Gracia.



“These graffiti transmit what society thinks, in favour of freedom of expression and against the freedom of destruction,” said Toni Marin, 52, a bank worker.

The Spanish government announced last week it would scrap prison sentences for offences involving cases of freedom of speech.

Senior members of the hard left Unidas Podemos party, the junior partners in Spain’s coalition government, voiced support for the protesters which critics took to mean tolerating the violence.

José Luis Martínez-Almeida, the conservative mayor of Madrid, blamed Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez for tolerating Podemos’ attitude to the violence. Sanchez condemned the violent protests on Friday.

Reporting by Graham Keeley, Elena Rodriguez, Nacho Doce, Luis Felipe Castilleja, Jordi Rubio; editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise

FOR MORE PHOTOS 

Barcelona sees a sixth night of violence over rapper jailed for insulting the monarchy on Twitter | Daily Mail Online

Strike threat by South Korean doctors fans fears of vaccine rollout disruption



By Sangmi Cha, Hyonhee Shin

SEOUL (Reuters) - Doctors in South Korea have threatened a protest strike against legislation to strip them of licences following criminal convictions, sparking fears about possible disruption of a coronavirus vaccination effort set to begin this week.

FILE PHOTO: A medical worker checks the doors inside the Mobile Clinic Module outside Korea Cancer Center Hospital in Seoul, South Korea, January 8, 2021. REUTERS/Heo Ran

Healthcare workers are scheduled to receive the first batch of AstraZeneca’s vaccine from Friday, as South Korea looks to protect 10 million high-risk people by July, on its way to reaching herd immunity by November.

But over the weekend, the Korean Medical Association (KMA), the largest grouping of doctors, said it would go on strike if parliament passed a bill to revoke the licences of doctors getting jail terms.

“The bill might result in ordinary, innocent doctors being stripped of their licences and falling into hell because of an accident that has nothing to do with their job, or lack of legal knowledge,” spokesman Kim Dae-ha said in a statement on Monday.

Association president Choi Dae-zip has called the bill “cruel”, saying its passage into law would “destroy” current cooperation with the government to treat the virus and carry out the vaccine campaign.

No date has been set yet for the strike, the KMA told Reuters, however.

The standoff stoked concern that any strike of doctors could slow the rollout at a time when authorities are scrambling to allocate medical personnel to about 250 inoculation centres and 10,000 clinics nationwide.

Discord over the bill was undesirable ahead of the vaccine rollout, the health ministry said, adding that the doctors’ association was in the grip of a “misunderstanding” about it.


Parliament has been seeking to revise the Medical Service Act to ban physicians guilty of violent crimes, such as sexual abuse and murder, from practicing their skills.

Ruling party lawmakers pushing for the bill denounced the association, saying it was trying to “take public health hostage to maintain impunity from heinous crimes”.

VACCINATION TIMELINE

AstraZeneca shots enough for about 750,000 people will be distributed from a production facility of SK Chemicals unit SK bioscience to immunization centres across the country from Wednesday, Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) director Jeong Eun-kyeong said.

The first inoculation is set for Friday 9 a.m. (0000 GMT), Jeong told a briefing on Monday.

South Korea will begin administering the first of 117,000 doses of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine on Saturday to around 55,000 healthcare workers in COVID-19 treatment facilities.

The government’s goal of reaching herd immunity by November will only work if the public responds in good measure to the vaccination programme and if authorities are able to secure enough doses on time, as well as control the more transmissible new variants, Jeong said.


The medical association, with nearly 140,000 members, has a long history of policy disputes with the government.

Many hospitals were depleted of staff during the pandemic last year when the group steered weeks-long walkouts over plans to boost the number of medical students, build medical schools, ease insurance coverage and increase telemedicine options.

That action spurred hundreds of thousands of Koreans to file presidential petitions urging punishment for the doctors, as polls showed 58% of respondents opposed the strike. There are no surveys yet on the latest stalemate.

Last week, a government poll showed almost 94% of 367,000 healthcare workers aged 64 or younger in priority groups said they were ready to take the AstraZeneca vaccine, despite concerns over its efficacy in older people. About 95% said they would accept Pfizer products.

South Korea reported 332 new virus infections by Sunday, taking its tally to 87,324, and a death toll of 1,562.

Greece investigates reports theatre director accused of rape taught refugee children


By Karolina Tagaris

ATHENS (Reuters) - A prosecutor has ordered an investigation into reports that migrant children were taught acting classes by the former artistic director of Greece’s National Theatre, now facing child rape allegations, a migration ministry official said on Monday.

Dimitris Lignadis turned himself in on Saturday following an arrest warrant issued after lawsuits were filed against him by two men who say he raped them when they were minors. He has denied wrongdoing and is being held pending a plea hearing on Wednesday.

His case has become the highest profile accusation in a cascade of sex abuse scandals in Greek culture and sport in recent weeks, causing a reckoning which Greeks have compared to the “me too” movement in the United States.

The Migration Ministry’s special secretary for the protection of unaccompanied minors, Irini Agapidaki, told Reuters she had asked the prosecutor to investigate reports in newspapers and on social media that children staying in shelters had taken acting lessons with Lignadis in 2017-18.

“I have an institutional obligation and a moral duty to request that these reports are thoroughly investigated,” Agapidaki said.

A lawyer for Lignadis could not immediately be reached for comment.

The semi-official Athens News Agency reported that after two or three lessons with Lignadis, some migrant children had “expressed discomfort or refusal to return to the classroom”. It said the shelters were run by three charities, which it did not identify.

Lignadis resigned from his position earlier this month after accusations of harassment against him appeared in Greek media. The allegations were among a number that have surfaced in Greece since January, when Olympic sailing champion Sofia Bekatorou testified in court that she had been raped 23 years ago by a sports official.

No case was brought against the man Bekatorou accused, as the statute of limitations had passed. But her testimony won praise from politicians and was followed by similar confessions from athletes, actors, singers and others.

The scandals have become a major political issue, with the leftwing opposition calling on Culture Minister Lina Mendoni to resign, accusing her of protecting Lignadis. She denied on Friday that she and the theatre director were friends.

On Monday, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis gave his backing to Mendoni. His government is due to outline further measures to combat sexual abuse, a spokeswoman told a briefing. She said Mitsotakis would address parliament on Thursday on the issue.