Armenians march to mourn war victims as PM faces calls to resign


YEREVAN (Reuters) - Thousands of Armenians marched through the capital Yerevan on Saturday to commemorate the soldiers killed in a six-week conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region in which Azerbaijan made significant territorial gains.

The conflict and the fatalities on the Armenian side have increased pressure on Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, whom the opposition accuses of mishandling the conflict by accepting a Russian-brokered ceasefire last month, to resign.

Pashinyan led the march, held on the first of three days of mourning, driving up to the Yerablur military cemetery to light incense on the graves of fallen soldiers along with other senior officials.

Although his supporters filled the cemetery to its brink, footage published on Armenian television showed Pashinyan’s critics shouting “Nikol is a traitor!” as his convoy passed by, escorted by heavy security.

Armenia’s opposition has called on its supporters to join a national strike on Dec. 22, at the end of the three-day mourning period, to pressure Pashinyan to resign over the losses incurred in the conflict over Nagorno-Karabkh.

Pashinyan, who swept to power in a peaceful revolution in May 2018, has rejected calls to resign.

Ethnic Armenian authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh accused Azeri forces on Wednesday of capturing several dozen of their troops, putting further strain on a ceasefire deal that brought an end to the fighting last month.

The two sides have nonetheless begun exchanging groups of prisoners of war as part of an “all for all” swap mediated by Russia.

Moscow has deployed peacekeepers to police the ceasefire, but skirmishes have nonetheless been reported.


Writing by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber

AL JAZEERA REPORT AND BACKGROUNDERS WITH VIDEOS

Thousands protest in Sudan in call for faster reform


KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Thousands of Sudanese protesters took to the streets of the capital Khartoum and its twin city Omdurman on Saturday, demanding an acceleration of reforms on the second anniversary of the start of an uprising that ousted Omar al-Bashir.

The veteran leader was deposed by the military in April 2019 after months of mass protests against poor economic conditions and Bashir’s autocratic, three-decade rule.

Many Sudanese are unhappy with what they see as the slow or even negligible pace of change under the transitional government that has struggled to fix an economy in crisis.

The government was formed under a three-year power sharing agreement between the military and civilian groups which is meant to lead to fair presidential and parliamentary elections.

Sudan’s state TV aired footage of thousands of protesters gathering outside the presidential residence in Khartoum which now hosts the sovereign council, a joint military-civilian ruling body.

The country also has a civilian cabinet of technocrats led by Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok.

“We have come out today, not to celebrate the anniversary or to congratulate the transitional government. This government, unfortunately, over the past two years has not made any progress in the retribution file for our martyrs,” protester Waleed El Tom told state TV in Khartoum.

Hundreds of Sudanese civilians were killed in protests before and after the former president’s ouster.

On Saturday, thousands more protesters gathered outside the abandoned parliament building in Omdurman, across the river Nile from the capital. Small protests took place in other cities across the country, state media said.

At the top of the protesters’ demands is the formation of a long-awaited transitional parliament, part of the power sharing deal, to pass the necessary legislation for building a democratic state.

Others called for the dissolution of the sovereign council, the cabinet and the ruling coalition.

Sudan’s economy has worsened since Bashir’s removal, as the weak transitional government has failed to kick-start reforms and halt a fall in the Sudanese pound on the black market.

“The Sudanese people had hopes that their revolution would be great, that it would achieve things, but today the Sudanese people are standing in bread lines,” a protester told state TV.

Hamdok on Saturday vowed to answer the demands of protesters.

“We pledge to spur the pace to fulfil all the demands of the revolution, and improving the living conditions and the economy are among the priorities in which we will do everything we can to overcome the challenges,” he said on Twitter.

Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, head of the ruling council, said on Twitter the army would remain “the guarantor and protector of the revolution and its gains”.

Security was tightened in Khartoum and Omdurman but no major incidents of violence or casualties were reported.

Social media users shared pictures and videos of protesters burning tyres and security forces firing tear gas. Reuters was not immediately able to verify the images.

Sudan’s government has signed peace deals with most of the rebel groups that caused unrest during Bashir’s rule, and it hopes that the United States’ recent decision to remove the country from its list of state sponsors of terrorism will help the ailing economy.


Reporting by Nadeen Ebrahim, Nafisa Eltahir, Hesham Abdul Khalek and Ali Mirghani; Writing by Mahmoud Mourad; Editing by Ros Russell and David Evans


Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

#NAMASTE

From bows to handshakes, how Macron let social distancing slip

PARIS (Reuters) - Once an early adopter of the coronavirus-proof ‘namaste’ greeting, French President Emmanuel Macron was showing signs of letting his guard down almost a year into the pandemic.

On Monday, three days before his office said he had tested positive for COVID-19, Macron greeted OECD chief Angel Gurria with a warm hand clasp in the Elysee palace courtyard, pulling the 70-year-old into a loose embrace, a Reuters picture shows.

They were wearing masks, but Macron broke his government’s no.1 pandemic rule: stick to what the French call “barrier gestures” and avoid handshakes, hugs and kisses.

“You know them, they save lives: barrier gestures are not an option!” Macron said in a tweet on July 12.

His office recognised Macron had made an “unfortunate” mistake in shaking Gurria’s hand. “It’s a mistake, he had this gesture, there is no denying it,” an official told Reuters, adding that the president was nonetheless constantly washing his hands and asking guests to do the same.

Macron was always very tactile before the pandemic, sharing hugs with leaders like U.S. President Donald Trump and kissing and patting members of the public on the back.

In the past couple of weeks, the French leader fist-bumped EU counterparts at a summit in Brussels and greeted EU chief Charles Michel and Spanish leader Pedro Sanchez at the Elysee with pats on the back and elbows, TV footage shows.

Now Sanchez, Michel and Gurria are self-isolating.

Macron also hosted a lunch at the Elysee on Tuesday with about 20 parliamentary leaders and dined with a dozen lawmakers on Wednesday, parliamentary sources said, despite his government recommending no more than six guests at the table during end-of-year holidays.



That contrasted with his careful following of social-distancing guidelines earlier in the pandemic.

In March, days before he put the nation on lockdown, he replaced the traditional handshake with the Indian-style namaste when he greeted Spain’s king and queen in Paris, pressing his palms together and bowing slightly.

He repeated the namaste greeting with Britain’s Prince Charles on June 18 and maintained social distance outside 10 Downing Street with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

But on Oct. 28, when he announced a second lockdown, he included himself among those who had let social distancing slip.

“We should all have respected barrier gestures more, especially with family and friends,” he said on TV. “Is now the time for regrets?”

Reporting by Michel Rose; additional reporting by Elizabeth Pineau; Editing by Giles Elgood and Alexandra Hudson

UN rights office calls on Thailand to amend  

ELIMINATE royal insult law


GENEVA (Reuters) -The United Nations human rights office called on Thailand on Friday to amend its lese majeste law which it said had been used against at least 35 activists, one as young as 16, in recent weeks.

It said Thailand should stop using the law, which bans insulting the monarchy, and other serious criminal charges against protesters, noting that criminalising such acts violates freedom of expression.

Prosecutions, which had stopped in 2018, restarted after protesters broke longstanding taboos by calling for reforms to curb the powers of King Maha Vajiralongkorn during months of street demonstrations. Those found guilty under the royal insult law face three to 15 years in prison.

The spokesperson for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights noted that charges had also been filed against protesters for sedition and computer crimes offences.

“We call on the Government of Thailand to stop the repeated use of such serious criminal charges against individuals for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly,” spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told a news briefing in Geneva.

The office of U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet urged Thailand to change the lese majeste law to bring it in line with the right to freedom of opinion and expression.

In response, a Thai foreign ministry spokesman said the law was not aimed at curbing freedom of expression and was similar to libel laws.

“In the past couple of months, protestors have not been arrested solely for the exercise of the right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly,” Tanee Sangrat said in a statement.

“Those arrested had violated other Thai laws and admittedly the majority have been released.”

Youth-led protests began in July to call for the removal of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, a former junta leader, and for the drafting of a new constitution.

They later called for reforms to the monarchy: seeking the king to be more clearly accountable under the constitution and the reversal of changes that gave him control of royal finances and some army units among other demands.

Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; Additional reporting by Patpicha Tanakasempipat in Bangkok; Editing by Matthew Tostevin, William Maclean and Richard Chang

Sweden to allow underwater investigation 

of Estonia wreck site

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Sweden said on Friday it would allow an underwater examination of the ferry Estonia, which sank in the Baltic 26 years ago with the loss of 852 lives, after a documentary film showed previously unknown holes in the wreck’s hull.

The official investigation concluded in 1997 that the roll-on, roll-off ferry’s bow shield had failed, damaging the bow ramp and flooding the car deck.

However, a Discovery Network documentary shown earlier in the autumn about the disaster included new underwater video images from the wreck site showing two previously unknown holes on the starboard side of the ship’s hull.

“If there is new information, we need to look into it and clear up any questions,” Home Affairs Minister Mikael Damberg told a news conference.

Damberg said the government hoped to amend the law designating the site of the disaster as a maritime memorial in the first half of next year.

On the night of Sept. 28, 1994, the Estonia was sailing from Tallinn to Stockholm in bad weather. Winds were around 20 meters per second and the waves around 4 meters high, according to the official investigation.

After the bow shield failed, the ferry rapidly filled with water and most of those who died were trapped inside.

The ship sank about 22 nautical miles from Uto island in less than 85 metres of water.

Over the years, a number of theories have emerged about the sinking that reject the official explanation, including a collision with a submarine and an explosion inside the ship.

The head of Sweden’s Accident Investigation Authority, John Ahlberk, however, said a preliminary examination of footage from the documentary and previous material had not so far led to the conclusion that the 1997 official report had been wrong.

“What the investigation we are doing now is about is to find out, as far as possible, what made these holes and how they occurred, he said.


Reporting by Simon Johnson;

INDIA Supreme Court declines calls to ban farmers' protest



By Suchitra Mohanty, Mayank Bhardwaj


NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India’s Supreme Court on Friday declined calls to ban a weeks-long farmers’ protest and asked the government and unions to help form a committee of experts to mediate between them.

“We make it clear that we recognise the fundamental right to protest against a law. There is no question of balancing or curtailing it. But it should not damage anyone’s life or property,” Chief Justice S. A. Bobde said.

Thousands of farmers angered by three agricultural laws that they say threaten their livelihoods have intensified their protests by blocking highways and camping out on the outskirts of the capital New Delhi.

Petitioners had approached the Supreme Court to complain that the protests had hampered drivers and making it difficult for people to access emergency medical services

“We are of the view at this stage that the farmers’ protest should be allowed to continue without impediment and without any breach of peace either by the protesters or the police,” Bobde said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration in September introduced the farm bills that the government says will unshackle farmers from having to sell their produce only at regulated wholesale markets and make contract farming easier.

Farmers insist that the new laws will leave them at the mercy of big corporations.

Six rounds of talks between government ministers and farmers’ union leaders have failed to resolve the situation.

The government has said while the laws can be amended, it is against repealing the bills. Farmers last week rejected a government’s proposal to amend the legislation.

India’s vast agriculture sector, which makes up nearly 15% of the country’s $2.9 trillion economy, employs about half of its 1.3 billion people.


Reporting by Mayank Bhardwaj; Editing by Angus MacSwan

Sikh diaspora drums up global support for farmers' protest in India


By Mayank Bhardwaj, Manoj Kumar


NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Thousands of Indian farmers protesting against deregulation of agriculture markets are drawing strength from Sikhs around the world who are urging foreign governments to intercede with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.


FILE PHOTO: Farmers take part in a protest against farm bills passed by India's parliament on the outskirts of Delhi, India, December 17, 2020. REUTERS/Anushree Fadnavis

Farmers, mostly from the Sikh-dominated state of Punjab, have been camped on the borders of New Delhi since last month, demanding Modi roll back the reforms intended to bring investment in the antiquated farm sector but which the farmers say will leave them at the mercy of big corporations.

Sikhs living overseas, most of whom have families at home tied to the farms, have picked up the thread in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, demonstrating outside Indian embassies to draw attention.

On Thursday, 250 to 300 Sikhs and other overseas Indians took part in a rally in a Melbourne district to express their support for India’s farmers, said Rajbir Singh, who runs a small transport business in Melbourne.

On Saturday, people of Indian origin plan to carry out similar protests near the state parliament of Victoria in Melbourne, said Siftnoor Singh, a data scientist.

“The new laws will bring economic devastation to our motherland, and we can’t simply close our eyes and pretend that everything is alright back home,” he told Reuters by phone.

The farmers’ fear is that by allowing companies such as Walmart and India’s Reliance Industries Ltd’s retail arm to buy directly from farmers, the government intends to weaken the traditional markets where their rice and wheat are guaranteed a minimum price.

Sikhs and other Indian Punjabis overseas are estimated at 12 million. They form a tightly knit group and are vociferous in articulating the concerns of the community back home.

Since the farmers’ protest started more than two weeks ago in India, members of the diaspora have participated in protest marches - mostly consisting of 400 to 600 people - in nearly 50 different cities of the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, protesters and their families said.

The government has declined comment on the protests overseas. But underlining India’s sensitivity about what it sees as foreign interference in its internal affairs, New Delhi summoned Canada’s ambassador this month to convey displeasure after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the farmers had a right to protest.

‘HAND THAT FEEDS YOU’

“I’ve been approached by many concerned people of Indian origin who are based in Victoria to speak about the issue,” Samantha Ratnam, parliamentary leader of Australia’s Victorian Greens party, recently told the state legislative council.

Relatives and supporters of the farmers gathered this month even in the small town of Canton, Michigan, in the United States, carrying placards saying “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you” and “I stand with farmers”. Other protesters staged a demonstration outside the Indian embassy in Washington.

In Canada, home to a Sikh community that is politically influential, residents of Indian origin have vowed to step up their support for India’s protesting farmers.

“We are taking part in regular protests to bring it to the notice of local authorities who can help us amplify our voices,” said Amanpreet Singh Grewal, a resident of Brampton, Ontario, Canada. “We are committed to support our farmers in India.”

Many Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) own farmlands in Punjab and fear the sweeping changes that the government plans will hurt them economically.

“Punjabi NRIs are worried that if these laws are implemented, and result in fall in crop procurement prices, it would lead to substantial fall in the value of their farm lands and yearly income from land contracts,” said Avtar Singh Gill, 64, who is now settled in Punjab after four decades in the UK.

Mewa Singh, the chief of the NRI council in the Ropar district of Punjab, said organisations such as his that represent overseas Indians were helping farmers mobilise people in villages, arranging transport for them, and collecting milk and rations for supplying to the protesters sleeping out in the open near Delhi.

Singh said his son, the manager of a basketball team in Houston, Texas, was leading protests there.





“We can’t allow Prime Minister Modi to take away what we have gained over the years through hard work and political struggle,” Mewa Singh said.

In Britain, Sikh groups wield influence and have been making the case for British leaders to raise the issue with their Indian counterparts even if the Modi government baulks at such involvement.

Jas Singh, an adviser at the Sikh Foundation, said the community had written to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab and opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer to lobby their case.

“Worried by the use of disproportionate force against many elderly protesters, we’ve also reached out to the United Nations to ask India to protect farmers’ right to peaceful protests,” Jas Singh said.


Reporting by Mayank Bhardwaj and Manoj Kumar; editing by Sanjeev Miglani and Raju Gopalakrishnan

Rights group says Peru police committed 'multiple abuses' against protesters


LIMA (Reuters) - Peruvian national police committed "multiple abuses" against mostly peaceful demonstrators in November as they protested "the very questionable removal" of then-President Martin Vizcarra here, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Thursday.

The New York-based rights group urged interim President Francisco Sagasti, Congress and police commanders to adopt reforms to ensure officers respect the right of peaceful assembly. The interior ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Two protesters were killed and over 200 injured, some seriously, in demonstrations between Nov. 9 and 15, HRW said in a statement.

“Witness statements and other evidence Human Rights Watch collected indicate that police repeatedly used excessive force against protesters,” the rights group said.

The evidence includes videos showing police “recklessly” shooting teargas canisters directly into crowds, HRW said.

Vizcarra, who drove a tough anti-corruption campaign, was removed by the opposition Congress on Nov. 9 in an impeachment trial over allegations of bribery. He joins a long list of Peruvian politicians ensnared in allegations of corruption, and his ouster threw the world’s no. 2 copper producer into political turmoil ahead of planned elections next year.

In Sagasti’s inauguration speech on Nov. 17, he promised justice to the victims of abuse at the hands of police. The commission he created on Nov. 24 has 60 days to recommend measures aimed at modernizing and improving the police force.

“President Sagasti has taken an important step by convening a commission to improve police performance,” HRW Americas Director Jose Miguel Vivanco said in the statement.

HRW said it interviewed 76 people, including victims and their lawyers, during a visit to Lima as part of its probe. HRW also met with the justice minister and the police commander.

Sagasti told Reuters last month there would be “no impunity” for those responsible for the deaths and injuries, but he stopped short of committing to police reform.

“On November 9, Congress ousted Vizcarra from office through a questionable legal process, claiming that he lacked ‘moral capacity’ because there is an ongoing corruption investigation against him. He has not been charged with any crime,” HRW said.

Reporting by Marco Aquino, writing by Hugh Bronstein; Editing by Bernadette Baum

Gas, marbles and lead pellets: Peru protest deaths turn spotlight on police violence

By Marcelo Rochabrun

LIMA (Reuters) - Ruben Guevara was marching in teargas-filled streets in Lima in November when he was hit in the face by what felt like a gas canister, severely damaging his right retina.

“We were protecting people who had already fallen to the ground and police kept moving forward and shooting straight at us,” said Guevara, 32, a father of two.

Guevara was one of millions of Peruvians who marched against interim President Manuel Merino last month. After just five days in power, and faced by intense protests in Lima that led to the deaths of two demonstrators and some 200 injuries, Merino resigned.

The reaction by police to the protests in the capital has ignited a debate about police brutality, which human rights advocates say has historically been more common in the country’s interior, where low-income Peruvians have a harder time demanding accountability.

At least 20 demonstrators were shot with lead pellets or glass marbles during the Lima protests, according to medical records, interviews and information compiled by the local Human Rights Coordinator. On Thursday, Human Rights Watch said there was “credible and solid” evidence that such ammunition had been used by the police.

At least half a dozen of those injured were hospitalized for over three weeks. A third person died in protests in northern Peru earlier this month.

Peru’s police declined to comment for this story. They have previously said they only used rubber bullets in counteracting protesters, and that any pellets or marbles must have been shot by the protesters instead.

Jorge Vasquez, a pathologist in Lima who examined the body of one of those killed in the protests, as well as victims of a deadly nightclub stampede in August that was sparked by a police raid, said the number of deaths he was seeing as a result of police actions had increased this year.

Police in Lima had caused “deaths that didn’t need to happen,” he said, adding that in his opinion police were “getting out of control.”

In the wake of U.S. demonstrations against racial injustice and police brutality this year, Latin America has also seen a wave of anger over perceived police impunity, with protests in Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Brazil.

In Peru, human rights advocates say police forces have been emboldened in part by a new ‘Police Protection Law’ passed in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic that backs officers who shoot on duty.

Peru’s new interim president Francisco Sagasti, a centrist who replaced Merino, has vowed there will be “no impunity” for violent officers, and removed 18 senior police chiefs from duty in the wake of the protests, citing the need to “strengthen” the police.

No police officer has been charged or named as a potential suspect for actions relating to the protests.

‘POLICE KILLED HIM’

Reuters TV footage filmed at the height of the protests in Lima showed how police fired tear gas without verbal warnings, aiming canisters either at body-height or at the sky, raising risk of injury.

It showed police opening fire on demonstrators who had previously thrown rocks and other implements. None of the demonstrators appeared to be armed with firing weapons.

Protester Jack Pintado died in Lima on Nov. 14, with 10 lead pellets lodged in his upper body, legal records show. Three weeks later, Jorge Munoz died on a sidewalk in Peru’s north after being hit by a “lead projectile.”

“Police killed him!,” bystanders shouted as they desperately poured water on Munoz’s injured skull, videos show. A row of riot police stood meters away.

Others survived, their bodies heavily maimed.

Lucio Suarez was hit in the head by three lead pellets which penetrated his skull and lodged into his brain, medical records show.

Andres Rivero was also hit in the head, fracturing his skull. He was hospitalized for weeks and needs another surgery in January.

“Police reform?,” asked his father Mario Rivero, outside the hospital where Andres spent more than three weeks. “Sure, but first I want to see the officer who did this to my son punished.”

In an interview with Reuters, Jose Luis Perez Guadalupe, who served as interior minister between 2015 and 2016, said he believed it was “highly likely” that the pellets that caused the injuries were shot by police.

Others protesters, like Guevara, suffered injuries from teargassing.

Reuters footage shows that at one point police shot a dozen canisters in the span of 10 seconds, forcing protesters to turn political cardboard signs into makeshift shields.

“A lot of unprotected people coupled with police who appear to not be particularly good at this: it’s kind of a recipe for disaster,” said Ed Maguire, a criminology professor at Arizona State University.

Several protesters recounted how police threw gas canisters at panicked crowds.

“When we tried to get through the gas, the police shot at us again,” said Cesar Lecarnaque, a medical student who said he tended to three pellet victims on Nov. 14. “I thought I was going to die.”

Alonso Chero, a photographer for daily El Comercio, was covering the protests in Lima when officers began firing, he said.

As he crouched and ran toward the protesters for safety he felt the impact of a shot in his back.

A doctor later filmed how he extracted a glass marble from Chero’s body that barely missed his spine.

“To me the decision to use a glass marble is no different than the decision to fire a regular gun,” said Maguire.


Reporting by Marcelo Rochabrun; Editing by Adam Jourdan and Rosalba O’Brien

Need a ventilator? Polish arms dealer has plenty

By Anna Koper

WARSAW (Reuters) - When the coronavirus pandemic surged across Europe in April and hospitals were desperate for ventilators, Poland’s government turned to an unlikely supplier: an arms dealer.


Andrzej Izdebski, 69, has helped smuggle rifles and ammunition across borders, worked for Poland’s Communist secret services, and claims to have sold dietary supplements to North Korea.

Months later, as a second coronavirus wave strains Poland’s hospitals and raises its COVID-19 death toll, Izdebski has provided less than a fifth of the 1,241 ventilators the government agreed to buy for about $53 million, the government and Izdebski say.

Izdebski’s struggle to deliver ventilators to Poland opens a window into the extraordinary lengths countries have gone to obtain the devices in the pandemic. While wealthier countries raced to secure the breathing machines from big manufacturers in China, Europe and the United States, poorer countries like Poland had a choice when the pandemic swept the globe: go on a waiting list that could delay shipments by months or turn to little-known third-party brokers.

Izdebski went with the brokers.

Under the deal, the Polish government expected Izdebski’s company to deliver the first 321 ventilators in April and May. But with buyers around the globe also scrambling for the devices, Izdebski struggled to secure them on time, he said in an interview. When they didn’t arrive, Warsaw cancelled those orders.

Warsaw expected the remaining 920 ventilators ordered through Izdebski to come in June.

But by early July, he had delivered just 200, according to the government official in charge of the deal.

The official didn’t blame Izdebski for failing to deliver the machines, which help patients breathe and can be the difference between life and death for those facing the most dire respiratory effects of the coronavirus. He said Izdebski produced documents showing that one of the manufacturers wasn’t able to deliver the ventilators on time. Izdebski corroborated the official’s account. Reuters was unable to view the documents.

But by then, Warsaw had turned to other suppliers and cancelled orders for 1,041 undelivered ventilators. Izdebski said he paid for more than half the original order with the money he received up-front from the government.

Today, he owes Warsaw millions of dollars and is seeking buyers for almost 500 ventilators.

His unwanted inventory is a predicament that caps a year of chaos worldwide, as authorities cast aside regular procedures to obtain medical equipment. This year, European countries and the United States agreed contracts for ventilators worth at least $5.3 billion, according to a Reuters tally of 106 deals. In at least 10 cases, as many as 43,000 ventilators failed to arrive.

In Poland, opposition politicians have criticized the government for relying on an arms dealer for urgent life-saving equipment and for agreeing to pay upfront. Michal Szczerba, a member of Civic Platform, the biggest opposition party in the parliament, called the ventilator deal “a gigantic scandal.”

Janusz Cieszynski, a former deputy health minister who agreed to pay Izdebski’s company a 35 million euro ($42 million) advance for the equipment, told Reuters Izdebski had received a “positive recommendation” from Poland’s Central Anti-Corruption Bureau, which did not respond to questions on the matter.

The health ministry said all of its deals underwent reviews by multiple government agencies but otherwise declined comment, saying “everything about this case has already been communicated.” Other government agencies involved in the deal either declined to comment or did not respond.

Izdebski says he is being unjustly scapegoated as having failed to provide the devices. The court granted a health ministry request to order him to repay 12 million euros of the advance as well as around 3.6 million euros in fines. He acknowledges the debt but is appealing the rulings.

The 200 ventilators that he delivered -- worth 9 million euros -- are in storage, according to the health ministry. Not one has reached a hospital. Asked why not, the ministry referred Reuters to Poland’s National Reserves Agency, which runs stores of strategic goods. The agency did not respond.

“This is a disaster for the pandemic fighting system,” Pawel Grzesiowski, a specialist in the fight against COVID-19 with Poland’s physicians’ association, the General Medical Council, told Reuters.

“The money was spent, and there is no equipment.”

Cieszynski, the deputy minister who signed the contract, resigned in August, followed by the minister, Lukasz Szumowski.

Both had faced calls to quit over alleged problems in buying masks and other medical equipment, including ventilators. They denied wrongdoing and said their resignations were unrelated to the ventilator deal. Szumowski did not respond to a request for comment for this story. He and Cieszynski have said they were already planning to leave but stayed on temporarily to help the pandemic effort.

Izdebski, who has already returned 14 million euros of the advance, said he had to commit millions of dollars of taxpayers’ cash upfront as demanded by the brokers. He has asked for more time to sell his stock so he can repay the rest.

THE SUPPLIER

Izdebski conducted the deal through his 27-year-old company, E&K Sp. z o.o. According to the most recent public disclosures, E&K had assets of 4.36 million zlotys ($1 million) at the end of 2018, lower than its liabilities of 5.77 million zlotys.

E&K initially in the 1990s specialized as a broker of air transport, chartering flights and providing other aviation services. Izdebski said he had separately been involved in trading medical equipment and designing a rescue helicopter for the Ministry of Health.

Unimesko, another Polish company he owns, listed weapons trading in the official registry among other business activities until this year. On Nov. 30, its description in the registry changed to “non-specialized wholesale trade,” but it lists arms and ammunition production as a secondary activity.

He said he once worked with Poland’s now-defunct Communist-era secret services and admitted to smuggling rifles and ammunition into Croatia despite an arms embargo in the 1990s using forged documents. In his interview with Reuters, he acknowledged that breaking the embargo “wasn’t totally legal” but said others were doing it and he was never charged.

In 1993, he was kidnapped in a dispute over money, court records show. Today, he describes himself as a trader in “special equipment” -- such as spare parts for the military -- as well as vitamins and nutrients to North Korea. He said he didn’t violate any embargoes with those trades.

Generally speaking, Izdebski said, weapons make up a very small proportion of his dealings, most of which have been legal.

Reuters couldn’t independently confirm certain aspects of his activities, including his involvement in the secret services.

THE DEAL

In early April, when Poland reported around 5,000 COVID-19 cases, Izdebski said he was sourcing protective masks for Polish companies when an official at one the companies asked if he could also supply ventilators. He said he had no experience in ventilators but spoke to the ministry and agreed to deliver some.

Normally, the authorities hold public tenders for such large deals. In March, Poland’s parliament passed a law saying that tenders are not necessary in COVID times.

Denmark strengthens rape laws, outlaws sex without explicit consent


COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Denmark strengthened its rape laws on Thursday by criminalising sex without explicit consent.

The new law passed by parliament widened the circumstances that could constitute rape - under the old legislation, prosecutors had to show the rapist had used violence or attacked someone who was unable to resist.

“Now it will be clear, that if both parties do not consent to sex, then it’s rape,” justice minister Nick Haekkerup said in a statement

A similar law introduced in neighbouring Sweden in 2018 resulted in a 75% rise in rape convictions.

Around 11,400 women a year are raped or subjected to attempted rape in Denmark, according to the ministry’s figures.

Amnesty International said Denmark had become the 12th country in Europe to recognise non-consensual sex as rape.

“This is a great day for women in Denmark as it consigns outdated and dangerous rape laws to the dustbin of history and helps to end pervasive stigma and endemic impunity for this crime,” the campaign group’s Women’s Rights Researcher, Anna Blus, said.

The law will take effect on Jan. 1.

Reporting by Tim Barsoe; Editing by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen and Andrew Heavens