Biden calls for lower prices of Ozempic, similar drugs
By AFP
July 2, 2024
US President Joe Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders accused pharma firms Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly of "price gouging" - Copyright AFP/File SEBASTIEN BOZON
US President Joe Biden on Tuesday called on pharmaceutical giants Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly to lower prices for diabetes and weight loss drugs such as Ozempic, saying firms must stop “ripping off the American people.”
In an article written with Senator Bernie Sanders, Biden said US patients pay several times more than those in Canada, Germany and Denmark for Novo Nordisk’s diabetes drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, which can also be used for weight loss.
A one-month supply of Ozempic in the United States last year was $936, compared to $169 in Canada and $103 in Germany, according to one study.
Eli Lilly was also charging “unconscionably high prices” for Mounjaro, a drug similar to Ozempic.
“Why should people in Burlington, Vermont, pay so much more than people in Copenhagen or Berlin for the same drug?” wrote Biden and Sanders, who chairs the Senate committee on health and education.
Such “price gouging” makes the drugs unaffordable to millions of Americans, they said.
“If the prices of these drugs are not substantially reduced, they have the potential to bankrupt the American health care system,” Biden and Sanders wrote. “We will not allow that to happen.”
In a statement to AFP, Novo Nordisk said it takes “patient access and affordability very seriously,” adding it was “disappointed that a very difficult and complex problem is being oversimplified and mischaracterized for political purposes.”
The cost of Ozempic and Wegovy has decreased approximately 40 percent since their launch, it added, while admitting: “Even when we lower our prices, patients in the United States often don’t receive the savings — this is a problem.”
Eli Lilly said it offers Mounjaro, marketed to diabetes patients, and Zepbound, sold as a weight loss drug, “for as low as $25 a month to those eligible for our savings card program.”
“Comparing list prices in the United States to other countries ignores patient affordability programs and hundreds of billions of dollars in discounts and fees” paid to intermediaries by pharmaceutical companies “that should lower the costs of medicines for Americans, but unfortunately this system can drive prices higher,” Eli Lilly said in a statement to AFP.
High prices for prescription drugs have been a long-standing problem for American patients, and Biden has focused on lowering health care costs as part of his campaign for reelection in November.
The piece in USA Today comes days after Biden’s weak performance during a televised presidential debate with Republican Donald Trump sparked sharp concern among Democrats.
Philippines says it agrees with China to ‘de-escalate’ South China Sea tensions
AFP
July 2, 2024
Chinese coast guard personnel clashed with Philippine navy boats on a resupply mission to a remote outpost in a disputed area of the South China Sea in June - Copyright ARMED FORCES OF THE PHILIPPINES/AFP/File Handout
Pam CASTRO
The Philippines and China agreed on Tuesday to “de-escalate tensions” over the South China Sea, Manila said, following a violent clash in the disputed waters last month.
Manila and Beijing have a long history of maritime territorial disputes in the hotly contested waterway but last month’s incident was the most serious in a number of escalating confrontations.
Chinese coast guard personnel wielding knives, sticks and an axe surrounded and boarded three Philippine navy boats on June 17 during a resupply mission to Second Thomas Shoal.
A Filipino soldier lost a finger in the clash, with Manila also accusing the Chinese coast guard of looting guns and damaging three boats as well as navigational and communication equipment.
Beijing insisted its coast guard behaved in a “professional and restrained” way and blamed Manila for the clash.
A handful of Filipino troops are stationed on a rusty warship deliberately grounded on Second Thomas Shoal in 1999 to assert Manila’s claims to the area.
Philippine foreign affairs undersecretary Theresa Lazaro and China’s vice foreign minister Chen Xiaodong had “frank and constructive discussions” on Tuesday, the Philippine foreign ministry said in a statement after the talks.
“The two sides discussed their respective positions on Ayungin Shoal and affirmed their commitment to de-escalate tensions without prejudice to their respective positions,” the statement said, using the country’s name for Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly Islands.
“Noting recent incidents in the South China Sea, both sides recognised that there is a need to restore trust, rebuild confidence, and create conditions conducive to productive dialogue and interaction,” it said, adding that “significant differences remain”.
China claims almost the entirety of the South China Sea, brushing aside competing claims from several Southeast Asian nations, including the Philippines, and an international ruling that its stance has no legal basis.
Chinese forces have used water cannon and military-grade lasers and collided with Filipino resupply vessels and their escorts in previous confrontations near disputed reefs.
Philippine Navy Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad told reporters on Tuesday that the June 17 incident was “the most aggressive” in “recent history”.
“The reason why we are calling this out is because we don’t want any unintended consequence,” Trinidad told reporters.
“Basically their actions increase the risk for miscalculation.”
– ‘Actions speak louder than words’ –
The latest confrontation has fuelled concerns that the dispute could drag in the United States, which has a mutual defence pact with Manila.
The Philippine government has said that it does not consider the June 17 clash as an “armed attack” that would trigger a provision in the treaty for Washington to come to Manila’s aid.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said that the United States “would welcome any efforts to de-escalate tensions in the South China Sea”.
But he added that in dealing with Beijing, “actions speak louder than words”.
The two sides signed an arrangement Tuesday on improving the Philippines-China Maritime Communications Mechanism and agreed to continue discussions between their coast guards.
China and the Philippines launched the consultative meeting in 2017 to promote the peaceful management of conflicts in the South China Sea.
Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo said last week the Manila meeting would look to establish “confidence-building measures” that can create the basis for “more serious discussions”.
“We still believe in the primacy of dialogue, and diplomacy should prevail even in the face of these serious incidents, though I admit it’s also a challenge,” Manalo told a Philippine Senate public hearing on the Second Thomas Shoal confrontation.
Second Thomas Shoal lies about 200 kilometres (120 miles) from the western Philippine island of Palawan and more than 1,000 kilometres from China’s nearest major landmass, Hainan island.
China deploys coast guard and other boats to patrol the waters around the shoal and has turned several reefs into artificial militarised islands.
Growing discontent amid dollar, fuel shortages in resource-rich Bolivia
By AFP
July 2, 2024
Bolivia is unable to purchase and import sufficient fuel for its needs due to a shortage of US dollars, in turn caused by a dramatic drop in exports of natural gas -- once a mainstay of the economy - Copyright AFP/File Paul ELLIS
Juanes Restrepo
Bolivian long-haul driver Gerardo Salluco prepares to spend his second night in a snaking queue of buses, waiting for fuel at a service station under military guard.
Such lines for diesel and gasoline have become a common sight in the South American country, battling a severe economic crisis and political instability that led to an alleged coup attempt last week.
Bolivia is unable to purchase and import sufficient fuel for its needs due to a shortage of US dollars, in turn caused by a dramatic drop in exports of natural gas — once a mainstay of the economy.
Much of its dwindling foreign reserves are spent on fuel subsidies, which ironically have stoked theft of the ever-scarcer, but cheap, resource for bootleg sale in neighboring countries.
The cumulative result has been crushing shortages of petrol at home, cost of living increases, growing discontent and mass fuel protests.
Adding to the turmoil, President Luis Arce last week claimed to have put down an attempt to unseat him militarily.
In an unusual twist, coup leader Juan Jose Zuniga claimed he was following Arce’s orders, and that the president had hoped for the coup to trigger a crackdown that would boost his popularity.
“It seems that they want to distract us,” said 49-year-old Salluco, who has been ferrying passengers between Bolivia and Chile for the past 12 years.
“I am not very involved in politics, but we realize it. They want to distract, there are no dollars, there is no diesel.”
Amid the political upheaval, however, Salluco is keeping his focus on the petrol station.
“I have to stay vigilant,” the driver told AFP as night started to fall, still in line. “They could start selling at any moment.”
– ‘Overdemand’ –
Bolivia is one of the poorest countries in the region despite sitting on vast mineral resources such as gas and lithium — a key component of batteries used in electric cars.
The country, home to 12 million people and an Indigenous majority, saw a short-lived “economic miracle” under the 2006-2019 presidency of leftist Evo Morales, with Arce as economy minister.
Morales, Bolivia’s first Indigenous president, nationalized hydrocarbons and other resources such as lithium.
The country experienced more than 4.0 percent annual growth while poverty rates tumbled from 60 percent to 37 percent, according to official figures.
Critics say Morales’ failure to implement structural economic reforms meant the growth was unsustainable.
Last August, the president of state oil company YPFB, Armin Dorgathen, said Bolivia was running out of natural gas — which it also sold to Argentina and Brazil — due to a lack of investment in new exploration.
Production had fallen from 59 million cubic meters per day in 2014 to 37 million, he said.
Foreign currency reserves, meanwhile, fell from $15 billion a decade ago to about $1.8 billion last month.
There are now restrictions on withdrawals of greenbacks — officially 6.96 Bolivianos to the dollar but traded at rates up to 30 percent higher on the black market.
“Before we did not have a limit for sending (dollars) abroad, nowadays we do… in some banks it is no longer possible,” student Minerva Ruelas, 27, told AFP.
As frustration at shortages rises, the YPFB has put part of the blame for the lack of fuel on alarmist social media posts sparking “overdemand.”
Last month, Arce’s government deployed soldiers to service stations to thwart fuel theft.
For truck driver Claudio Laura Flores, 33, the situation means waiting hours, sometimes days, in long fuel queues “far from your family, cold, hungry.”
Fellow long-haul driver Severo Bustencio, 40, said that the fuel shortage “is affecting us a lot because we cannot travel.”
“And if we cannot travel, we do not earn.”
Chad rangers battle to protect park from poachers, local farmers
By AFP
July 3, 2024
Rangers protect the national park in Chad from poachers and grazing livestock - Copyright AFP Arun SANKAR
Joris BOLOMEY
Between the orange trunks of the acacia trees in the Chad savannah, a herd of elephants move through Zah Soo National Park, under the watchful eye of one of the only humans allowed to witness the scene.
Established to protect the Sahel country’s biodiversity from the threat of poaching and effects of agriculture, the park faces increasing criticism from local farmers who say it has affected their livelihoods.
Observing the elephants with a Kalashnikov slung over his shoulder, Belfort Assia Blanga, a member of the Forest and Wildlife Guard (GFF) pointed out that the herd now has just as many juveniles as adults.
“The fact that they are reproducing shows that they now feel secure,” the ranger said — a point of pride for the park’s custodians, after 113 elephants were killed between 2013 and 2019.
The park, along the border with neighbouring Cameroon, is now home to 125 elephants — the country’s third largest population.
Since the deployment of the GFF rangers, no elephants have been poached despite their limited resources, a lack of ammunition and “worn-out weapons”, Assia Blanga added.
But other species in the park are still threatened by illegal hunting.
Lambert Worgue Yemye, deputy director of the protected area, said that villagers and farmers mainly target antelope.
– Biodiversity protection –
The 815-kilometre-squared (315 miles-squared) park was created as a result of a 15-year partnership between the Chadian government and French biodiversity conservation NGO Noe.
As well as poaching, the park’s rangers have to fight against herders illegally taking their herds to graze in Zah Soo.
Cattle raising is the main economic activity of the Mayo-Kebbi West region where the park is located.
The seasonal movement of large and small livestock from nearby Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria has a devastating impact on biodiversity in Zah Soo, according to Noe.
“The cattle graze on everything they can find without lifting their heads. When they pass through, they also destroy the flora by trampling on it,” said Worgue Yemye.
To stop this, the park has been impounding stray livestock herds that have made their way into the park.
Since last year, more than 2,600 cattle have been taken to the eight enclosures set up in the prefectures bordering the park.
Raising awareness and cracking down on the problem have reduced the number of animals from 23,500 in September 2022 to 9,005 a year later, according to Noe.
However, these measures have aroused discontent among local farmers.
“When we were consulted before the park was created, we were told of its advantages, but not its disadvantages”, said 36-year-old Saidou Alyoum — a representative of the region’s livestock farmers.
“The Zah Soo Park extends beyond the borders of the Binder-Lere reserve, which has been in force for 50 years. We are recommending that Noe and the state reduce (the size of) the park.”
In the absence of a compromise, the herders have threatened to move to Cameroon.
Noe said that a reduction in the park’s size is not an option. “We held a public consultation before it was created and the majority of signatories approved its boundaries,” Worgue Yemye said.
“Some village chiefs who signed the documents then went back on their decision,” a local official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
They accused the local chiefs of inciting the population to criticise the park because some of them charge taxes to foreign herders to cross the territory — which they cannot do in the park itself.
– Compensation –
Farmer and local leader Mamadou Houssein, 60, said that “the loss of grazing land for herders has also accentuated the conflicts between herders and farmers”.
Fighting regularly erupts across the Sahel between communities of farmers and nomadic herders when the herders allow their flocks to graze on the farmers’ lands.
These clashes often result in large numbers of deaths, including that of women and children.
According to Houssein, the protected elephant herds have also ravaged his crops.
“It’s up to the government to compensate us, but it’s not doing anything,” the farmer said.
“We would like the compensation to be paid directly by Noe because we have more confidence in them than in the Chadian government.”
Noe said that to compensate for the loss of pasture, it will provide fodder and plans to dig four drinking ponds for the cattle.
The NGO is also taking steps to improve living conditions for the villagers around the park, such as refurbishing a water tower in Binder and repairing roads.
But insecurity in the wider region means that Noe’s gamble on Zah Soo igniting the tourist appeal of the area is uncertain to pay off.
Indonesia launches first EV battery plant
AFP
July 3, 2024
Indonesia launched its first electric vehicle battery plant on Wednesday - Copyright INDONESIAN PRESIDENTIAL PALACE/AFP Handout
Indonesia launched its first electric vehicle battery plant on Wednesday, President Joko Widodo said, as Southeast Asian countries move to gain a foothold in the emerging industry.
The country, which is the region’s largest economy and home to the largest nickel reserve in the world, has been seeking to position itself as a key player in the global electric vehicle supply chain.
The plant is a joint venture between South Korean manufacturers Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution (LGES) and can produce up to 10 Gigawatt hours (GWh) of battery cells every year.
Widodo said the plant, located in West Javan town of Karawang, was “the biggest in Southeast Asia”.
Its opening marked “a new chapter” that underscored the resource-rich nation’s ambition to become a global player in the electric vehicle supply chain, Widodo said at the launch.
“We have abundant natural resources, but for decades we only exported it in the form of raw materials without added value,” he said.
“But now with smelters being built, with the electric vehicle battery cell being built, we will become an important global player in the global supply chain for electric vehicles.”
The plant is part of a $9.8 billion electric vehicle battery deal signed between Indonesia and LG in 2020.
It will produce batteries for Hyundai’s electric vehicles, with 50,000 of its Kona Electric SUV expected to be powered by the Indonesian-made battery.
Joint venture company PT HLI Green Power is expected to spend $2 billion to raise the plant’s capacity to 20 GWh.
Hyundai Motor Group executive chairman Euisun Chung said that Indonesia’s electric vehicle industry would create new economic opportunities.
“This country is the biggest automotive market in Southeast Asia. The vehicles that are produced and sold here are the standard for the Southeast Asian region with 700 million potential customers,” he said through an interpreter.
“The mineral resources in this country, such as iron and nickel, are important components of the battery that will mobilise millions of electric vehicles in Indonesia.”
Japan’s top court rules forced sterilisation law unconstitutional
AFPJuly 3, 2024
Lawyers and supporters of victims of forced sterilisation under a now-defunct eugenics law, carrying a banner demanding apologies and compensations, march toward the Supreme Court of Japan in Tokyo - Copyright AFP Yuichi YAMAZAKI
Tomohiro OSAKI
Japan’s top court ruled on Wednesday that a defunct eugenics law under which thousands of people were forcibly sterilised between 1948 and 1996 was unconstitutional.
The Supreme Court also declared that a 20-year statute of limitations could not be applied, paving the way for compensation claims from victims after years of legal battles.
“For the state to evade responsibility for damages payments would be extremely unfair and unjust, and absolutely intolerable,” the court in Tokyo said.
Japan’s government acknowledges that around 16,500 people were forcibly sterilised under the law that aimed to “prevent the generation of poor quality descendants”.
An additional 8,500 people were sterilised with their consent, although lawyers say even those cases were likely “de facto forced” because of the pressure individuals faced.
A 1953 government notice said physical restraint, anaesthesia and even “deception” could be used for the operations.
“There are people who couldn’t be here today. There are those who died as well. I want to visit the grave of my parents and tell them we’ve won,” victim Saburo Kita, who uses a pseudonym, told reporters after the ruling.
Kita was convinced to undergo a vasectomy when he was 14 at a facility housing troubled children. He only told his wife what had happened shortly before she died in 2013.
“But a complete resolution of this issue hasn’t been realised yet. Together with lawyers, I will continue to fight,” said Kita, one of several victims who celebrated outside the court, some in wheelchairs.
– Apology –
The number of operations in Japan slowed to a trickle in the 1980s and 1990s before the law was scrapped in 1996.
That dark history was thrust back under the spotlight in 2018 when a woman in her 60s sued the government over a procedure she had undergone at age 15, opening the floodgates for similar lawsuits.
The government, for its part, “wholeheartedly” apologised after legislation was passed in 2019 stipulating a lump-sum payment of 3.2 million yen (around $20,000 today) per victim.
However, survivors say that was too little to match the severity of their suffering and took their fight to court.
Regional courts have mostly agreed in recent years that the eugenics law was a violation of Japan’s constitution.
However, judges have been divided on whether claims are valid beyond the 20-year statute of limitations.
Some ordered the state to pay damages but others dismissed cases, saying the window for pursuing damages had closed.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the government would “swiftly pay damages based on the finalised ruling” and discuss “the new ways in which (victims) can be compensated”.
The government “sincerely apologises” for the policy that “trampled on the human dignity” of victims, Kishida said, adding he would meet survivors in coming weeks to listen “face-to-face to their stories of suffering”.
A group of victims said on Wednesday it “wholeheartedly” welcomed the ruling.
“We cannot forgive the irresponsibility of the government and its lack of human rights awareness, as well as the fact that what is now described as the biggest human rights violation in Japan’s post-war history was left unaddressed for such a long time,” the group said in a statement.
Lawyer Koji Niizato said it was “the best ruling we could have hoped for”.
“Victims of the eugenics law put up a wonderful fight, one that influenced the Supreme Court and changed society,” Niizato said.
EU clears Lufthansa’s proposed ITA Airways stake, with conditions
AFP
July 3, 2024
The EU has approved Lufthansa's proposed stake in ITA Airways after the airline and the Italian government offered remedies - Copyright AFP PHILIPPE HUGUEN
The EU’s powerful competition regulator on Wednesday announced it has conditionally approved German airline Lufthansa’s proposed stake in Italy’s ITA Airways.
Lufthansa, one of Europe’s biggest carriers, last year agreed to pay 325 million euros ($350 million) for a 41 percent stake in ITA, with the Italian finance ministry also contributing 250 million euros as part of the capital increase.
The deal provided the German airline various options to increase its stake in ITA Airways — the successor to state-owned Alitalia — or acquire it outright at a later date.
But it has faced a turbulent process to get regulators’ approval after the European Commission opened an in-depth probe in January, fearing it could hurt competition.
The commission has now given the green light after Lufthansa and the Italian government offered a package of commitments to assuage those concerns.
The remedies offered include making it possible for one or two rival airlines to launch non-stop flights between Rome and Milan and central Europe, the commission said.
“These commitments fully address the competition concerns identified by the commission,” it said. “The decision is conditional upon full compliance with the commitments.”
Take-off and landing slots at Milan’s Linate airport will also be transferred to competing airlines for short-haul routes.
Other commitments they must fulfil include entering into agreements with rivals “to improve their competitiveness on the long-haul routes of concern”, between Italy and the United States and Canada.
This could include slot swaps at airports or interlining agreements, which means airlines coordinate with each other on certain aspects of travel, such as ticketing.
“This will lead to increased frequencies of nonstop flights and/or improved connections for one-stop flights on each of the routes,” it said.
– Avoiding higher prices –
ITA Airways was created from the ashes of Alitalia, which was placed under public administration in 2017.
Alitalia had accumulated losses of 11.4 billion euros between 2000 and 2020. It was eventually shut down in October 2021 before a rebirth as ITA.
The EU wanted to make sure the Lufthansa deal did not lead to higher prices for consumers.
Brussels had been concerned that on a number of short-haul routes between Italy and central Europe as well as long-haul routes between the United States and Canada there would be limited competition, leading to a reduction in quality for passengers.
“At a time when consumers are facing increasingly higher prices for air travel, it is very important to preserve competition in the sector,” said the EU’s competition chief, Margrethe Vestager.
“The package of remedies proposed by Lufthansa and the (ministry) on this cross-border deal fully addresses our competition concerns by ensuring that a sufficient level of competitive pressure remains on all relevant routes,” she added.
Bhole Baba: preacher at centre of Indian stampede disaster
By AFP
July 3, 2024
Bhole Baba, pictured in the centre of this portrait in the homes of one of his followers, was barely known to the wider Indian public before Tuesday's disaster - Copyright AFP Arun SANKAR
Bhuvan BAGGA with Aishwarya KUMAR in Bengaluru
Former police constable-turned-preacher Bhole Baba built an immense following among poor and marginalised Indians before his latest sermon ended in a stampede that killed 121 of his followers.
India is home to innumerable religious gurus or “godmen”, whose devotees beseech them for miracles and donate money and possessions as a token of loyalty.
Baba, whose current whereabouts are unknown, was barely known to the wider Indian public before Tuesday’s disaster.
But in his native state of Uttar Pradesh, he had cultivated a large audience of worshippers and his prayer meetings received thousands of views on social media.
“If you distribute flowers, you will receive a garland in return,” he said during one sermon uploaded to YouTube two years ago, which focused on the virtues of kindness.
Past sermons show Baba dressed entirely in white, sitting on an ornate chair on a dais while addressing huge crowds of devotees, the vast majority of whom were women.
More than 250,000 people attended Tuesday’s prayer meeting he staged near the northern city of Hathras, according to a police report.
– ‘Don’t do wrong’ –
Very little is known about the early life of Baba, who was named Suraj Pal at birth but adopted his current moniker after devoting his life to spiritual instruction.
He was born in Uttar Pradesh to a farming family and served as a police officer in Agra, home to the Taj Mahal, before taking early retirement in the 1990s and pursuing his current calling, the Indian Express reported.
Baba’s following was largely drawn from poor and socially disenfranchised caste groups including the Jatavs, who number in the tens of millions in the state.
The Jatavs belong to the bottom rungs of India’s millennia-old caste hierarchy that divides Hindus by function and social standing. By virtue of their numbers, they are an important political bloc in Uttar Pradesh.
Baba helmed a monastery in the city of Mainpuri, not far from the site of Tuesday’s stampede, where his weekly sermons reportedly drew thousands of people, predominantly women.
Ram Sanai, a 65-year-old devotee present at Tuesday’s sermon, told AFP that part of Baba’s appeal came from his admonitions against excessive alcohol consumption and advice for women facing domestic violence.
“All he says is don’t steal, don’t do wrong and stay honest,” she said.
“Those who attend his events say they have then ended all negativity and problems at home.”
Moscow hit by heat not seen in over a century
By AFP
July 3, 2024
People sunbathe in the midday heat in central Moscow - Copyright AFP Alexander NEMENOV
Moscow and the surrounding region sweltered Wednesday as temperatures soared to levels unseen in over a century, with the state weather monitor warning of dangerously hot nights.
Temperatures in the Russian capital hit 32.5 Celsius (90.5 Fahrenheit) Wednesday, beating a record established in 1917, the director of Rosgidromet weather service, Roman Vilfand, said.
Vilfand told RIA Novosti news agency that in the next few nights, the temperature will not fall below 24.5 degrees, saying these “Egyptian nights” were dangerous because they did not allow people to recover from high daytime temperatures.
He said he expected the temperature to go down by 10 degrees in the following days, with storms and strong winds, before the heat returns next week.
Muscovites tried to cool down in public fountains and parks.
“It’s very hard,” 70-year-old Monira Galimova, who looked tired, told AFP as she sat at a bus stop.
“We do not sleep at night… It’s very difficult, especially for our age group.”
Olga Kryshina, a 34-year-old working in property refurbishments, sat to cool down by a fountain near the Bolshoi Theatre.
Unlike many Muscovites who have escaped to their traditional summer “dacha” country houses, Kryshina said she had to stay in the city for work and was only “dreaming of travelling” outside of urban areas.
Abnormal temperatures “more than 7 degrees above the climatic norm” are expected until the end of the week, Rosgidromet said on its website.
The heatwave has hit the Moscow region as well as the southern and western Kursk, Belgorod and Voronezh regions.
Germany, Sweden arrest eight over Syria crimes against humanity
By AFP
July 3, 2024
Suspects were arrested in Sweden and Germany over alleged 2012 abuses over Syrian protests, similar to the one shown in this image - Copyright AFP Alexander NEMENOV
Jastinder KHERA, with Nioucha ZAKAVATI in Stockholm
Investigators in Germany and Sweden on Wednesday arrested eight suspects allied with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government over alleged participation in crimes against humanity in Syria, prosecutors said.
The arrests, five in Germany and three in Sweden, represent the latest attempt to pursue justice for the victims of abuses committed in Syria’s civil war.
The suspects detained on Wednesday are accused of taking part in a “violent crackdown on a peaceful anti-government protest” in the Al-Yarmouk district in Damascus on July 13, 2012, Germany’s Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office said.
It said the four stateless Syrian Palestinians and Syrian national detained in Germany were “strongly suspected of killing and attempting to kill civilians, qualified as crimes against humanity and war crimes”.
It named the Syrian Palestinians as Jihad A., Mahmoud A., Sameer S. and Wael S. and said that they were part of a pro-Assad militia called the “Free Palestine Movement” (FPM).
The Syrian national, identified as Mazhar J., is believed to have worked for Syrian military intelligence.
“They and other accessories specifically targeted the civilian protesters, shooting at them”, resulting in six deaths and other serious injuries, the prosecutor said.
The war between Assad’s troops and armed opposition groups, including Islamic State, erupted after the government repressed peaceful pro-democracy protests in 2011.
It has killed more than half a million people, forced millions to flee their homes and ravaged Syria’s economy as well as its infrastructure.
Wednesday’s arrests took place as a result of work carried out by an investigation team named “Caesar” after a defector who worked as a photographer for Syrian military police.
In 2013 he smuggled more than 50,000 photographs out of Syria, many of them documenting the deaths of prisoners in detention centres or military hospitals.
– ‘Severe and repeated’ abuse –
German prosecutors said that those arrested in Sweden also belonged to the FPM and participated in the crimes on July 13, 2012.
Ulrika Bentelius Egelrud, the Swedish prosecutor in charge of the investigation, said the suspects were arrested thanks to “good cooperation with Germany, Eurojust and Europol”.
German prosecutors say the four Syrian Palestinians also “physically abused civilians from Al Yarmouk severely and repeatedly” between mid-2012 and 2014, including at militia checkpoints on the outskirts of the district, inhabited predominantly by Palestinians.
Mahmoud A. is accused of turning over one individual to Syrian military intelligence to be incarcerated and tortured.
Prosecutors also say that he threatened a woman at a checkpoint with rape and that he forced her “to pay with family jewels for the release of her minor son”.
Three people arrested at a checkpoint in Yarmouk and turned over to military intelligence by Mahmoud A. and others were allegedly killed as part of “a scheduled mass execution” in April 2013.
Germany let in hundreds of thousands of Syrians during the 2015-16 refugee influx and has arrested several Syrians since on its soil over crimes committed in their country.
It has used the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows the prosecution of certain serious crimes — regardless of where they took place — to try Syrians over atrocities committed during the country’s civil war.
One of the most high profile cases to be brought to trial was that of a former Syrian colonel who was found guilty in January 2022 of crimes against humanity committed in Damascus.
In recent years there have also been several investigations in Germany, Austria, Norway, France and Sweden targeting people suspected of crimes in Syria’s civil war — particularly those committed by pro-Assad forces.
Last month a Swedish court acquitted a Syrian former general of war crimes charges, saying prosecutors had not proved his involvement in the army’s “indiscriminate attacks”.
Former brigadier general Mohammed Hamo, 65, was one of the highest-ranking Syrian military officials to stand trial in Europe.
Sweden was the first country to sentence a former Syrian soldier for war crimes in 2017.
