DW exclusive: Belarus dissident Maria Kolesnikova speaks from jail

Maria Kolesnikova, a leading figure in the Belarus opposition movement who has been jailed in Minsk, has given DW an exclusive interview. She talks about her trial and the ongoing struggle against Lukashenko.

Maria Kolesnikova was handed a 11-year jail term


Leading Belarus opposition figure Maria Kolesnikova has been held behind bars for over a year in a Minsk penitentiary. In 2020, Kolesnikova coordinated Viktor Babariko's election campaign in the run-up to the country's presidential race. When Babariko, a prominent banker, was arrested, Kolesnikova joined the Belarusian opposition's Coordination Council, which backed anti- Lukashenko mass protests across the country. Demonstrations erupted after it was announced in August 2020 that incumbent leader Alexandr Lukashenko had been re-elected as president. Many countries refuse to accept the election result.

Maria Kolesnikova at a Minsk protest on August 30, 2020

Maria Kolesnikova — a professional flutist who spent years working as a cultural manager in the German city of Stuttgart — soon rose to become one of the country's most prominent women dissidents. In September 2020, Belarus authorities attempted to force her into exile. She would not budge, however, and was arrested. One year later Kolesnikova and fellow laywer Maxim Znak were tried for "inciting action aimed at harming national security" and "extremism." They were handed jail terms of 11 and 10 years, respectively.

International observers have called the trial a farce. Germany has repeatedly demanded Kolesnikova's release.

Kolesnikova will appeal the verdict on December 24.
Life behind bars taking its toll

DW succeeded in sending Kolesnikova a range of questions concerning her trial, life behind bars and expectations. Kolesnikova tells DW that life in custody means being deprived of "everything: air, the sun, my flute, letters, conversations, and a shower." But, she added, "knowing what you live for means that does not matter."

While her mail correspondence has been restricted, she nevertheless feels "the care and love of people in Belarus and the whole world." That, she said, gives her "colossal support and energy."

German singer-songwriter Wolf Biermann — once a prominent East German dissident — and Green politician Claudia Roth have been campaigning for her release.

Kolesnikova says jail terms handed down to her and Maxim Znak are "absurd, because neither of us are guilty." She said it was "only one person who seized state power," and refuses to ask for a pardon, saying "that is out of the question." How, she writes, is she supposed to confess to something she has not done?
No regrets

Together with Svetlana Tikhanovskaya and Veronika Tsepkalo, Kolesnikova made up a trio of prominent dissident woman who have come to represent the Belarus opposition movement. Tikhanovskaya and Tsepkalo have been forced into exile. Indeed, Tikhanovskaya recently said she could work more effectively from abroad, as a return to Belarus could land her in jail, too.


DEFIANT POSTER ART BY BELARUSIAN ARTISTS
Three symbols of Belarusian resistance
An exhibition at the Museum Folkwang in Essen shows how artists from Belarus are defending themselves against the regime in the digital realm. This picture by Antonina Slobodchikova shows the symbols of the strong trio of women who stood up to Lukashenko: Maria Kolesnikova's symbol is the heart, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya's is the fist, and the victory sign represents Veronica Tsepkalo.
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Kolesnikova tells DW she does "not regret" remaining in the country. She says that "jails are crowded with honest, courageous Belarusians, who waste no time thinking about giving up, despite the phenomenal pressure [they are under]." She adds that "it is an honor to join my people on this journey towards peace and change; everyone plays a [unique] role in this story."

Kolesnikova writes that she has plenty of plans for when she gets out of jail. "I have many ideas for music and arts projects; one of them is transforming the remand center into a cultural hub." She also intends to set up a "center for resocializing and rehabilitating women who have been imprisoned."
Will Lukashenko be toppled?

DW also asked Kolesnikova about a new constitutional draft proposed by Lukashenko, as well as a recently signed deal between Belarus and Russia. She writes that "nobody has seen the new conditional draft, or the 28 union state programs [road maps that are intended to bind the two countries more closely together]." The dissident writes she finds it hard to believe civil society and the media are being "destroyed" in the country, while at the same time effort is being made to "democratize" the constitution and "get away from authoritarianism."

She also urged all Belarusians in exile not to forget about their fellow compatriots at home. And she says "I admire all those who were forced to emigrate and still keep fighting for Belarus; everyone is putting in their share working towards a common goal." She goes on to say that "it is important not to get detached from reality, and to realize that the situation is rather serious and that it will take a while until a solution is reached."

She tells DW "over a year" had already been lost in the struggle to remove Lukashenko. But she is certain his departure is "merely a matter of time, that is the price Belarusians will pay." She writes that everyone — including Lukashenko and his allies — loses out the longer he remains in power. "Nothing lasts forever, and there are forces [within the government] open to constructive steps and dialogue," she tells DW. "The lives of Belarusians, our shared future, our shared home — those are our core values; and they compel us to seek a way out of this crisis."

Pok ta Pok: Mayan ball game is serious business

Alejandro Sanchez
Fri, December 3, 2021



Pok ta Pok: Mayan ball game is serious businessPlayers have to contort their limbs to strike a heavy rubber ball with their hips (AFP/Hugo BORGES)


With little regard for joints or bones, bare-chested men hurl their bodies at a hard floor and contort their limbs to strike a heavy rubber ball with their hips.

They are practitioners of the ancient sport of Pok ta Pok, sometimes translated as Mayan ball, and have been competing in the game's very own World Cup.

Participants, mostly indigenous Mayans from three Mexican states, as well as Guatemala, Panama and reigning champions Belize, vied for the world title in the Mexican town of Merida.

Belize won the championship once again, defeating Mexico in the final on Friday.

But unlike ancient Pok ta Pok athletes, these competitors were not playing for their lives, merely pride.

In pre-Columbian times, the outcome could be worse than defeat: players risked being sacrificed, usually by decapitation.

The tradition varied over the centuries, researchers say: sometimes, it was the winners who were killed, which was considered an honor. Sometimes the losers were the ones to pay the ultimate price.

The game was banned by the Spanish conquistadors shortly after their arrival in Mexico in 1519.

Like in most ball team sports, the aim of Pok ta Pok is to get the ball through the opposing team's defenses to score.

Four members per team play in two halves of 13 minutes each, and may touch the solid rubber ball weighing more than two kilos (4.4 pounds) only with their hips.

If another body part gets involved, points are deducted.

Each team can strike the ball only once before the turn passes to their opponents.

And while lives are no longer at stake, the game is not without risk.

"I come to bless the players so they don't twist a foot, so they don't break a bone, (tear) a tendon or something," said Tiburcio Can May, a Mayan healer who blew on a shell and shook smoke at participants in a pre-games ceremony.

"In order for them to be able to run well on the field, we have to ask the lord of the underworld, Xibalba, we have to ask the 13 gods, we have to ask the lord of the Universe, Mother Earth, because they are going to play a very sacred game."

For France Novelo, a player from Belize, Pok ta Pok is "a way to rescue culture in our country."

Jose Manrique, president of the Central American and Caribbean Association of the Ancestral Sport of the Mayan Ball, added: "We have to honor the memory of our grandparents, we have to honor our Mayan gods. That is why the ball game continues to be a ceremony for us."

The previous games were held in Chichen Itza, Mexico, in 2015, Guatemala in 2017 and El Salvador in 2019.

For now, it is an all-men event.

str-mlr/jfx

Pakistan teen climber confronts mortality and history on K2 summit

Pakistani mountaineer Shehroze Kashif faced many dangers climbing the planet's tallest peaks, but his toughest moment came when he passed the corpse of his hero on the savage slopes of K2.

© Arif ALI Pakistani mountaineer Shehroze Kashif plans to become the youngest person to climb the world's 14 highest mountains

Kashif was 19 years and 138 days old when in July he became the youngest person to summit both Mount Everest, the world's highest peak, and K2, the second-highest.

© Lakpa SHERPA Kashif summited Everest, which at 8,849 metres (29,032 feet) is Earth's tallest peak, in May

It was on K2, just below the infamous stretch known as the Bottleneck, that he passed the bodies of Iceland's John Snorri, Chile's Juan Pablo Mohr and Pakistani climbing legend Ali Sadpara.

© Arif ALI Kashif was first entranced by the mountains as a child when he spotted the scenic 3,885-metre Himalayan peak Makra

"The most emotional moment for me was going on past those climbers, the dead body of Pakistan's national hero," Kashif told AFP in an interview.

Many Pakistanis have crucial roles as high-altitude porters, but Sadpara was one of the few to break into the elite ranks of mostly Western climbers who have long dominated headlines in mountaineering.

He was declared missing along with Snorri and Mohr on February 5.

It was more than five months before their bodies were found, on July 26, and Kashif made his summit push as dawn broke the next morning.

© Arif ALI Pakistani mountaineer Shehroze Kashif became the youngest person to climb both the world's two highest mountains

"I got emotional, thinking that they had come with the same passion I had," Kashif said.

"But then I thought, why not fulfil their unfulfilled dream? And I took their dream with me."

- Savage Mountain -

This month, the Guinness Book of World Records officially declared him the youngest person to climb K2 and the youngest to climb both the world's two highest mountains.

Kashif summited Everest, which at 8,849 metres (29,032 feet) is Earth's tallest peak, in May.

But the 8,611-metre K2 -- known as the "Savage Mountain" and located near Pakistan's border with China -- is the more brutal summit.

They are "poles apart", Kashif said, calling K2 a "beast".

In winter, winds can blow at more than 200 kilometres (124 miles) per hour and temperatures can drop to minus 60 degrees Celsius (minus 76 degrees Fahrenheit).

Kashif suffered snow blindness and frostbite -- and said he was lucky his big toe was not amputated.

"My energy was too low, it was a difficult time... One wrong step and you are history," he told AFP from his home in Lahore, the sub-tropical, low-altitude Punjabi city where he was born.

- 'Blessings of God' -

Kashif was first entranced by the mountains at 11 years old when he spotted the scenic 3,885-metre Himalayan peak Makra while on holiday with his father in northern Pakistan.

"It all started there," he said.

While standing on top of the world he felt "chosen" -- a feeling that he described leaving on the peak, "so others coming behind you can also feel it".

Now, he said, Everest and K2 are not enough.

He plans to become the youngest person to climb the world's 14 highest mountains, the only peaks on the planet that are above 8,000 metres.

All lie in Asia, in the Himalayas or the Karakoram range, and five are in Pakistan.

Only around 40 people in history are believed to have climbed all 14. But it can be difficult to verify summit claims and some experts said there could be even fewer.

The youngest is Mingma Gyabu "David" Sherpa, of Nepal, who the Guinness Book of World Records said summited them all by age 30.

Kashif still has 10 to go.

He has also climbed Manaslu in Nepal and Broad Peak in Pakistan, the eighth and 12th highest mountains respectively -- and has given himself until 2024 to summit the rest.

He is well aware of the dangers.

Pakistan mourned the loss of Sadpara but Kashif also lost a friend, Pakistani-Swiss climber Abdul Waraich, on Everest in May.

Still, he refuses to contemplate an urban life at sea level.

"I think mountains are blessings of God," he said.

"I feel tired looking at all these concrete buildings, garbage and pollution.

"I just go where I feel most alive, and I feel mountains are the most suitable place for me."

zz/st/fox/dva/lb

Maximum jail time for murderous Panama CHRISTIAN sect

A court on Friday handed down sentences of up to 50 years for nine members of a sect who killed six children and a pregnant woman in an "exorcism" last year, prosecutors said.

 

© Luis ACOSTA In January 2020, investigators unearthed a mass grave with seven bodies in a remote indigenous area near to where they had raided an obscure religious sect the day before

In January 2020, investigators unearthed a mass grave with seven bodies in a remote indigenous area near to where they had raided an obscure religious sect the day before.

Six of the victims were minors aged between one and 17, and the seventh a woman who was between four and six months pregnant. She was the mother of five of the minors.

A court found the sect members guilty of tying up the victims and killing them with sticks, bibles and machetes in a so-called "exorcism" ceremony.

The woman had been killed in front of her five children and a sixth minor, who were then themselves slaughtered as sect members looked on.

Several other people were injured but managed to flee the scene. They alerted the police, who later found 15 people including several children held hostage at the sect's church.

A court in Changuinola in Panama's northeast gave the maximum prison sentence of 50 years to seven of the accused, and 47 years each to two others, the prosecutor's office said.

AFP

ZIONIST HACKS

Pegasus Maker Probes Reports Its Spyware Targeted US Diplomats

By AFP News
12/03/21 

The Israeli spyware maker in the Pegasus surveillance scandal said Friday it was investigating reports the firm's technology was used to target iPhones of some US diplomats in Africa.

Apple has begun alerting people whose phones were hacked by NSO's spyware, which essentially turns handsets into pocket spying devices and sparked controversy this year after reportedly being used on activists, journalists and politicians.

"On top of the independent investigation, NSO will cooperate with any relevant government authority and present the full information we will have," the firm said in a statement.

NSO said it has not confirmed its tools were used, but opted to "terminate relevant customers' access to the system" due to the seriousness of the allegations reported by Reuters and the Washington Post.


The Post reported that Apple alerted 11 US diplomats that their iPhones were hacked in recent months, citing people familiar with the notifications who said the attacks focused on officials working in Uganda or east Africa.

NSO Group's spyware has been engulfed in scandal since reports that Pegasus was used by foreign government clients to target the phones of human rights activists, embassy employees and others.

Apple sued the firm last month seeking to block NSO from using the Silicon Valley giant's services to target the over one billion iPhones in circulation.

The Israeli spyware maker NSO says it is probing reports it technology was used to target US diplomats in Africa 

Photo: AFP / JOEL SAGET

Reuters, citing four people familiar with the matter, said nine American diplomats were targeted and added the intrusions represented the widest known hacks of US officials using NSO technology.

Apple declined to comment on the reports.

Just weeks before the Apple lawsuit, US authorities blacklisted NSO to restrict exports from American groups over allegations the Israeli firm "enabled foreign governments to conduct transnational repression."

Smartphones infected with Pegasus are essentially turned into surveillance devices, allowing the user to read the target's messages, look through their photos, track their location and even turn on their camera without them knowing.

Concern over Pegasus spyware further grew after Apple revealed in September it had patched a weakness that allowed NSO's spyware to infect devices without users even clicking on a malicious message or link.

The so-called "zero-click" attack is able to silently corrupt the targeted device, and was identified by researchers at Citizen Lab, a cybersecurity watchdog organization in Canada.

Apple said at the time it filed the lawsuit in a California federal court that it would notify the "small number" of users that it discovered may have been targeted by those types of attacks.

Copyright AFP. All rights reserved.

ONLY BLACKBERRY IS ENCRYPTED TO AVOID THIS PROBLEM

Peru's Fujimori Can't Be Tried Over Forced Sterilizations, For Now

By AFP News
12/03/21 

A Peruvian judge ruled Friday that former president Alberto Fujimori cannot for now be prosecuted over alleged forced sterilizations that happened during his administration, because the allegation was not included in his extradition request.

The disgraced ex-leader who is serving a 25-year prison sentence over human rights violations and corruption is being investigated over the forced sterilization of hundreds of thousands of poor, mostly indigenous women during his final four years in power.

In 2007, Chile granted extradition of the ex-president, who led Peru from 1990 to 2000.

Judge Rafael Martinez in his ruling said Fujimori can only be prosecuted over the sterilizations if authorized by the Chilean Supreme Court, which previously green-lighted his extradition.

Activists demonstrated in Lima, Peru for the thousands of women victims of forced sterilizations in the country between 1996 and 2000 under a program authorized by now-jailed former president Alberto Fujimori

 Photo: AFP / Cris BOURONCLE

Prosecution is prevented at present "as these facts are not included among the crimes for which his extradition was authorized," Martinez said.

Martinez was tasked with deciding whether the 83-year-old Fujimori could be brought to trial by the 1,317 plaintiffs in the sterilization case, which began in 2002 but has been shelved and reopened several times.

An estimated 270,000 Peruvians, many of them indigenous people who did not speak Spanish, underwent surgery to have their fallopian tubes tied as part of a family planning program implemented under Fujimori.

The program sought to reduce the birth rate and boost economic development. The surgeries resulted in the death of 18 women, according to official data.

The judge has not yet ruled on the other six co-defendants in the case including three former ministers of health.

Twitter Admits Policy 'Errors' After Far-right Abuse


By Joshua MELVIN
12/04/21

Twitter's new picture permission policy was aimed at combating online abuse, but US activists and researchers said Friday that far-right backers have employed it to protect themselves from scrutiny and to harass opponents.

Even the social network admitted the roll out of the rules, which say anyone can ask Twitter to take down images of themselves posted without their consent, was marred by malicious reports and its teams' own errors.

It was just the kind of trouble anti-racism advocates worried was coming after the policy was announced this week.

Their concerns were quickly validated, with anti-extremism researcher Kristofer Goldsmith tweeting a screenshot of a far-right call-to-action circulating on Telegram: "Due to the new privacy policy at Twitter, things now unexpectedly work more in our favor."

"Anyone with a Twitter account should be reporting doxxing posts from the following accounts," the message said, with a list of dozens of Twitter handles.

Gwen Snyder, an organizer and researcher in Philadelphia, said her account was blocked this week after a report to Twitter about a series of 2019 photos she said showed a local political candidate at a march organized by extreme-right group Proud Boys.

Rather than go through an appeal with Twitter she opted to delete the images and alert others to what was happening.

"Twitter moving to eliminate (my) work from their platform is incredibly dangerous and is going to enable and embolden fascists," she told AFP.

In announcing the privacy policy on Tuesday, Twitter noted that "sharing personal media, such as images or videos, can potentially violate a person's privacy, and may lead to emotional or physical harm."

But the rules don't apply to "public figures or individuals when media and accompanying Tweets are shared in the public interest or add value to public discourse."


By Friday, Twitter noted the roll out had been rough: "We became aware of a significant amount of coordinated and malicious reports, and unfortunately, our enforcement teams made several errors."

"We've corrected those errors and are undergoing an internal review to make certain that this policy is used as intended," the firm added.

Members of the Proud Boys march in Manhattan against vaccine mandates in New York City 

Photo: GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA via AFP / STEPHANIE KEITH

However, Los Angeles-based activist and researcher Chad Loder said their account was permanently blocked after reports to Twitter over publicly-recorded images from an anti-vaccine rally and a confrontation outside the home of a former Vice journalist.

"Twitter is saying I must delete my tweets featuring photographs of people at newsworthy public events that did indeed get news coverage, or I will never get my account back," Loder told AFP, adding it was the third report of their account to Twitter in 48 hours.

"The current mass-reporting actions by the far-right are just the latest salvo in an ongoing, concerted effort to memory-hole evidence of their crimes and misdeeds," Loder added, using a term popularized by George Orwell's dystopian novel 1984.

Experts noted that Twitter's new rules sound like a well-intentioned idea but are incredibly thorny to enforce.

One reason is that the platform has become a key forum for identifying people involved in far-right and hate groups, with internet sleuths posting their names or other identifying information.

The practice of so-called "doxxing" has cost the targets their jobs, set them up for intense public ridicule and even criminal prosecution, while the activists who post the information have faced threats or harassment themselves.

A major example was the online effort to track down people involved in the violence at the US Capitol, which was stormed in January by Donald Trump supporters seeking to block the certification of President Joe Biden's victory.

Even the US Federal Bureau of Investigation regularly posts images on its feed of as-yet unnamed people it is seeking in connection with the violence.

"Twitter has given extremists a new weapon to bring harm to those in the greatest need of protection and those shining a light on danger," said Michael Breen, president and CEO of advocacy group Human Rights First, which called on Twitter to halt the policy.

The new rules, announced just a day after Parag Agrawal took over from co-founder Jack Dorsey as boss, wander into issues that may be beyond the platform's control.

"It gets complicated fast, but these are issues that are going to be resolved probably in our courts," said Betsy Page Sigman, a professor emeritus at Georgetown University. "I'm not optimistic about Twitter's changes."

Prosecutors appeal dismissal of Philippines ferry disaster case


The Princess of the Stars capsized after hitting a reef in the central Philippines in 2008 -- only about 50 of the 850 passengers and crew survived (AFP/JAY DIRECTO)

Sat, December 4, 2021, 12:58 AM·2 min read

A lawyer for the families of victims of a 2008 Philippines ferry disaster vowed Saturday to challenge the dismissal of a criminal case against a shipping company executive.

The Princess of the Stars capsized after hitting a reef in the central Philippines during a typhoon in June 2008 -- only about 50 of the 850 passengers and crew survived.

State prosecutors had charged Edgar Go, an executive at the ill-fated vessel's owner Sulpicio Lines Inc, with "reckless imprudence resulting in multiple homicide" for allowing it to sail despite storm warnings.

But a Manila regional trial court dismissed the case for lack of evidence, according to a copy of the ruling dated November 18 seen by AFP.

State prosecutors have appealed the decision, according to a court filing.

Persida Acosta, the country's chief public attorney who represents families of the victims, said Saturday she will file a similar appeal on Monday.

"It appears there is no one liable anymore," Acosta told AFP. "It's painful to us."

The ship's captain was also charged over the tragedy, but he is missing and presumed dead.

Sulpicio Lines was later renamed Philippine Span Asia Carrier Corp.

The company's vessels have been involved in several maritime disasters in the last three decades.

In 1987, its Dona Paz ferry collided with an oil tanker, leaving more than 4,300 dead in the world's worst peacetime maritime disaster.

Acosta said the families of those killed in the Princess of the Stars accident were still waiting for compensation after the firm appealed the award of 440 million pesos ($8.7 million).

An employee in the company's human resources department told AFP on Saturday that no one was immediately available to comment.

The Philippines, an archipelago of more than 7,000 islands, is plagued by poor sea transport, with poorly regulated boats and ships prone to overcrowding and accidents.

mff/amj/qan/lb

COLONIAL LOOTING

Stolen Nepali statue returns to its temple after decades in US

Author: AFP|Update: 04.12.2021 


Devotees carry the sculpture in a palanquin, in Patan on the outskirts of Kathmandu / © AFP

A centuries-old sculpture of two Hindu gods was re-installed at its temple in the Nepali capital Kathmandu on Saturday, nearly 40 years after it was stolen and later emerged in the United States.

The stone statue of the gods Laxmi and Narayan was repatriated to Nepal in March by the Dallas Museum of Art and the FBI after a months-long investigation by Nepali and American activists and officials.

It was taken from the temple in 1984 and appeared on display at the Dallas museum six years later, on loan from a collector.

The work, dating back to between the 12th and 15th centuries, is one of a handful of cultural artefacts returned to Nepal from foreign museums and collectors this year.

A priest chanted prayers and locals played traditional music as the statue was carried in a palanquin back to the pagoda-style temple, which was draped in marigold garlands to welcome the work.


The statue dates back to between the 12th and 15th centuries / © AFP

It was placed back on its original stone plinth, with a replica that locals had been worshipping instead moved to stand alongside.

"We are very happy. Our efforts of three to four years have been fruitful, everyone is celebrating," said Dilendra Raj Shrestha of the Nepal Heritage Recovery Campaign.

Laser sensors and CCTV cameras have now been installed in the temple to protect the statue, he added.

"We are seeing the beginning of a trend, to bring back Nepal's gods from the United States, from Europe, from other countries where they have now ended up," said the US ambassador to Nepal Randy Berry.

"I hope this is the first of many such celebrations."

Nepal is deeply religious and its Hindu and Buddhist temples as well as heritage sites remain an integral part of people's everyday lives.


The piece was placed back on its original stone plinth, with a replica that locals had been worshipping instead moved to stand alongside it / © AFP

But many sites are bereft of centuries-old sculptures, paintings, ornamental windows and even doors, which were often stolen after the country opened up to the outside world in the 1950s.

Many pieces were taken with the help of corrupt officials to feed art markets in the United States, Europe and elsewhere.

"I think there is a global change... Many countries are demanding their artefacts back and Nepal is in a great position legally because export was never permitted," said arts crime professor Erin L. Thompson.

A tweet by Thompson questioning the statue's origin and history had prompted the investigation into the sculpture.

Six pieces have been returned to Nepal this year and authorities are seeking more from France, the United States and Britain.

Why so many museums are full of stolen artefacts from Nepal and the people fighting to bring them back home

Nepalese heritage activists are campaigning to bring home some of the thousands of items stolen from temples and monasteries in the country to feed art markets

When a Nepali academic in the US saw a 17th century gold necklace from Nepal in a museum there, she wept and began to pray. ‘I had so many questions,’ she says

Agence France-Presse
Published 2 Dec, 2021

Rabindra Puri at his house in Bhaktapur, east of Kathmandu. He is one of the heritage activists campaigning to bring back from overseas museums Nepalese artefacts stolen from the country. Photo: AFP

When Virginia Tech professor Sweta Gyanu Baniya saw an ornate 17th century Nepali necklace in the Art Institute of Chicago in the United States, she burst into tears, bowed down and began to pray.

Now a video she posted on social media has made the artefact one of the latest targets for heritage activists sleuthing online to bring home some of the thousands of items whisked out over decades from the Himalayan country.

Only a handful of relics have been returned so far, but they have come from some of the world’s top cultural institutions and pressure for more is mounting.

Nepal’s then king offered the gilt copper necklace, adorned with semi-precious stones, to Taleju Bhawani, his Malla dynasty’s patron goddess, in around 1650.

‘They are gods to us’: Nepal seeks to bring home stolen artefacts from the West

Her temple in Kathmandu, the Nepalese capital, is only open to the public one day a year, but officials removed the work for safekeeping in the 1970s – after which it disappeared.

Baniya says her reaction when she visited the Chicago museum in June was “just overpowering”.

This 400-year-old necklace from Nepal is now in a museum in the United States. Photo: Art Institute of Chicago

“I started to weep in front of it,” she says. “I started to just pray normally like I would do in temple.

“I had so many questions. Like why is it here, how did it come here?”

Traces of vermilion pigment used in Hindu worship rituals are still visible on its surface, and Baniya’s Twitter video prompted Nepali authorities to contact the museum to seek its return.

Sweta Gyanu Baniya is a Virginia Tech professor. Photo: Virginia Tech

The Art Institute of Chicago did not respond to multiple requests for comment but its website states the necklace was donated by the private Alsdorf Foundation, which bought it from a California dealer in 1976.

Priest Udhav Kamacharya has served at the temple for 26 years but Baniya’s footage was the first time he had seen the relic.

As he watched, he says: “I felt that the goddess still resides here. We sometimes say the gods are not here any more, but they are. That is why it was found despite being in a foreign land.”

Priest Udhav Kamacharya has served at the Taleju Temple for 26 years. Photo: AFP

Nepal is deeply religious, and its Hindu and Buddhist temples and heritage sites remain an integral part of people’s everyday lives.

Many, though, are bereft of their centuries-old sculptures, paintings, ornamental windows and even doors, stolen – sometimes with the help of corrupt officials – after the country opened up to the outside world in the 1950s to feed art markets in the United States, Europe and elsewhere.

“Our art for us is not just art, they are gods to us,” says heritage expert Rabindra Puri, who campaigns to repatriate stolen Nepali heritage and has assembled a collection of replicas for a planned museum on the issue.

Rabindra has assembled a collection of replicas for a planned museum. Photo: AFP

In June, the Paris branch of auction house Bonhams was forced to cancel the sale of five gilded copper-bronze idols, wrenched out from the gateway of a temple in the 1970s, after pressure from Nepali officials and activists.

The auction was first spotted by Lost Art of Nepal, an anonymously-run Facebook page that has posted about hundreds of historical and religious objects, flagging their new locations from auction houses to European or American museums.

“We have seen empty temples, empty shrines, empty pedestals and torn toranas [religious arches or gateways] everywhere” in the Kathmandu valley, the page’s administrator said in an email.

“In search for answers, I have collected old photographs from … [all] possible sources,” they added. “The extent of loss of our heritage is much more than what is known or published.”

New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art handed over a 10th-century stone sculpture of the Hindu god Shiva in September. Photo: Metropolitan Museum of Art

Campaigners want to make stolen art – thefts continue to this day, primarily from remote monasteries – as sensitive an issue among buyers and collectors as conflict diamonds or elephant ivory.

With heritage repatriation a growing issue for museums around the world – the ancient Greek Elgin Marbles and the Benin Bronzes from Nigeria are probably the best-known controversies – the occasional Nepali recovery is building into a trickle.

Six pieces have been returned this year and authorities are seeking more from France, the United States and Britain.

Visitors learn about the British Museum’s Elgin Marbles that originate from the Parthenon in Athens, Greece. Photo: Getty Images

In March, the Dallas Art Museum and US crime agency the FBI returned to Nepal a stolen 12th- to 15th-century androgynous stone sculpture of Hindu deities Laxmi-Narayan.

This month it will be reinstalled in its original temple location, from where it disappeared in 1984. The museum had held the statue for 30 years but a tweet by arts crime professor Erin Thompson questioning its provenance prompted an investigation.

“These are objects people were worshipping until they were ripped away from them,” she says.

A military commander sculpture looted by British soldiers from the Kingdom of Benin in 1897, at the Linden Museum in Stuttgart, Germany. Photo: Getty Images

New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art handed over a 10th-century stone sculpture of the Hindu god Shiva in September, the third item it has repatriated to Nepal since 2018.

In Bhaktapur, devotees worship another androgynous Laxmi-Narayan idol, protected behind a locked iron gate.

Expecting mothers continue the ancient tradition of offering it oil to predict the gender of their baby. But it is a replica. The 15th-century original went missing in the early 1980s.

Badri Tuwal, 70, remembers how residents cried in mourning the day the idol disappeared. “We don’t know where it is,” he says, “but I hope someday we can celebrate its return.”

FASCIST INTERNATIONALE
European Nationalists Eye New Alliance At Warsaw Talks


By Bernard OSSER
12/04/21 

01:26
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán Calls For Global Anti-Migrant Alliance

Leaders of European far-right and nationalist parties met in Warsaw on Saturday with the aim of creating a new alliance that would become the second-biggest grouping in the European Parliament.

The talks at the Regent Warsaw Hotel bring together 14 parties and are being hosted by Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the leader of Poland's ruling right-wing populist Law and Justice (PiS) party.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and French far-right leader Marine Le Pen attended, as well as Santiago Abascal, the head of Spain's Vox party.

Le Pen, a candidate in France's presidential election in April, said on Friday that the meeting would be "an important step" but she did not expect any imminent announcement of a new group.

"We can be optimistic about the launch of this political force in the months to come," she said.

Around a dozen activists protested outside as the talks got underway, shouting "No to fascism!".

One notable absentee is Matteo Salvini, leader of Italy's League, which put out a statement saying that "the time needs to be right" for the new group.

Salvini was one of the signatories of a declaration in July by 16 parties and movements announcing plans for a "grand alliance" in the European Parliament -- the prelude for Saturday's talks.

The League and Le Pen's National Rally are in the European Parliament's Identity and Democracy Group, while PiS, Vox and the Brothers of Italy party are in the European Conservatives and Reformists Group.

Orban's Fidesz left the centre-right European People's Party, the biggest group in the European Parliament, in March and is looking for a new home.

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen said forming a new group could take months Photo: AFP / Wojtek RADWANSKI


"We want to change the politics of Brussels," Orban wrote on Facebook ahead of Saturday's meeting.

"We've been working for months to create a strong party family, hopefully we can make a step towards this goal today or tomorrow," he said.


Ewa Marciniak, a political scientist at the Polish Academy of Sciences, said participants would try to "minimise the differences between them", including on issues such as relations with Russia, as well as attitudes to abortion and LGBTQ rights.

Instead she said they would emphasise "their willingness to go back to the roots of the European Union".

Poland and Hungary accuse the EU of undermining their sovereignty while Brussels says the two countries are rolling back democratic freedoms.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on Friday said Europe found itself at "a turning point" and called for member states to put an end to the "usurpation that is concentrating power in the hands of the European elites".

Le Pen met with Morawiecki and Orban in October, expressing support over their stand-off with the EU and their firm stance against mass immigration.

But on Friday she said that forging a new alliance would not be quick, warning that "bringing together political movements is a long haul. It takes time".