LA PAZ: Three suspected leaders of a failed coup against Bolivian President Luis Arce were remanded in custody on Friday for six months, the country’s top prosecutor said.
Former army chief Juan Jose Zuniga, former head of navy Juan Arnez and Alejandro Irahola, former head of the army’s mechanized brigade, will be held in a high-security prison not far from the capital La Paz.
“This pre-trial detention ordered by the judge will undoubtedly set a precedent, and is a good signal for the investigation to move forward,” said Attorney General Cesar Siles.
The three officers face charges of engaging in an armed uprising and terrorism and face up to 20 years in prison, Siles said on state television.
A total of 21 active, retired and civilian military personnel were arrested in connection with Wednesday’s attempted coup, in which troops and tanks were deployed in the heart of the capital, where they tried to break down a door of the presidential palace.
Zuniga said his goal was to “restructure democracy” in Bolivia. He was soon captured and the troops pulled back.
In an unusual twist, 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.
Arce denied the allegations. “How could one order or plan a coup on one’s self?” he told reporters.
Tensions in the Andean nation have been rising in recent weeks over surging prices, shortages of dollars and fuel, and a feud between Arce and powerful former president Evo Morales ahead of the 2025 election.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva announced Thursday that he would soon visit his “friend” Arce to support him following the unrest.
Russia “strongly” condemned the attempted military coup, its foreign ministry said Thursday, warning against “destructive foreign interference” in the South American country.
UN chief Antonio Guterres “welcomes the peaceful resolution of the situation,” his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said, having earlier expressed alarm over the abortive coup.
Condemnations of the coup bid also poured in from Madrid, Washington and across Latin America.
Bolivia, which has a long history of military coups, has in recent weeks been rocked by an economic crisis due to a drop in natural gas production, its main source of foreign currency until 2023.
The country has had to reduce fuel imports, and there is a shortage of dollars, which has triggered protests by powerful unions of merchants and freight transporters.
Gustavo Flores-Macias, a professor of government at Cornell University in New York state, said the failed coup was “a symptom of a significant and broad discontent” in the country.
For now, “we must carefully evaluate how widespread the discontent is within the armed forces,” he said, adding that Arce’s government was facing “a critical moment of weakness.”
Bolivia is also deeply polarized after years of political instability, and the ruling Movement Towards Socialism party is riven by internal conflict between supporters of Arce and his former mentor Morales.
Suspected leaders of failed Bolivian coup remanded in custody
https://arab.news/cpdgw
Suspected leaders of failed Bolivian coup remanded in custody
- A total of 21 active, retired and civilian military personnel arrested in connection with attempted coup
- Former army chief Juan Jose Zuniga claims he was following Bolivian President Luis Arce orders to boost his popularity
Turkiye arrests 67 after mob attacks Syrian properties
ISTANBUL: Turkish police were holding 67 people Monday after a mob went on the rampage in a central Anatolian city after a Syrian man was accused of harassing a child.
A group of men targeted Syrian businesses and properties in Kayseri on Sunday evening, with videos on social media showing a grocery store being set on fire.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the latest bout of violence against Turkiye’s large community of Syrian refugees.
“No matter who they are, setting streets and people’s houses on fire is unacceptable,” he said, warning that hate speech should not be used for political gains.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said the Syrian national, identified only by his initials as I.A., was caught by Turkish citizens and delivered to the police.
Yerlikaya said on X that the Syrian man was suspected of harassing a Syrian girl, who was his relative.
He said Turks who gathered in the area acted “illegally” and in a manner “that does not suit our human values,” damaging houses, shops and cars belonging to Syrians.
Sixty-seven people were detained after the attacks, he said.
“Turkiye is a state of law and order. Our security forces continue their fight against all crimes and criminals today, as they did yesterday.”
In one of the videos a Turkish man was heard shouting: “We don’t want any more Syrians! We don’t want any more foreigners.”
Local authorities called for calm and revealed the victim was a five-year-old Syrian national.
Turkiye, which hosts some 3.2 million Syrian refugees, has been shaken several times by bouts of xenophobic violence in recent years, often triggered by rumors spreading on social media and instant messaging applications.
In August 2021, groups of men targeted businesses and homes occupied by Syrians in the capital Ankara, after a brawl which cost the life of a 18-year-old man.
The fate of Syrian refugees is also a burning issue in Turkish politics, with Erdogan’s opponents in last year’s election promising to send them back to Syria.
Russia says captured two more east Ukrainian villages
- Gains come after Russia claimed two other villages over the weekend
- Moscow has announced the capture of a fresh village in Ukraine’s east almost every week this summer
MOSCOW: Russia said Monday it had captured two more east Ukrainian villages, as Moscow’s forces have continued to put pressure on the struggling Ukrainian army in several directions for weeks.
The gains came after Russia claimed two other villages over the weekend.
Following the weekend’s advances, Russia’s defense ministry said it took the village of Novopokrovske in the eastern Donetsk region and the village of Stepova Novoselivka in the north-east Kharkiv region.
Novopokrovske lies north of a village that Moscow took on Sunday, in an area of the front where Moscow has been steadily pushing westwards since it took the industrial hub of Avdiivka in February.
Moscow has announced the capture of a fresh village in Ukraine’s east almost every week this summer.
Stepova Novoselivka lies south-east of the city of Kupyansk, where Russia has also been on the advance for months.
Russian forces took Kupyansk at the start of their 2022 offensive but Ukrainian forces retook the city several months later.
In May, Russia launched a renewed local offensive in the Kharkiv region.
France detains two filmmakers over sexual abuse allegations
- Renewed #MeToo reckoning rocks France’s film industry
- Directors interrogated over alleged sexual abuse, some dating back to the 1980s
PARIS: French authorities Monday detained leading arthouse film directors Benoit Jacquot and Jacques Doillon for questioning over accusations of sexual abuse, as a renewed #MeToo reckoning rocks France’s film industry.
Their interrogation over the alleged abuse, some dating back to the 1980s and all of which they deny, comes as activists say cinema has too long provided cover for abuse.
An AFP journalist saw Jacquot, 77, and Doillon, 80, arrive at a Paris police station on Monday morning accompanied by their lawyers.
Judith Godreche, a 52-year-old actor and director, earlier this year formally accused Jacquot of rape and Doillon of sexual assault when she was a minor, accusations both men deny.
She has described Jacquot as having had an unhealthy “hold” over her during a relationship with him that started when she was 14, from 1986 to 1992.
And she has accused Doillon of groping her during an unplanned sex scene in one of his films when she was 15.
Several other actors have also filed complaints against both men.
Isild Le Besco, 41, has accused Jacquot of raping her between 1998 and 2007 during a toxic relationship that started when she was 16 and he was 52.
Julia Roy, a 34-year-old actor who has appeared in several of his films, has accused him of sexual assault in “a context of violence and moral constraint which lasted several years,” a source close to the case said.
Le Besco has also charged Doillon made advances during work sessions, while actor Anna Mouglalis alleged the filmmaker forcefully kissed her in 2011.
The directors’ lawyers said there had been no need to detain them in order to question them, and stressed they should be considered innocent until proven guilty.
Jacquot’s lawyer, Julia Minkowski, said her client would “finally be able to express himself before the law,” slamming what she called the “unacceptable excesses” of media coverage on the issue.
Doillon’s attorney, Marie Dose, said no legal criteria could justify his being detained for questioning “36 years” after the incident alleged by Godreche, adding he could have answered queries without being held in custody.
Sources close to the case said their interrogation could include a confrontation with those accusing them.
Godreche on Instagram said she was deeply moved.
“I’m crying,” she wrote.
“I don’t know if I have the strength, but I will have it. I will have it... For her,” she wrote, posting a picture of her teenage self next to Jacquot, 25 years her senior.
Her lawyer, Laure Heinich, did not wish to comment.
Since breaking her silence, Godreche has become a leading voice in France’s #MeToo movement.
After she appealed for a cinema oversight body, parliament in May voted to create a commission to investigate sexual and gender-based violence in the film industry and other cultural sectors.
The head of France’s top cinema institution, Dominique Boutonnat, stepped down on Friday after he was convicted of sexually assaulting his godson in 2020.
And cinema legend Gerard Depardieu, 75, is to stand trial in October for sexually assaulting two women.
He also risks a second trial after he was charged in 2020 with rape after actor Charlotte Arnould alleged he raped her in 2018 when she was 22 and anorexic.
He denies all claims.
Taliban to press international community on Afghanistan sanctions
- The two-day meeting began on Sunday and is the third such summit to be held in Qatar in a little over a year, but the first to include the Taliban authorities who seized power in Afghanistan in 2021
The two-day meeting began on Sunday and is the third such summit to be held in Qatar in a little over a year, but the first to include the Taliban authorities who seized power in Afghanistan in 2021.
Writing on X, formerly Twitter, senior foreign ministry official Zakir Jalaly said the Taliban government delegation would use Monday’s meetings to address “financial and banking sanctions” and the “challenges” these pose to Afghanistan’s economy.
His statement followed an opening salvo late Sunday by the head of the Taliban delegation, spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, as he addressed more than 20 envoys and UN officials.
“Afghans are asking why they are being ganged up on, on the basis of unilateral and multilateral sanctions,” Mujahid said as he questioned whether ongoing sanctions were “fair practice” after “wars and insecurity for almost half a century as a result of foreign invasions and interference.”
The talks are being held to discuss increasing engagement with the impoverished country of more than 40 million and a more coordinated response, including economic issues and counter-narcotics efforts.
In the aftermath of the Taliban’s return to power, the international community has wrestled with its approach to Afghanistan’s new rulers.
The Taliban government in Kabul has not been officially recognized by any other government since it took power.
It has imposed a strict interpretation of Islam, with women subjected to laws characterised by the UN as “gender apartheid.”
The inclusion of a Taliban delegation but the exclusion of civil society and women’s rights groups sparked outrage, with organizations accusing the UN and attendees of legitimising Taliban government policies.
“Caving into the Taliban’s conditions to secure their participation in the talks would risk legitimising their gender-based institutionalized system of oppression,” Amnesty International chief Agnes Callamard said in a statement ahead of the talks.
The Taliban authorities have repeatedly said the rights of all citizens are guaranteed under Islamic law.
Mujahid said diplomats should “find ways of interaction and understanding rather than confrontation,” despite “natural” differences in policy.
“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is keen on engaging constructively with Western nations as well,” Mujahid said.
“Like any sovereign state, we uphold certain religious and cultural values and public aspirations that must be acknowledged.”
India overhauls colonial-era laws with new criminal codes
- The three overhauled laws were passed last year during India’s previous parliament
- First person charged under the new codes was a street vendor blocking a footbridge in New Delhi
NEW DELHI: India on Monday implemented an overhaul of colonial-era criminal laws, praised as a “watershed” movement by the top judge but which critics said could worsen an already glacially slow pace of justice.
Amit Shah, the interior minister, said the codes would help India “become the world’s most modern justice delivery system.”
The three overhauled laws — the penal code, and codes relating to criminal procedure and evidence — were passed last year during India’s previous parliament, but only came into effect on Monday.
Chief Justice D. Y. Chandrachud said they “signify a watershed moment for our society.”
Laws dealing with sexual assault have been strengthened, while a previous law criminalizing sodomy has been removed.
Key changes include the amount of time police can hold a suspect rising from 15 days to 60, and, in some special cases, up to 90.
Previously it was up to a judge to decide if a case could proceed to trial, but the new laws bolster the power of the police to decide, something Supreme Court lawyer Nipun Saxena criticized.
“Judicial functions cannot be transferred to police,” Saxena said.
The code has also been modernized — requiring video recordings to be made at the scene of serious crimes, as well as updating admissible digital evidence.
But critics say the new laws could create confusion, as they will run parallel to those on trial charged under the previous system.
India already has a notoriously slow justice system, with millions of cases pending in the courts at any time.
Saxena warned the changes could increase the number of cases awaiting trial by “30-40 percent.”
Opposition parties said the laws were passed when more than 100 lawmakers were suspended from the house, meaning key issues were not debated.
“Many crucial safeguards have been omitted completely,” Saxena said, adding the new laws violate “at least four articles of the constitution and many important judgments of the Supreme Court.”
He said these relate to procedural safeguards, protection against illegal detention, and laws against self-incrimination.
At independence in 1947, India inherited the 19th-century penal code imposed by British rule, although it has been overhauled by previous parliaments.
“The claim that the changes decolonialize the criminal procedure code is spurious,” Saxena said.
The first person charged under the new codes was a street vendor blocking a footbridge in the capital New Delhi, the Times of India reported.
