MOSCOW: A leading Russian military expert has accused the Czech Republic of state racketeering.
Konstantin Sivkov, vice president of the Russian Academy of Rocket and Artillery Sciences and a captain of the first rank, said Prague had violated international law by sending tanks belonging to Morocco to Ukraine.
Rabat did not give consent for its tanks to be delivered to Kyiv for use in the conflict against Russia, he said. Instead, they were transferred by authorities in the Czech Republic, where they had been sent for repairs and modernization.
Sivkov described the Czech decision to send the tanks, which Morocco purchased from Belarus, to Ukraine as “a blatant act of state racketeering, if not an act of state terrorism.”
He told Arab News: “These tanks were transferred to a third party without the consent of Morocco, which paid for their repair and modernization.
“In essence, these tanks were reexported to Ukraine without the consent of the seller — that is, Belarus — which would never agree to transfer them to a belligerent country.”
Morocco purchased 148 T-72B tanks in 1999 and 2000. In the past two years it sent 130 to a Czech company for modernization but less than half have been returned and at least 20 of the 74 that remained in the Czech Republic were reportedly handed over to Ukraine by Czech authorities in violation of contractual agreements.
“We consider this egregious case as further evidence of the hostile anti-Russian course pursued by the Czech authorities, within the framework of which Prague does not hesitate to violate the basic norms of international law regulating the arms trade, and seize another’s property,” said Maria Zakharova, the director of the Information and Press Department of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“The sad experience of the Second World War is being repeated, when Czech enterprises, being part of the military-industrial complex of Nazi Germany, tirelessly supplied the Third Reich with weapons for the war against the USSR.”
Zakharova said Czech authorities have learned nothing from history and have turned their country into a platform for the repair and modernization of equipment sent to Ukraine, and suggested such actions confirm the main goal of Kiev’s Western allies is to prolong the conflict as long as possible to cause maximum damage to Russia.
Morocco signed contracts in 2021 with Czech company Excalibur Army to repair and modernize 130 of the Soviet-built T-72B tanks. Only 56 have been returned and Czech authorities have been accused of appropriating the remaining 74.
In January this year, the website MENA Defense reported that the Czech Republic had sent at least 20 of the tanks to Ukraine as military assistance. The report said the decision had been made by Morocco under pressure from Western countries during a NATO summit at America’s Ramstein Air Base in Germany on April 26, 2022.
However, some African-related news organizations on the Telegram messenger app reported that it was Czech and not Moroccan authorities that had transferred tanks to Ukraine, in violation of the terms of the contract between the countries
MENA Defense later published photos of disassembled and upgraded T-72Bs at the Excalibur Army plant in the town of Sternberk, taken during a visit by Czech Prime Minister Peter Fiala on Jan. 9 this
year. In one of the pictures, he is signing a gun on a tank on which Czech and Ukrainian flags are visible.
“This egregious fact shows once again that Western countries cannot be trusted in any case, but the very transfer of these tanks confirms that Kiev’s Western patrons have already exhausted their capabilities to arm the Ukrainian army with modern weapons,” said Sivkov.
“And as for the T-72B tanks, these are combat vehicles of the mid-1980s, of the last century, and will not give Ukraine any advantage on the battlefield.”
Morocco did not consent to transfer of its tanks to Ukraine, says Russian military expert
https://arab.news/chvws
Morocco did not consent to transfer of its tanks to Ukraine, says Russian military expert
- Konstantin Sivkov said authorities in the Czech Republic, where the tanks were being modernized, sent them to Kyiv in ‘a blatant act of state racketeering, if not an act of state terrorism’
- Morocco bought 148 T-72B tanks from Belarus two decades ago and recently sent 130 of them to a Czech company for modernization but less than half are said to have been returned
Indian man awakes on funeral pyre
- Doctors sent Rohitash Kumar, 25, to mortuary instead of doing postmortem after he fell ill
- Kumar was rushed to hospital on Friday for treatment but was confirmed dead later
JAIPUR: An Indian man awoke on a funeral pyre moments before it was to be set on fire after a doctor skipped a postmortem, medical officials said Saturday.
Rohitash Kumar, 25, who had speaking and hearing difficulties, had fallen sick and was taken to a hospital in Jhunjhunu in the western state of Rajasthan on Thursday.
Indian media reported he had had an epileptic seizure, and a doctor declared him dead on arrival at the hospital.
But instead of the required postmortem to ascertain the cause of death, doctors sent him to the mortuary, and then to be burned according to Hindu rites.
D. Singh, chief medical officer of the hospital, told AFP that a doctor had “prepared the postmortem report without actually doing the postmortem, and the body was then sent for cremation.”
Singh said that “shortly before the pyre was to be lit, Rohitash’s body started movements,” adding that “he was alive and was breathing.”
Kumar was rushed to hospital for a second time, but was confirmed dead on Friday during treatment.
Authorities have suspended the services of three doctors and the police have launched an investigation.
NATO chief discusses ‘global security’ with Trump
- NATO allies say keeping Kyiv in the fight against Moscow is key to both European and American security
Brussels: NATO chief Mark Rutte held talks with US President-elect Donald Trump in Florida on the “global security issues facing the alliance,” a spokeswoman said Saturday.
The meeting took place on Friday in Palm Beach, NATO’s Farah Dakhlallah said in a statement.
In his first term Trump aggressively pushed Europe to step up defense spending and questioned the fairness of the NATO transatlantic alliance.
The former Dutch prime minister had said he wanted to meet Trump two days after Trump was elected on November 5, and discuss the threat of increasingly warming ties between North Korea and Russia.
Trump’s thumping victory to return to the US presidency has set nerves jangling in Europe that he could pull the plug on vital Washington military aid for Ukraine.
NATO allies say keeping Kyiv in the fight against Moscow is key to both European and American security.
“What we see more and more is that North Korea, Iran, China and of course Russia are working together, working together against Ukraine,” Rutte said recently at a European leaders’ meeting in Budapest.
“At the same time, Russia has to pay for this, and one of the things they are doing is delivering technology to North Korea,” which he warned was threatening to the “mainland of the US (and) continental Europe.”
“I look forward to sitting down with Donald Trump to discuss how we can face these threats collectively,” Rutte said.
Indian man awakes on funeral pyre
JAIPUR, India: An Indian man awoke on a funeral pyre moments before it was to be set on fire after a doctor skipped a postmortem, medical officials said Saturday.
Rohitash Kumar, 25, who had speaking and hearing difficulties, had fallen sick and was taken to a hospital in Jhunjhunu in the western state of Rajasthan on Thursday.
Indian media reported he had had an epileptic seizure, and a doctor declared him dead on arrival at the hospital.
But instead of the required postmortem to ascertain the cause of death, doctors sent him to the mortuary, and then to be burned according to Hindu rites.
D. Singh, chief medical officer of the hospital, told AFP that a doctor had “prepared the postmortem report without actually doing the postmortem, and the body was then sent for cremation.”
Singh said that “shortly before the pyre was to be lit, Rohitash’s body started movements,” adding that “he was alive and was breathing.”
Kumar was rushed to hospital for a second time, but was confirmed dead on Friday during treatment.
Authorities have suspended the services of three doctors and the police have launched an investigation.
Fighting between armed sectarian groups in restive northwestern Pakistan kills at least 33 people
- Senior police officer said Saturday armed men torched shops, houses and government property overnight
- Although the two groups generally live together peacefully, tensions remain, especially in Kurram
PESHAWAR: Fighting between armed Sunni and Shiite groups in northwestern Pakistan killed at least 33 people and injured 25 others, a senior police officer from the region said Saturday.
The overnight violence was the latest to rock Kurram, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, and comes days after a deadly gun ambush killed 42 people.
Shiite Muslims make up about 15 percent of the 240 million people in Sunni-majority Pakistan, which has a history of sectarian animosity between the communities.
Although the two groups generally live together peacefully, tensions remain, especially in Kurram.
The senior police officer said armed men in Bagan and Bacha Kot torched shops, houses and government property.
Intense gunfire was ongoing between the Alizai and Bagan tribes in the Lower Kurram area.
“Educational institutions in Kurram are closed due to the severe tension. Both sides are targeting each other with heavy and automatic weapons,” said the officer, who spoke anonymously because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Videos shared with The Associated Press showed a market engulfed by fire and orange flames piercing the night sky. Gunfire can also be heard.
The location of Thursday’s attack was also targeted by armed men, who marched on the area.
Survivors of the gun ambush said assailants emerged from a vehicle and sprayed buses and cars with bullets. Nobody has claimed responsibility for the attack and police have not identified a motive.
Dozens of people from the district’s Sunni and Shiite communities have been killed since July, when a land dispute erupted in Kurram that later turned into general sectarian violence.
Key UN committee adopts resolution paving the way for a first-ever treaty on crimes against humanity
Key UN committee adopts resolution paving the way for a first-ever treaty on crimes against humanity
- The International Criminal Court was established to punish major perpetrators of war crimes
- ICC has 124 countries that are parties to it
UNITED NATIONS: A key UN General Assembly committee adopted a resolution late Friday paving the way for negotiations on a first-ever treaty on preventing and punishing crimes against humanity after Russia dropped amendments that would have derailed the effort.
The resolution was approved by consensus by the assembly’s legal committee, which includes all 193-member UN nations, after tense last-minute negotiations between its supporters and Russia that dragged through the day.
There was loud applause when the chairman of the committee gaveled the resolution’s approval. It is virtually certain to be adopted when the General Assembly puts it to a final vote on Dec. 4.
“Today’s agreement to start up negotiations on a much-needed international treaty is a historic achievement that was a long time coming,” Richard Dicker, Human Rights Watch’s senior legal adviser for advocacy, told The Associated Press.
“It sends a crucial message that impunity for the kinds of crimes inflicted on civilians in Ethiopia, Sudan, Ukraine, southern Israel, Gaza and Myanmar will not go unheeded,” he said.
The resolution calls for a time-bound process with preparatory sessions in 2026 and 2027, and three-week negotiating sessions in 2028 and 2029 to finalize a treaty on crimes against humanity.
Dicker said Russia’s proposed amendments left in question whether treaty negotiations would have been completed.
Russia’s deputy UN ambassador Maria Zabolotskaya said Russia withdrew the amendments “in a spirit of compromise.” But she said Russia “dissociates itself from consensus.”
“This, of course, does not mean that we are not ready to work on this crucial convention,” Zabolotskaya told the committee.
The International Criminal Court was established to punish major perpetrators of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide and it has 124 countries that are parties to it. The ICC says crimes against humanity are committed as part of a large-scale attack on civilians and it lists 15 forms including murder, rape, imprisonment, enforced disappearances, sexual slavery, torture and deportation.
But the ICC does not have jurisdiction over nearly 70 other countries.
There are global treaties that cover war crimes, genocide and torture — but there has been no specific treaty addressing crimes against humanity. And according to sponsors of the resolution, led by Mexico and Gambia and backed by 96 other countries, a new treaty will fill the gap.
Kelly Adams, legal adviser at the Global Justice Center, also called the resolution “a historic breakthrough” after many delays.
Pointing to “the proliferation of crimes against humanity around the world,” she expressed hope that a treaty will be “strong, progressive and survivor-centric.”
Amnesty International’s Secretary General Agnes Callamard expressed disappointment that the timeline had been extended until 2029, but said, “What’s important is that this process will deliver a viable convention.”
“It is long overdue and all the more welcome at a time when too many states are intent on wrecking international law and universal standards,” she said. “It is a clear sign that states are ready to reinforce the international justice framework and clamp down on safe havens from investigation and prosecution for perpetrators of these heinous crimes.”
After the resolution’s adoption, Gambia’s Counselor Amadou Jaiteh, who had introduced it hours earlier, called its approval “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make a difference,” to hope for a world without crimes against humanity, “and a world where voices of victims are heard louder than their perpetrators.”
