Military courts in Russia prosecute a record number of front-line deserters

April 12, 2024

The Independent Barents Observer

Journalists from the Russian news website Mediazona researched the publicly available records of Russian garrison and district courts and found that the increase in the number of cases against “refuseniks” (those soldiers who desert – leave the armed forces without permission and with no intention of returning) in 2024 is unprecedented.

In March 2024, 684 such sentences were passed by Russian military courts. This means that judges handed down 34 sentences under Article 337 every working day of the month, Mediazona reports.

After President Putin first announced mobilization in September 2022, the number of cases began to rise, reaching a peak after two years of war in Ukraine.

Based on the data analyses, since the beginning of 2024, military courts have received nearly 2,300 AWOL cases, and almost 7,400 cases since the beginning of mobilisation, Mediazona reports. According to journalists, most of them come from the Moscow region (496 cases), Sverdlovsk region (258) and Orenburg region (255).

In early February, the European-based Russian news website Novaya Gazeta also reported that the number of soldiers deserting the Russian army had increased tenfold in the past year.

Novaya Gazeta reported that many deserters head to Kazakhstan as Russians do not require a travel passport to enter the country. Conscious that it’s a risk for deserters to remain there for a long time, volunteers are working to secure him safe-passage to a third country, Novaya Gazeta reports.

One of the reasons for desertion is that some soldiers are not allowed to take leave. As a result, thousands of Russian women whose husbands have been sent to war with Ukraine are demanding that their loved ones return home. They are launching petitions, writing to lawmakers and protesting in the streets.

Ukrainian Teenager Develops Free Video Translator That Supports Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar Languages

A 17-year-old developer from the Donetsk region has developed a program to dub YouTube videos from different languages into Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar.

by Kyiv Post | April 13, 2024,

The silhouette of Ukrainian entrepreneur Dmytro Voloshyn, the co-founder and chief technical officer of the Preply language learning platform, is reflected in a glass as he examines a blackboard at his empty office in Kyiv on April 2, 2020. Preply network now has 10,000 tutors in 190 countries and "tens of thousands of students", the founder tells AFP at the headquarters of his company situated in a historic building in central Kyiv.

 (Photo by Sergei SUPINSKY / AFP)

Taras Ivanov, a 17-year-old developer from the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, has developed a tool that could translate YouTube videos from most languages into Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar.

According to Ivanov’s Telegram post, the “Free Translator Service” tool is free and operates on a donation basis. Users simply have to paste the video link into the Telegram bot he created, and the program will generate an audio track in Ukrainian or Crimean Tartar.

To choose Crimean Tartar as the desired output, users can insert the “/settings” command into the bot and choose between a male and female narrator voice.

Ivanov told Ukrainian news outlet Mezha that his idea came about when he had to translate a video urgently and couldn’t find the appropriate services, and he created the tool within one day and later shared it publicly on Aug. 2, 2023.

He also told Mezha that Crimean Tatar was later added to his program since most current translators do not support the language.

“I would like to note that currently Crimean Tatar (the language of the indigenous population of the Ukrainian Crimea – the Crimean Tatars) is not available to most of the well-known translators. More languages ​​will be added in the future,” Ivanov told Mezha.

However, he also noted that as a non-Crimean-Tatar speaker, he could not determine the quality of the translation.

In one of his recent updates, Ivanov said he has relocated to a safer location further from the front and called on people to keep supporting Ukraine.

OTHER TOPICS OF INTEREST
ISW Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, April 12, 2024
Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

“I, as a resident of the Selydove community in Donetsk region, recently evacuated to a safer place. Russians are killing civilians. On Feb. 14, they shelled the town of Selydove. The apartments of my class teacher and my classmate were destroyed. The maternity ward was destroyed. People died.

“Russia is shelling Ukrainian cities every day. This is genocide. Genocide of the Ukrainian people. I want to call on everyone who has the opportunity to help our military and people who are in difficult life circumstances. Only together we can do something,” said Ivanov in a February update.

IT development has been Ukraine’s largest service export, contributing $8 billion to the country’s economy in 2023 despite the ongoing war, though it did suffer notable setbacks last year compared to 2022.

As Ukraine’s tech industry has long thrived on overseas projects, the war has had a noticeable impact on the local job market due to the lack of confidence from international clients. However, IT development continues to be one of the most profitable professions – reaching $2,630 of average salary a month by some estimates – that continued to lure numerous Ukrainians to the field.

A recent Kyiv Post report covered the IT industry in wartime Ukraine in detail.

OPINION: Time to Tell Russians They Are No Longer Safe

Russia relies heavily on propaganda and disinformation. In the wake of the ISIS attack in Moscow, the West should use the truth to let Russians know how Putin has failed them.

By Jason Jay Smart
By Ivana Stradner
April 13, 2024

A family watches a TV broadcast of Russian President Vladimir Putin's annual state of the nation address in Moscow on February 29, 2024.

 (Photo by Yuri KADOBNOV / AFP)

Russia has launched a propaganda crusade to cynically argue that even though the Islamic State-Khorasan (ISIS-K) took credit for the recent Moscow concert hall terror attack, it was actually Ukraine, with its American and British overlords, behind the death of 137 Russian citizens in the audience that day.

On April 9, the Russian Investigative Committee found a link between the terrorists who attacked Crocus City Hall and Ukrainian security services. And last week, Russia’s Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev confirmed that the terror attack could be traced to Ukrainian special services and reminded the Russians that “the Kyiv regime is not independent and is fully controlled by the United States.” Why is the Kremlin so keen to argue that it was not ISIS but Ukraine plotting the carnage in Moscow?

Aside from wishing to gin-up greater support for the invasion of Ukraine, which has caused nearly half-a-million Russian casualties and turned the world’s largest country into a pariah state, the Kremlin legitimately fears that the terror attack in Moscow could beg an uncomfortable question among Russians: Why are we fighting in Ukraine if we cannot even protect ourselves at home?

Putin rose to the presidency on the pledge that he alone could keep Russia stable and safe. As a result, the perception that Russia has been left vulnerable because of the Ukraine war undermines Putin’s leadership, now is requiring yet another round of mobilization of soldiers for the bloody quagmire which is increasingly causing disquiet in the public.

OTHER TOPICS OF INTEREST
Ukraine Already Uncovers 11 Spy Cells This Year: Ukrainian Intelligence
Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Chief Vasyl Maliuk said Ukraine has exposed 11 intelligence networks spying for Russia so far this year, where some agents were working for state enterprises.

On March 7, the US Embassy in Russia cautioned that there were reports that “extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow, to include concerts…” to which Russian citizens have not forgotten Putin’s cocky response to the unheeded warning: He rejected it as a “provocation,” precipitating Russian intelligence’s disastrous failure to avert the attack.

Like a Ponzi scheme veering towards collapse, the deceptional conspiracies that Putin espouses are becoming too hard to swallow. Putin senses that his regime, for the first time in over two decades, is in a position of weakness, hustling to get ahead of the ISIS-narrative and its associated implications of Moscow’s failures to protect its citizens. However, unlike earlier cover-ups and manipulations, the events in Moscow have already been seared into the minds of Russians.

With nowhere to back-peddle, Putin attempts to affirm: “This atrocity may be just a link in a whole series of attempts by those who have been at war with our country since 2014 with the hands of the neo-Nazi Kyiv regime” – “Nazi” being a preferred Kremlin pseudonym for “Ukrainians” – based on the bizarre and illogical reasoning that since Ukraine, terrorists, and Nazis are bad – the words can be interchangeable.

Russia is not a stranger to Islamic terrorism being committed on its soil and they know that Putin’s involvement in Syria combined with his ties to the Taliban do not sit well with ISIS. So, for Russian citizens, it was readily believable when ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, releasing details of how it was planned and videos to back up their claims. However, seeking to now link Moscow attack to Nazis and Ukraine, is perhaps a bridge too far.

Undeterred, Alexander Bortnikov, the Director of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), stated that “the US, Britain, and Ukraine are behind the terrorist attack in Crocus City Hall.” He concluded that “the action was prepared both by the radical Islamists themselves and, of course, facilitated by Western special services, and Ukraine’s special services themselves have a direct connection to this,” aligning with Nikolai Patrushev’s “Ukraine, of course,” when a reporter asked the Secretary of Russian’s Security Council whether it was ISIS or Ukraine behind the attack.

The Kremlin, through its control of the information space in Russia, uses communication as a weapon. However, Moscow’s lies in disinforming its citizens about the terror act’s “connections” to Ukraine is making the system unstable. That is why it is time to tip the balance to the side of truth by running information operations, in Russia, to give Russians a real view of how their dictator’s poor leadership has damaged their national security.

Discrediting Moscow’s claims regarding the terror meshes brilliantly with stoking concern in Russian society that perhaps Putin is no longer a guarantor of peace – but rather a catalyst for putting their very lives into jeopardy: Perhaps Russia would be better off without Putin?

The Kremlin has spent decades spewing deceptions at home and abroad. The US must set the record straight.

The views expressed in this opinion article are the author’s and not necessarily those of Kyiv Post.

Jason Jay Smart, Ph.D., is a political adviser who has lived and worked in Ukraine, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Latin America. Due to his work with the democratic opposition to Pres. Vladimir Putin, Smart was persona non grata, for life, by Russia in 2010. His websites can be found at www.JasonJaySmart.com / www.AmericanPoliticalServices.com / fb.com/jasonjaysmart / Twitter: @OfficeJJSmart

Ivana Stradner
Dr. Ivana Stradner is a Special Correspondent for KyivPost focusing on Russia’s information security. Ivana serves as an advisor to the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and she is a Jeane Kirkpatrick Visiting Research Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington where her work centers on Russia’s security strategies and military doctrines related to information operations. Given the divergence between the American and Russian militaries’ understandings of cybersecurity, her work examines both the psychological and technical aspects of Russian information security. Ivana also analyzes Russian influence in international organizations; she is currently focusing on UN efforts to regulate information security and the UN Cybercrime Treaty. Ivana worked as a visiting scholar at Harvard University and a lecturer for a variety of universities, including the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law.

 Laddakh: Protests continue against Indian PM's discriminatory policies

 

April 13, 2024

Protests are continuing in Laddakh against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's discriminatory policies.

After removing the special status of occupied Kashmir, Indian government is now repeating the same process in Laddakh.

Residents of Laddakh are taking to the streets, denouncing Modi government plans to centralize control from Delhi and implement new regulations.

At the heart of the demonstrations is a fear of losing Ladakh's unique identity and facing potential environmental degradation due to proposed policy changes.

In addition to socio-political concerns, protesters cite economic challenges, including inflation and unemployment, worsening the region's woes.

Local leaders have criticized the government's heavy-handed response, accusing it of suppressing protests through the deployment of a significant police and paramilitary presence.

The protestors said Indian government is trying to hide its illegal actions from the world by arresting the youth in Laddakh, shutting down the internet and cracking down on protesters.  They said Modi government is pursuing extremist policies.   

THESE CAMPS ARE CITIES!

Israeli artillery shelling targets school sheltering displaced Palestinians in Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza

Civil defense says teams unable to enter school, evacuate victims due to danger of location

Anadolu staff |13.04.2024 

Israeli attacks on Gaza continue

GAZA CITY, Palestine

Several Palestinians were killed and injured following the Israeli artillery's targeting of a school in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, the civil defense in Gaza said Friday.

The Civil Defense General Directorate said teams in the central governorate received “dozens of distress calls after the Israeli artillery targeted Nuseirat New Camp Elementary School.”

It said there are Palestinians who were killed and injured in the school, which shelters a large number of displaced residents, mostly children and women.

The group explained that teams were unable to enter the school and evacuate victims due to the danger of the location.

The civil defense appealed to the UN and the Red Cross “to fulfill their responsibilities, assist and coordinate in the immediate evacuation of the martyrs and the wounded.”

The Nuseirat refugee camp has been subjected to an “unexpected” Israeli military operation since Wednesday, resulting in deaths and injuries.

Earlier Friday, Hamas condemned the military operation and described it as “a new chapter in the Zionist genocide war” against the Palestinian people.

The Palestinian group said the camp “has been under a brutal attack for two days, targeting civilian facilities and homes, resulting in dozens of martyrs and wounded.”

Israel has waged a military offensive on the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 cross-border attack by Hamas which killed less than 1,200 people.

More than 33,600 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began.

Tel Aviv has also imposed a crippling blockade on the seaside enclave, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

The war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while much of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which has urged it to do more to prevent famine in Gaza.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala

Anadolu Agency website 

21ST CENTURY ALCHEMY

How to Extract Gold From E-Waste Using Old Milk

ByTasos Kokkinidis
April 13, 2024

Burning the aerogel that had adsorbed and reduced gold from an e-waste solution produced this 0.5 g gold nugget with a purity of around 91%, corresponding to 21 to 22 carats. 

Credit: Raffaele Mezzenga/ETH Zurich

An aerogel made from old milk can extract highly pure gold nuggets from discarded computer motherboards.

Discarded electronics, known as e-waste, often contain large amounts of gold and other heavy metals. Scientists have come up with methods to recover the valuable metals, but these processes often rely on synthetic chemicals that can damage the environment.

Raffaele Mezzenga at ETH Zurich in Switzerland and his colleagues have developed a way to recover gold from e-waste by using a milk-derived aerogel.

He and his colleagues started with whey protein, a byproduct of the cheesemaking industry, and made a low-density aerogel. Making the spongelike material is cheap, he says. “The value of the gold we recover is 50 times the value we invest to transform the protein into this sponge.”

The researchers placed whey protein into an acidic solution and heated it, which unraveled the proteins from tiny balls into strands. Then they freeze-dried the solution, forming a lightweight puck with high porosity.

“You can place them on the top of a flower. And the advantage of having aerogels is that they have high surface area,” says Mohammad Peydayesh, a chemical engineer who’s also part of the research team at ETH Zurich.

The researchers tested the gel’s ability to adsorb gold from a solution also containing other metals—including copper, lead, and nickel—at the same concentration.
Aerogel from old milk sucked up 93 percent of the gold

The aerogel sucked up 93 percent of the gold while removing less than 10 percent of any of the other metals. To test the protein sponge with real e-waste, the team dissolved computer motherboards in aqua regia, a mix of nitric acid and hydrochloric acid.

Gold ions from the mixture settled on the surface of the aerogel and were reduced, forming metallic gold. Each gram of aerogel snatched 190 mg of gold. Burning the aerogel freed the gold, turning it into a tiny hunk of metal.

“It was really exciting to find this nugget in the ashes,” Peydayesh recalls. The nugget was about 91% gold, which corresponds to about 21 to 22 carats.

The method already presents an improvement over activated carbon, a more typical adsorption method used to recover gold. Each gram of activated carbon only adsorbed about 60 mg of gold from an e-waste mixture, the team found. Because it takes a lot of energy to create activated carbon, recovering the same amount of gold using activated carbon had a higher environmental impact in a life cycle analysis.

The team is already eyeing other food waste proteins, such as keratin and those from the production of tofu, that could potentially help with other needs, such as the recycling of rare earth metals.

“We can simultaneously address the global waste of food and e-waste to produce something really precious,” Peydayesh says.

Sweet lessons: Taiwan urban beekeeping gets positive buzz

Published: 13 Apr 2024 - 

In this picture taken on March 6, 2024, students attend an urban beekeeping class of Yonghe community college in New Taipei City. 

(Photo by I-Hwa Cheng / AFP)


Taipei: Under mulberry trees at a bee farm in Taipei's suburbs, students watched intently as instructor Tsai Ming-hsien wafted smoke over a hive box, explaining to aspiring apiarists how to keep the insects happy in an urban setting.

His audience included entrepreneurs, retirees and even a six-year-old who reached eagerly for a frame pulled from the box, as Tsai demonstrated how bees can be kept calm with a smoker.

"Many join my class out of curiosity," said the 43-year-old instructor who also heads the Bee and Wasp Conservation Association of Taiwan.

"They want to learn more about this insect, which has important economic values and a crucial role in agriculture."

Bee populations around the world are facing disaster from overuse of pesticides, predatory mites and extreme temperatures due to climate change.

That also spells catastrophe for humans, as three-quarters of the world's main crops depend on bees to act as key pollinators.

Temperature and weather fluctuations in Taiwan have impacted honey output in recent years. From 2020 to 2021, it jumped nearly 60 percent to 13,260 tonnes, before dropping to 9,332 tonnes the following year.

Tsai said recreational beekeeping in Taiwan has grown steadily over the past decade, with people tending about a dozen to up to 60 hive boxes in their yards or rooftop gardens.

"The city is overdeveloped with less green space and declining biodiversity," he told AFP.

"We hope this creature will act as a key to open more knowledge about nature and ecosystems."

Tsai Ming-hsien, the instructor of an urban beekeeping class of Yonghe community college, poses for photographs in New Taipei City.

 (Photo by I-Hwa Cheng / AFP)

Money for honey?

Six-year-old Hsia Wei-yun, who attended a class in March, was thrilled to watch bees flitting on a box frame.

"I think it's a lot of fun keeping bees. I got to hold a bee frame," she said excitedly.

Her mother, Hsia Cho-hui -- who also brought along her son -- said she had been concerned about whether there was enough nectar in the city, and fretted after one class that beekeeping seems "very complicated".

But the class has fuelled her children's interest in getting their own hive box, and "it'd be a little difficult to dissuade them", she said.

Some, like Edwin Huang, see Tsai's class as a chance to make money while taking part in the "under-forest economy" -- a practice of developing and selling eco-friendly products that give back to the environment.

"I think keeping bees can help improve the overall ecosystem... it is a very positive activity for both personal and public reasons," he told AFP.

The 40-year-old currently produces coloured dyes from aster, a flowering plant, that he grows on a hillside in New Taipei City, and plans to one day open a diner where he could serve the honey he produces.

"I'm learning the techniques while researching my menu," he said.

Urban beekeeper Sherry Liu inspects bee hive boxes on her house's rooftop at Shihlin district in Taipei.

 (Photo by I-Hwa Cheng / AFP)

'A pleasure'

Retiree Sherry Liu, who took a class seven years ago and is now an avid apiarist, said she is "not in this to make money".

She started with three hive boxes for bees that had flown into her rooftop garden and has expanded to 12.

"It's very healing to watch bees fly. They look very cute when they fly... It's a pleasure for me," she told AFP, dressed in protective headgear and jacket as a swarm of bees flew around her.

Liu usually harvests honey three to four times a year, sharing the fruits of her labour with relatives, friends and neighbours.

But she lamented that this year's rainy and cold conditions have hit her production.

"I couldn't collect any winter honey because the weather was really bad and the bees ate all the honey (in their hives)," she said, adding that it can be "quite troublesome to tend" to her boxes.

"You need to be loving -- you can't just keep them but not look after them."

Tsai said that he does not expect everyone who attends his class to become a bee farmer or keeper.

"But we hope at least (people) can get to know and understand them, and won't rush to destroy them when they appear," he said.

OFFBEAT

New airline Bark bets big on $6,000 flights for dogs

Starting April 11, dog owners will be able to book flights on Gulfstream 550 private jets

Published: April 13, 2024

 Bloomberg

 Bark Air


Flying with dogs can be fraught, and the options are slim. If they're small enough, you can keep them in a carrier under a conventional airplane seat. If not, you can crate them and check them into the cargo hold"-a scary prospect for pet owners. Although unwelcome incidents are statistically uncommon, it's unsettling how often dogs are flown to the wrong destinations or mishandled by airport staff. Airline-related pet deaths are logged by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics on a monthly basis; between September and November 2023, the most recent months where data is available, there were three such incidents on US carriers.

Bark Air, a new airline dedicated to dogs and their humans, aims to address worries for those with outsize pet budgets. Starting on April 11, dog owners will be able to book flights on Gulfstream 550 private jets, with all members of the family allowed in the main cabin. It's the latest offering from Bark Inc., the company behind BarkBox, a subscription service for popular dog treats.

The airline will operate once-weekly flights from New York to Los Angeles in each direction, as well as twice monthly from New York to London. It will use secondary airports better able to accommodate private flights: New York's Westchester County Airport (HPN), Los Angeles' Van Nuys Airport (VNY) and London's Stansted Airport (STN). Fares will start at $6,000 one-way on the transcontinental US flights"-a single ticket includes a seat for one person plus one dog"-and $8,000 one-way on the transatlantic route.


Its first departures are scheduled for May 23, on jets owned and operated by charter company Talon Air. The planes normally seat 14, not including flight crew, but Bark's bookings will be limited to 10 people to ensure adequate space for four-legged passengers"-who get to sit anywhere on the plane, be it on owners' laps, the floor or on the airplane's couch. Predeparture calls take stock of various passengers' temperaments, and concierges will ensure that vaccinations, medical checks and paperwork are in place to avert quarantining after international flights.

Pet messes will be quickly cleaned up. Bark plans to install replaceable carpet tiles on the aircraft to help keep planes spotless"-and eventually to create an onboard play area that will resemble a dog park.

"We'll find out if this is a service that the world wants and values," says Matt Meeker, chief executive officer and co-founder of Bark. "If not, we're going to have a heck of a time finding out."

The initial routes were selected for being the busiest out of New York, Meeker says. For pet owners, they may also represent journeys that are essential"-for cross-country or international moves, for instance"-and not easily achieved by car or ship. (Cunard Line famously has kennels aboard its transatlantic ships, but they typically spend seven nights at sea.)

Among the most likely customers will be BarkBox's 2.3 million active monthly subscribers.

"It's our great hope that those prices come down over time," says Meeker. "The current pricing is the most it will ever cost us to operate these flights. If the demand is there, we have ways of lowering those prices."

Bark isn't the first airline to cater to pets. In 2007, Pet Airways started a network of pet-friendly domestic flights, with fares typically ranging from $500 to $1,200. The company shut down four years later due to financial losses.

Undeterred, Meeker says the market is bigger now than it was 12 years ago, when Bark was created. Some 65 million households in the US own pets, up from 38 million then.

Private aviation company VistaJet saw pet travel surge by 86 per cent from 2019 to 2021, the first two years that it offered its (ongoing) VistaPet program, which is available only to the company's members and includes such in-flight amenities as doggy beds. Now, it says, one in about four customers chooses to fly with pets (including cats and rabbits), with a 43% year-over-year increase in the number of overall pets flying from 2022 to 2023.

"Bark Air faces an uphill battle," says Henry H. Harteveldt, travel industry analyst at Atmosphere Research Group. Notwithstanding the advantage that comes with the built-in BarkBox audience, he says, "I don't believe Bark Air will offer enough utility, convenience and value to appeal to enough pet owners and be profitable."

This may be besides the point, however, Bark may be willing to take a loss on the flights, he continues, if it means keeping subscribers more engaged with its core BarkBox business. "It may see greater gains elsewhere, such as growing its subscriber base, seeing subscribers order more product or both."

Serbia's only horse sanctuary aids tortured, old and neglected animals

April 13, 2024 2:51 AM
By Associated Press

Zeljko Ilicic kisses a horse in the Old Hill, sanctuary for horses in the town of Lapovo, in central Serbia, April 3, 2024.


LAPOVO, SERBIA —

Zeljko Ilicic saved his first horse from certain death 12 years ago and found his calling.

The Serbian, now 43, set up the Balkan country's only horse sanctuary in 2015 on a small piece of land in Lapovo in Central Serbia. Around 80 horses have since passed through Staro Brdo, or Old Hill, sanctuary. Ilicic has taken in tortured, old and abused horses, but also those that had lived well but could no longer be looked after by caretakers.

Animal care is a persistent challenge in Serbia, which is impoverished and marred by corruption after years of crisis and conflict in the 1990s. While authorities run shelters for dogs, there are no state-backed facilities for horses. Ilicic's sanctuary today provides shelter and care for dozens of animals.

A horse stands in the Old Hill, sanctuary for horses in the town of Lapovo, in central Serbia, April 3, 2024.

"I witnessed the sad destiny of a horse that was about to be put down," he said, recalling the first animal he saved. "I decided to try to bring him back to life and to keep him if he survived. And he did."

One of Ilicic's favorite horses over the years, he said, was a local derby winner that eventually died peacefully of old age. Another, now 28, was in a number of Serbian movies before retiring to the sanctuary, its legs stiff with arthritis. Some horses end up in limbo as "neither a pet nor a working machine" on farms, he said, so they become a burden to people.

Violeta Jovic, who works at the sanctuary, remembers a time in 2020 when veterinary inspectors intercepted a truck packed with nearly two dozen illegally transported horses bound for slaughter. She said they were all in bad condition but that the sanctuary managed to find new homes for most of them, while three remained under their care.

"This is no longer volunteerism or a hobby or a job," she added. "This has become my life."

The sanctuary tries to find new homes for as many animals as possible to ensure there is always space for new ones. When a horse is ready for adoption, the sanctuary launches a bid for potential caretakers.

Horses eat in the Old Hill, sanctuary for horses in the town of Lapovo, in central Serbia, April 3, 2024.

Staro Brdo today looks after nine horses, two donkeys, a buffalo, seven pigs, and several dogs, cats and chickens. Seven newborn kittens, found in a closed plastic bag, and seven Yorkshire piglets found at a waste dump have become fully grown animals that like to cuddle and play. A cacophony of animal sounds echoes through the small estate as a visitor ventures in.

The sanctuary operates on donations but Ilicic said he hopes to become self-sustaining through various initiatives, including therapy riding. Serbian authorities have helped by repairing local roads and Ilicic has cooperated with veterinary inspections, but there is still no legal framework to register his facility as an official horse sanctuary.

"We are the only ones in the Balkans at the moment and we hope that, in time, we will be recognized by the state," he said.

'They want to silence Palestinian voices’: British-Palestinian surgeon denied entry to Germany

'When I arrived at Berlin airport, I was stopped. I was taken down for questioning for three and a half hours. I was then told that I would not be allowed to enter German soil for the remainder of April,' Ghassan Abu Sitta tells Anadolu

Burak Bir |13.04.2024 - 



- 'The reason behind this is they want to silence Palestinian voices. And the reason behind this is that what Nicaragua is saying in the International Court of Justice, that Germany is an accomplice to the genocidal crimes of Israel is true,' says war surgeon who spent weeks in Gaza to help wounded civilians

-'This is what accomplices do in a crime. They try to hide the evidence and they try to silence the witnesses and that's what Germany is trying to do,' adds Abu Sitta

LONDON

Doctor Ghassan Abu Sitta who was prevented by Germany from entering Friday to address a pro-Palestine conference in Berlin said German officials try to hide evidence and silence witnesses to the crimes in the Gaza Strip.

The British-Palestinian surgeon who is also the newly-appointed Rector of Glasgow University told Anadolu about what happened when he was held up by federal police at a Berlin airport and why he was banned from entry.

Abu Sitta said he landed in Germany to attend a Palestine Congress event to give evidence about what he saw in Gaza.

Until his return to the UK in November, Abu Sitta helped wounded Palestinians for weeks in Gaza, including at the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital and the Al-Shifa Medical Complex.

"When I arrived at Berlin airport, I was stopped. I was taken down for questioning for three and a half hours. I was then told that I would not be allowed to enter German soil for the remainder of April," he said.

The war surgeon noted that he was also told not to try to deliver a speech via video from outside Germany or send a recorded video address to the conference.

"They asked me who I was, what I had done in Gaza. And they asked me whether I had received an invitation and whether there were planned marches or it was just going to be a speech," said Abu Sitta.

“The reason they gave is really a ludicrous reason. They said that they cannot ensure the safety of people attending the conference, and that's why they're canceling the conference.”

However, for Abu Sitta, the reason is quite different than what he was told. He said, "The reason behind this is they want to silence Palestinian voices."

"The reason behind this is that what Nicaragua is saying in the International Court of Justice -- that Germany is an accomplice to the genocidal crimes of Israel is true."

Germany is also facing legal charges from Nicaragua at the top UN court that it is "facilitating the commission of genocide" against Palestinians with its military and political support for Israel.

"This is what accomplices do in a crime. They try to hide the evidence and they try to silence the witnesses and that's what Germany is trying to do," added Abu Sitta.

Asked whether the UK Embassy in Berlin or UK Foreign Secretary have contacted him after he was denied entry, he said, he was contacted through his lawyer by a member of parliament representing his constituency.

"We will be taking it up both legally and diplomatically with the German government," added Abu Sitta.

Berlin police broke up the Palestine Congress in Berlin, less than two hours after the event began Friday.

Dozens of police officers stormed the meeting, cutting off the livestream transmission and electricity in the hall.

A police official ordered the 250 participants to leave the hall, spurring strong shouts of protest by the crowd.