State Group Investigates Video Allegedly Showing Abuse by Ethiopian Army

The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission is investigating a video shared online that appears to show government troops abusing and shooting an ethnic Tigrayan boy.   

The four-minute video shows an alleged ethnic Tigray teenager being surrounded by men in Ethiopian army uniforms. The forces are seen abusing the boy, who they refer to as being from Abbi Adi, a location in the northern Tigray region of Ethiopia.   

In response to a query from VOA, the state-run Human Rights Commission said it was “gathering information regarding the incident.”  

In the video, the boy, with blood on his face, is seen sitting while the men in uniform surround him and threaten him with death. One of the men in uniforms calls for the boy to suffer rather than being killed immediately.   

They tell a teenage girl to forcefully feed the boy. Finally, one man steps forward and shoots the boy, and the video ends.  

VOA cannot independently verify the location of the incident or the identities of the individuals in the footage. Asked about the video, both the Ethiopian government communication minister and Ethiopian ministry of defense spokesperson declined to comment.  

A similar incident was reported by rights groups in January 2021 in which Ethiopian army members were seen executing a number of civilians in Mahibere Dego, in central Tigray.  

Rights group Amnesty International has verified the killing of 11 civilians in that incident.    

Forces from the rebel Tigray People’s Liberation Front also have been accused of committing human rights violations. In February 2022, Amnesty International reported that TPLF forces and their affiliates have killed more than a dozen people and gang raped women in towns of the Amhara region they occupied.   

The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission recently reported that more than 740 civilians were killed in the Tigray war between July 2021 and March 2022.  

Both the government and the TPLF deny accusations of rights violations, saying their operations do not target civilians.  

 

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Ukrainian Diaspora in LA Holds Weekly Flash Mobs in Support of Ukraine

Every week, the Ukrainian diaspora in Los Angeles get together to support their home in Ukraine. Angelina Bagdasaryan has the story of the two women behind one unique show of support in this report, narrated by Anna Rice.

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Program Aims to Help Ukrainian Refugees Come to US

Washington’s Uniting for Ukraine program aims to streamline how Ukrainian refugees come to the United States. From the U.S.-Mexico border, Genia Dulot reports for VOA on what the plan means for Ukrainian refugees.

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Pope Wants to Meet with Putin in Moscow

Pope Francis said in an interview published on Tuesday that he has asked for a meeting in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin to try to stop the war in Ukraine but had not received a reply.

The pontiff also told the Italian daily Corriere Della Sera that Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church, who has given the war his backing, “cannot become Putin’s altar boy.”

Francis told the newspaper that about three weeks into the war, he asked the Vatican’s top diplomat to send a message to Putin about setting up a meeting.

 

“We have not yet received a response and we are still insisting,” the pope said.

 

He added: “I fear that Putin cannot, and does not, want to have this meeting at this time. But how can you not stop so much brutality?”

 

Francis also said that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban had told him that Putin planned to end the war on May 9, which Russia celebrates as Victory Day marking Nazi Germany’s surrender in 1945.

 

The 85-year-old pontiff made an unprecedented visit to the Russian Embassy in Rome when the war started.

Information from Reuters and AFP was used in this report.

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Mariupol Mayor Says 100,000 Citizens Remain

The mayor of Ukraine’s besieged city of Mariupol said Tuesday 100,000 citizens remained in the city, while Ukrainian officials awaited the arrival of the first group of people who were able to leave a bombed-out steel plant.

Mayor Vadym Boychenko said those still in the city included some civilians trapped in the bunkers and tunnels under the Azovstal iron and steel works.  There are an estimated 2,000 Ukrainian troops holed up there as well.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Monday that only civilians had so far been able to leave the plant and that Ukraine’s government was continuing to work to negotiate an evacuation for soldiers holed up inside.  Evacuated civilians were heading to Zaporizhzhia, about 200 kilometers away, although their progress was reported to be slow.

Russia’s military said Monday that 69 people who came out of the steel mill chose to be evacuated to Ukraine-controlled territories, while 57 others asked to stay in areas controlled by Russia.  

Ukraine has previously accused Russia of taking Ukrainians to Russia against their will, a charge Moscow denies.  

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Greek state television Monday that the remaining civilians in the steel plant had been afraid to board buses because they believed they would be taken to Russia.  

Economic pressure

As soon as Tuesday the European Union is expected to propose a new package of sanctions on Russia, including limits on Russian oil. German officials indicated Monday that country could support a full EU embargo of Russian oil. 

“We have managed to reach a situation where Germany is able to bear an oil embargo,” German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said. 

Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address Monday, “We expect a new package from the European Union soon. This package should include clear steps to block Russia’s revenues from energy resources.”  

Tuesday U.S. President Joe Biden is visiting the state of Alabama where Lockheed Martin manufactures weapons including the Javelin anti-tank missiles that are among the arms the United States is sending to Ukraine.

The White House said Biden will also “deliver remarks highlighting his request to Congress to pass funding quickly to help Ukraine continue to succeed against Russian aggression and make sure the United States and our allies can replenish our own stocks of weapons to replace what we have sent to Ukraine.”

The CIA on Monday released instructions on social media explaining how Russians disaffected by the war could get in touch with U.S. intelligence.  

“We are providing Russian-language instructions on how to safely contact the CIA — via our dark web site or a reputable VPN — for those who feel compelled to reach us because of the Russian government’s unjust war,” a CIA spokesperson said.  

A senior U.S. defense official described continuing problems for Russia’s military, including poor command and control issues and low morale in many units.  

“We continue to see minimal at best progress by the Russians” in capturing the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine,” the official said, adding, “They’ll move in, declare victory and then pull out, allowing the Ukrainians to take it back.”  

The official described Russia’s advances as “very cautious, very tepid, very uneven,” adding that “in some places, quite frankly, the best word to describe it would be ‘anemic.'” 

VOA’s Jeff Seldin contributed to this report. Some information came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Press and Reuters. 

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India’s Muslims Mark Eid al-Fitr Amid Community Violence

Muslims across India marked Eid al-Fitr on Tuesday by offering prayers outside mosques, even as the celebrations this year came in the backdrop of a series of recent attacks against the community during the month of Ramadan.

“We will not have the same kind of festivity” this time, said Mohammad Habeeb ur Rehman, a civil engineer in India’s financial capital, Mumbai. “This is the most painful Eid with worst memories for Indian Muslims.”

Anti-Muslim sentiment and attacks have surged across the country in the last month, including stone throwing between Hindu and Muslim groups during religious processions and subsequent demolitions of a number of properties mostly belonging to Muslims by authorities.

The community, which makes up 14% of India’s 1.4 billion population, is reeling from vilification by hard-line Hindu nationalists who have long espoused an anti-Muslim stance. Some leaders of India’s ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party have tacitly supported the violence, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi has so far been silent about it. Eid al-Fitr is typically marked with communal prayers, celebratory gatherings around festive meals and new clothes, but celebrations in India for the past two years have been marred by COVID-19 restrictions.

In Indian-controlled Kashmir, the Muslim festival has been subdued for the past three years because of an unprecedented military lockdown after India stripped the region’s semi-autonomy in 2019, followed by the pandemic. The region also saw a rise in violence during Ramadan, with at least 20 militants, two civilians and five police and soldiers killed.

“As we prepare to celebrate Eid, a strong sense of collective loss jars at us,” said Bashir Ahmed, a businessman in Srinagar.

Kashmir is the Muslim-majority disputed region where a violent insurgency against Indian rule and New Delhi’s brutal crackdown has raged for over three decades. Tens of thousands of people have died in the conflict.

Meanwhile in the capital, New Delhi, hundreds assembled in the Jama Masjid, one of India’s largest mosques, while offering Eid prayers there for the first time in over two years due to pandemic restrictions. Families came together early on Tuesday morning while many people shared hugs and wishes.

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Spain Says PM Targeted by Pegasus Spyware

Spain said Monday that the mobile phones of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Defense Minister Margarita Robles were tapped using Pegasus spyware in an “illicit and external” intervention.

Their phones were infected last year by software owned by the Israeli-based firm NSO, which is the target of numerous investigations worldwide, according to a senior official.

“It is not a supposition, they are facts of enormous gravity,” said the minister of the presidency, Felix Bolanos.

“We are absolutely certain that it was an external attack…because in Spain, in a democracy like ours, all such interventions are carried out by official bodies and with judicial authorization,” he said.

“In this case, neither of the two circumstances prevailed, which is why we have no doubt that it was an external intervention. We want the judiciary to investigate,” Bolanos said.

He did not say whether the Spanish authorities had any indication yet where the attack originated from or whether another country was behind it.

Bolanos said that Sanchez’s phone had been tapped in May 2021 and Robles’ in June of the same year.

“A determined amount of data” was extracted from both phones, he added.

“There is no evidence that there was other tapping after those dates.”

Official phones targeted

The El Pais newspaper said the hackers extracted 2.6 gigabytes of information from Sanchez’s phone and nine megabytes from Robles’s phone, but the government still does not know “the nature of the stolen information and the degree of sensitivity.”

The attack targeted their work phones provided by the state, not their private phones.

Bolanos said experts were checking whether other members of the Spanish government were targets of spying involving Pegasus.

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Press Freedom Advocacy Group Says Propaganda a Global Threat to Free Media

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has also led to another casualty: freedom of the press in Russia, according to a new report by Reporters Without Borders.

The media advocacy group has ranked Russia near the bottom of its 2022 World Press Freedom index, which was issued Tuesday in conjunction with World Press Freedom Day. The annual index classifies a record 28 countries as “having very bad media freedom.”

The Reporters Without Borders, also known as RSF, says Moscow’s assault on a free press ramped up as Russian troops invaded Ukraine through such means as propaganda, laws aimed at discrediting credible media, website bans and arrests.

Russia is just one of several countries highlighted in the updated index whose governments have either curtailed or outright suppressed media freedoms. They include:

– Afghanistan, where the Taliban pledged to uphold press freedom after regaining power last year, but instead imposed restrictive laws and blocked female journalists from the airwaves, and where media outlets are facing financial hardship after bans on entertainment and advertising cut revenue;

– Hong Kong, where pro-democracy news sites have been shut down after a series of raids and arrests since Beijing approved a sweeping national security law in 2020 after massive anti-government protests the year before;

– Ethiopia, which has imposed communications blackouts and restricted access amid the war in the Tigray region;

– and Myanmar, where the 2021 coup that overthrew the civilian government led to journalists being detained, media licenses revoked, and many news outlets driven back into exile, marking a 10-year setback for media rights.

“There is a contagion effect with authoritarian regimes,” said Clayton Weimers, the U.S. deputy director of RSF, “and when we allow a culture of impunity to exist where authoritarians are allowed to go after journalists, harass them, arrest them, beat them in the streets and kill them, it has a knock-on effect. It emboldens that same authoritarian to do it again next time, and it emboldens other authoritarians who are watching to do the same.”

 

More troubling, Weimars told VOA, is the impact media polarization and disinformation has on society: “In 2022, it’s really undeniable that media polarization and information chaos are really fueling social divisions in ways that are pretty new.”

Democracies play an important role in safeguarding press freedom. But this rise in disinformation and propaganda is having a disastrous effect on independent news, RSF finds.

The 2022 index reveals the United States made a slight improvement compared with 2021, but journalists and media outlets are flagging barriers to coverage, including of state governments and protests.

“We typically find that this is either due to just a blatant disregard for the laws governing open records or meetings, or they’re simply misinterpreting them,” Beth Francesco, the senior director of the National Press Club Journalism Institute, told VOA. “An individual is misinterpreting whether a journalist can be present at a particular event.”

Richard Green contributed to this report.

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Sudanese Families Urge Military Leaders to Free Detainees  

Like dozens of other Sudanese who were members of resistance committees, Mohammed Mustafa has been held in Soba prison for more than a month without being charged with an offense.  

The 19-year-old’s mother, Zahra Abduwahab, said she could not celebrate the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday Monday knowing her son was suffering in prison.  

“We saw his name on the list of prisoners and we continued to take food and clothes for him, but they never allowed us to see him,” Abduwahab told VOA. “I tried to talk to them to allow me to just see him so I can be sure that he is safe and healthy, but they refused.”  

Resistance committees are informal, grassroots neighborhood networks of Sudanese residents that began organizing civil disobedience campaigns against the government of former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir in 2013. They played a key role in the Sudanese revolution.    

Security officers arrested Mustafa on March 31. Since then, the family has not been allowed to speak to him, Abdulwahab said. She said family members saw his name on a list of prisoners. 

Since last October’s military coup led by army commander Abdul Fattah al-Burhan, hundreds of pro-democracy activists and members of the resistance committee have been arrested and detained. So far, none has been charged in a court of law.  

On Sunday, three detainees were released from the Taibat women’s prison after being held for nearly a month. No explanation was given for their arrest or release.  

Yasmin Mohammed Bashir, 23, a member of the Fetihab resistance committee in Omdurman, was among the three women to be released. Bashir said she was arrested on April 11, but that authorities never gave a reason for her arrest. They also prevented her from seeing a lawyer or doctor.  

“When they arrested me, they were rough with me, and I was taken to a police station,” Bashir told South Sudan in Focus. “There was no case opened against me. The following day at around 11 a.m., we were relocated to the Taibat women’s prison with other female colleagues without any proper legal procedures.”  

Bashir’s arrest violates international human rights law, said Sudanese lawyer and human rights activist Abdulhameed Ibrahim.  

“This is an arbitrary detention which violates the law. Normally when you arrest someone, within 24 hours you need to level a case against him regardless of the charges. In this case, we regard it as an arbitrary detention and is politically motivated,” Ibrahim told VOA. 

Sudan is unlikely to release most detainees anytime soon, said Jihad Mashamoun, a Sudanese political analyst and honorary research fellow at the University of Exeter’s Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies.   

He predicted the authorities eventually would release detainees, “but now, I don’t see it happening,” he told VOA. “The military has released a few as a cosmetic approach, only to show to the international community that they are committed to dialogue. The military believes they could use this to buy time until the next election.” 

General elections had been scheduled for July 2023, but Mashamoun said coup leaders have thrown the timing into question.  

Nahid Jabrallah, who heads the Sudanese nongovernmental organization SIMA that advocates for women’s rights, said all detainees should be quickly released or charged.  

Whatever happens next, pro-democracy activists will not be deterred, Jabrallah said. 

“The resistance committee, families and the entire Sudanese people are not afraid of these detention activities. They will continue to persist on the path of the struggle, despite the aggression used against them.”  

Last week, a Sudanese court ordered the release of Khalid Omer Yousif, the former minister of cabinet affairs, and five other political detainees who were charged with different offenses, including dishonesty. The presiding judge said there was not enough evidence to convict the former Bashir-era officials.  

Carol Van Dam  contributed to this report.

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Body in Barrel Exposed as Level of Nevada’s Lake Mead Drops 

A body inside a barrel was found over the weekend on the the newly exposed bottom of Nevada’s Lake Mead as drought depletes one of the largest U.S. reservoirs. Officials say the discovery could be the first of more grim finds. 

“There is a very good chance as the water level drops that we are going to find additional human remains,” Las Vegas police Lt. Ray Spencer told KLAS-TV on Monday. 

The lake’s level has dropped so much that the uppermost water intake at drought-stricken Lake Mead became visible last week. The reservoir on the Colorado River behind Hoover Dam has become so depleted that Las Vegas is now pumping water from deeper within Lake Mead, which also stretches into Arizona. 

Personal items found inside the barrel indicated the person died more than 40 years ago in the 1980s, Spencer said. 

He declined to discuss a cause of death and declined to describe the items found, saying the investigation is ongoing. 

Police plan to reach out to experts at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas to analyze when the barrel started eroding. The Clark County coroner’s office will try to determine the person’s identity. 

Boaters spotted the barrel Sunday afternoon. National Park Service rangers searched an area near the lake’s Hemenway Harbor and found the barrel containing skeletal remains. 

Lake Mead and Lake Powell upstream are the largest human-made reservoirs in the U.S., part of a system that provides water to more than 40 million people, tribes, agriculture and industry in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming and across the southern border in Mexico. 

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Report: Draft Opinion Shows US Supreme Court to Overturn Abortion Rights

In a rare leak from the highest court in the U.S., Politico reported it has obtained a draft Supreme Court opinion showing a majority of the court in favor of striking down the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide. 

The document, labeled as a “1st Draft” by Justice Samuel Alito and circulated among the other justices in February, represents a breach in the highly secretive deliberation process among the justices in which their decisions are unknown until the rulings are officially issued. 

Those positions can change during the deliberation process, even after the drafting of a majority opinion, and the final ruling is expected before the court finishes its current term in late June or early July. 

At stake is the issue of abortion rights in the United States, which since the Roe decision have been protected on a national level and reaffirmed in the 1992 case Planned Parenthood v. Casey. 

A Supreme Court spokesperson declined to comment. 

Public opinion polls in show a majority of the U.S. public favors abortions being legal either in most or all cases. 

“If the Supreme Court does indeed issue a majority opinion along the lines of the leaked draft authored by Justice Alito, the shift in the tectonic plates of abortion rights will be as significant as any opinion the Court has ever issued,” American Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Anthony Romero said in a statement late Monday. “It would deprive half the nation of a fundamental, constitutional right that has been enjoyed by millions of women for over 50 years.” 

Alito is one of six conservative justices on the nine-person court and overturning Roe has been a longtime goal of social conservatives in the United States. 

“Roe was egregiously wrong from the start. Its reasoning was exceptionally weak, and the decision has had damaging consequences,” the draft opinion says. 

The justices are deciding on the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which involves the state of Mississippi’s ban on most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. 

A federal appeals court ruled against Mississippi, saying its timeframe went against the standards set in Roe and Casey that allow a mother to terminate a pregnancy without state interference before a fetus is viable outside the womb. 

The draft opinion rejects the limits on state authority in the Roe and Casey decisions, saying state lawmakers should be the ones to decide what is legal in their state. 

“Abortion presents a profound moral question,” the draft says. “The Constitution does not prohibit citizens of each State from regulating or prohibiting abortion. Roe and Casey arrogated that authority. We now overrule those decisions and return that authority to the people and their elected representatives.” 

Politico said it received a copy of the 98-page draft decision “from a person familiar with the court’s proceedings in the Mississippi case along with other details supporting the authenticity of the document.” 

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters. 

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6 Killed as Congo Rebels Clash

Fighting between armed groups in Congo’s troubled east has left six dead, just days after a first round of peace talks ended, local sources and a researcher said on Monday.  

Clashes in South Kivu province’s Fizi territory on Saturday pitted groups from the Banyamulenge, a Congolese Tutsi community, against an ethnic militia called the Biloze Bishambuke Self-Defence Force, or FABB. 

Scores of rebel groups are active in east Congo, many of them a legacy of two regional wars a quarter century ago. 

Gady Mukiza, administrative head of Minembwe district, said, “FABB elements reacted to what they considered to be a provocation” by three groups of Banyamulenge forces accused of seizing two villages in a traditionally neutral zone. 

In addition to the six killed, several people were wounded, Mukiza said. 

Two of the three Banyamulenge groups — the Twirwaneho and Ngumino factions — attended peace talks in Nairobi, Kenya, last week. 

Nearly 30 delegates representing a number of armed groups in Ituri and North and South Kivu provinces joined the parley, along with envoys sent by President Felix Tshisekedi. 

The five-day session, which ended on Wednesday, is expected to be followed by more talks in the coming weeks. 

“The Nairobi meetings unfortunately cannot put a stop to clashes between armed groups on Fizi territory,” said Josaphat Musamba, a researcher at Bukavu’s Institute of Higher Education. “The Congolese state is asking armed groups … to join the disarmament and rehabilitation program,” but in Fizi, groups are battling to “occupy territory.” 

Musamba added that FABB was apparently angry it had not been invited to the Nairobi talks. 

Millions of people died from violence, disease or starvation in the 1996-1997 and 1998-2003 Congo wars. 

The conflict enmeshed countries from around east and central Africa and spawned myriad rebel groups, which typically claim to defend the interests of ethnic communities. 

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Mali’s Junta Breaks Off From Defense Accords with France 

Mali’s ruling junta announced Monday it was breaking off from defense accords with its former colonial ruler France, condemning “flagrant violations” of its national sovereignty by the French troops there.   

The announcement — threatened several times over the past few weeks — was the latest confirmation of deteriorating relations between the junta in Mali and France. 

“For some time now, the government of the Republic of Mali notes with regret a profound deterioration in military cooperation with France,” spokesman Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga said in a televised statement.  

Maiga cited multiple instances of French forces having violated the country’s airspace.   

He referred to the June 2021 decision by France to end joint operations with Malian forces. 

And he mentioned France’s decision taken in February to pull out its troops from Mali.  

The Malian authorities said they had informed Paris of the decision Monday afternoon. 

France has not so far issued an official reaction to the junta’s announcement.  

Tensions between France and the junta in Mali, which seized power in August 2020, had been rising for some time.  

The agreements Mali has ended were those that set the framework for France’s intervention in Mali in 2014. 

They were signed a year after French troops deployed a large force to help Mali’s armed forces stop a jihadist offensive there. 

France’s relationship with Mali cooled as the junta resisted international pressure to set a timetable for a swift return to democratic, civilian rule.   

Paris has also objected to the regime’s rapprochement with the Kremlin.   

Both France and the United States have accused mercenaries from the Kremlin-linked security firm Wagner of deploying in Mali, where the junta claims the Russians are just military instructors helping to restore order.   

Vast swathes of Mali lie beyond government control because of the jihadist insurgency, which began in 2012 before spreading three years later to neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger.  

The military junta seized power in the impoverished and landlocked Sahel state following protests over the government’s handling of the war against the jihadists.   

The conflict led to thousands of military and civilian deaths and forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes.   

The junta initially promised to restore civilian rule, but it failed to meet an earlier commitment to West African bloc ECOWAS to hold elections in February this year, prompting regional sanctions. 

On Sunday, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a swift return to civilian rule in Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso, all currently ruled by military regimes. 

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Amazon Workers in NYC Reject Union in a Reversal of Fortune

Amazon warehouse workers overwhelmingly rejected a union bid on Monday, dealing a blow to organizers who last month pulled off the first successful U.S. organizing effort in the retail giant’s history. 

This time around, warehouse workers cast 618 votes — or about 62% — against the union, giving Amazon enough support to fend off a second labor win and raise questions as to whether the first victory was just a fluke. 

According to the National Labor Relations Board, which oversees the process, 380 workers — or 38% — voted in favor of the grassroots union. Turnout was 61%, with about 1,600 workers eligible to vote, according to a voter list provided by Amazon. 

The few ballots that were challenged by either the company or the nascent Amazon Labor Union, which led the organizing effort, were not enough to sway the outcome. Both parties have until next Monday to file objections to the election. The ALU is already planning to object, said Seth Goldstein, a union attorney who provides pro bono legal assistance to the group. 

Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said in a statement the company was glad workers at the warehouse “were able to have their voices heard.” 

“We look forward to continuing to work directly together as we strive to make every day better for our employees,” Nantel said. 

A separate election held last month gave the ALU a surprise victory when workers at a different Staten Island facility voted in favor of unionizing. That was a first for Amazon in the U.S. 

Monday’s defeat will surely sting. A second labor win was expected to fuel more organizing at the nation’s second largest employer and cement the power and influence of the ALU. 

But despite the momentum after the first win, it was unclear whether the ALU would be able to replicate its success. Organizers said they had lost some support at the warehouse after filing for an election in February because they directed more energy to the nearby facility that voted to unionize last month. There were also fewer organizers working at the facility — roughly 10 compared with the nearly 30 employed at the other warehouse. 

Despite the loss, Chris Smalls, the fired Amazon worker who leads the ALU, wrote on Twitter Monday that he was proud of the organizers who participated, saying they had a tougher challenge after the group’s prior win. 

“Nothing changes we organize!” Smalls tweeted. “Do not be discouraged or sad be upset and talk to your coworkers.” 

The same obstacles that plagued the effort the first time, including Amazon’s aggressive anti-union tactics, were at play again. In the lead-up to the election, Amazon continued to hold mandatory meetings to persuade its workers to reject the union effort, posted anti-union flyers and launched a website urging workers to “vote NO.” 

Goldstein, the attorney working with the ALU, argues Amazon stepped up its “union-busting” campaign after the last election, disciplined organizers for engaging in union activities and barred them from displaying a pro-union sign in the breakroom. The union is also taking issue with the retailer’s use of mandatory anti-union meetings for its workers. The NLRB has allowed companies to mandate such meetings, but the labor board’s top prosecutor is currently trying to get them outlawed. 

The union is also eyeing Amazon’s pockets. It’s currently circulating a petition that calls on New York Attorney General Letitia James to investigate Amazon’s eligibility for tax credits in the state. On the national scene, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders is asking President Joe Biden to cut off Amazon’s contracts with the government for what the senator calls its “illegal anti-union activity.” Smalls is expected to attend a Senate hearing on the issue, which is slated to be held on Thursday. 

John Logan, director of labor and employment studies at San Francisco State University, said he wasn’t entirely surprised by the union’s loss. He believed that the ALU was stretched thin. A second union victory would have solidified the union’s position, he said, but the results in many ways were more important to Amazon than the fledgling labor group. 

“A second defeat could have proved fatal to the company’s efforts to stop the organizing from spreading like wildfire, just as it has done at Starbucks,” Logan said. But he noted there’s no question that “the ALU’s organizing campaign will continue and that labor activism at Amazon will continue to spread across the country.” 

Regardless of Monday’s outcome, it was bound to be a tough road ahead for the ALU. Amazon has disputed the first election, arguing in a filing with the NLRB that the vote was tainted by organizers and by the board’s regional office in Brooklyn that oversaw the election. The company says it wants a redo election, but pro-union experts believe it’s an effort to delay contract negotiations and potentially blunt some of the organizing momentum. A separate NLRB regional office in the Southwest will hold a hearing later this month over the company’s objections. 

Meanwhile, the final outcome of a separate union election in Bessemer, Alabama, is still up in the air with 416 outstanding challenged ballots hanging in the balance. Hearings to review those ballots are expected to begin in the coming weeks. 

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Trump Election Probe Special Grand Jury Selected in Atlanta

A special grand jury was selected Monday for the investigation into whether former President Donald Trump and others illegally tried to influence the 2020 election in Georgia. 

The investigation has been underway since early last year, and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis took this unusual step of requesting the special grand jury to help it along. She noted in a letter to the chief judge that the special grand jury would be able to issue subpoenas to people who have refused to cooperate otherwise. 

The chief judge ordered the special grand jury to be seated for a period of up to a year, beginning Monday. Of the pool of about 200 people called from the county master jury list, 26 were chosen to serve — 23 grand jurors and three alternates. Special grand juries focus on investigating a single topic and making recommendations to the district attorney, who then decides whether to seek an indictment from a regular grand jury. 

Because of the intense public interest in this case, the court made arrangements for parts of Monday’s selection process to be broadcast live. Now that the special grand jury has been selected, however, everything it does will happen in secret. 

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, who has been tasked with overseeing the special grand jury, told the people summoned to the jury pool that they would not be hearing a trial, but would instead be serving on an investigative special grand jury looking into actions surrounding the 2020 general election. 

“Now it’s time for 26 members of our community to participate in that investigation,” McBurney said. 

Willis has confirmed that her team is looking into a January 2021 phone call in which Trump pushed Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” the votes needed for him to win the state.  

Trump has denied wrongdoing in the phone call.  

Willis has also said they are looking at a November 2020 phone call between U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham and Raffensperger, the abrupt resignation of the U.S. attorney in Atlanta on January 4, 2021, and comments made during December 2020 Georgia legislative committee hearings on the election. 

McBurney said the grand jurors won’t begin meeting until June and won’t meet every week. They will be notified in advance of when they need to be there, and there’s some wiggle room if they can’t make it to every session as only 16 are needed for a quorum, he said. 

McBurney then led the 200 potential grand jurors in swearing an oath to give truthful answers about their qualifications. 

He explained that grand jurors must be at least 18, must be U.S. citizens and must have lived in Fulton County for the past six months. Anyone who’s an elected official or has been for the last two years, anyone convicted of a felony or anyone who’s served on a Fulton County jury or grand jury in the last year is not qualified to serve, McBurney said. 

The investigation involves actions surrounding the 2020 general election, and it is important that grand jurors “bring an open mind to the process,” the judge said. Anyone who is already convinced that a crime did or did not happen should say they have a conflict when asked, McBurney said. 

After identifying other potential conflicts — for example, plans to be out of the country for an extended time, having to care for someone after a major surgery — McBurney went through the first 100 potential jurors and asked them individually — addressing them only by number — to say whether they have a conflict. A quarter of the grand jurors said they had a conflict and the judge and prosecutors began questioning them privately to determine whether they could be excused. Then he closed the courtroom so he and prosecutors could speak privately with those selected. 

While the district attorney’s office will generally be steering the investigation, grand jurors will be able to question witnesses who appear before them. If they believe there are other witnesses they would like to hear from or documents they would like to see, they have the power to issue subpoenas. 

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Turkey Becomes an Oasis for Russian Exiles

Turkey is one of the few countries where Russian airplanes can fly and Russian passport holders can enter without visas, making it a prime destination for Russians seeking to escape both Putin’s crackdowns and the effects of economic sanctions. For VOA, Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul.

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Malawi Police Arrest Nurse for Harassing President Online 

Free speech advocates in Malawi have condemned the arrest of a nurse for insulting President Lazarus Chakwera during a WhatsApp debate on governance.

Malawi police said 39-year-old Chidawawa Mainje was charged with cyber harassment and faces up to five years in prison and a fine of $2,500 if found guilty.

Mainje was arrested after using an expletive on the instant messaging service about how the president has done nothing to change the lives of people who voted for him.

Police say Mainje’s arrest is in line with the Electronic Transactions and Cyber Security Act 2016, which prohibits insulting someone online.

Harry Namwaza is the deputy spokesperson for the Malawi Police Service.

“You can’t enjoy your freedom or your rights while at the same time you are infringing the rights of others. It doesn’t work like that. There should be a responsibility. So, it’s a criminal offense. That’s why we have arrested him,” Namwaza said.

The nurse’s arrest comes a week after police in the capital, Lilongwe, arrested a 51-year-old man for allegedly insulting the minister of labor in his WhatsApp group post.

Michael Kayiyatsa is the executive director for the rights group, Center for Human Rights and Rehabilitation.

He said the arrest is a violation of freedom of expression.

“The guy who was arrested was expressing an opinion which was not favorable to the president. But it’s within his right to express such views, and he is protected by Section 35 of our constitution,” Kayiyatsa said. “So, the best that police should have done is simply to provide advice, but this is somebody expressing their views.”

Kayiyatsa said there is a need for cybercrime legislation to be reviewed and at the same time clarified in some sections, adding that politicians could use the measure to silence dissenting views.

“Especially Section 86, which is talking about offensive communication that needs to be reviewed,” Kayiyatsa said. “And also, there is need for clarity, because in the absence of clarity, such provisions can be abused to target online users, which is worrisome.”

According to Kayiyatsa, more than 15 people have been arrested for contravening the legislation by speaking ill of government officials and associates since Chakwera took power two years ago.

Another human rights activist, Billy Banda of Malawi Watch, said he feels the police are now being used to help shield the current administration from public criticism.

“The police are not entitled in any way to sound like they are protecting one particular individual,” Banda said. “Are the police able to look back? We had the former president, professor Peter Mutharika. He was insulted. He never in any way arrested or directed anybody to be arrested.”

Namwaza said authorities are just reinforcing the law, regardless of one’s status in society.

“Of course, people may have different opinions, but we are bound to ensure that laws are being respected, laws are being enforced,” Namwaza said. “So, we are just doing our job.”

The National Organization of Nurses and Midwives in Malawi warned on Sunday that it would stage a nationwide strike if the police did not release Mainje unconditionally.

The leader of the organization, however, announced later that the group reversed its position, saying it observed that Mainje was making the remarks in his personal capacity and not on behalf of the organization.

In the meantime, police said Mainje is expected to appear in court Wednesday.

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NYPD Veteran Convicted of Assaulting Officer in Capitol Riot 

A federal jury on Monday convicted a New York Police Department veteran of assaulting an officer during the U.S. Capitol riot, rejecting his claim that he was defending himself when he tackled the officer and grabbed his gas mask. 

Thomas Webster, a 20-year NYPD veteran, was the first Capitol riot defendant to be tried on an assault charge and the first to present a jury with a self-defense argument. 

Jurors deliberated for less than three hours before they convicted Webster of all six counts in his indictment, including a charge that he assaulted Metropolitan Police Department officer Noah Rathbun with a dangerous weapon, a metal flagpole. The assault charge alone is punishable by up to 20 years in prison, although sentencing guidelines likely will recommend a significantly shorter prison term. 

Webster, 56, testified that he was trying to protect himself from a “rogue cop” who punched him in the face. He also accused Rathbun of instigating the confrontation. 

Rathbun testified that he didn’t punch or pick a fight with Webster as a violent mob attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, disrupting Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential election victory over then-President Donald Trump. 

Two jurors who spoke to reporters after the verdict said videos capturing the officer’s assault from multiple angles were crucial evidence rebutting Webster’s self-defense argument. 

“I guess we were all surprised that he would even make that defense argument,” said a juror who spoke on condition of anonymity. “There was no dissention among us at all. We unanimously agreed that there was no self-defense argument here at all.” 

Another juror, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said Webster’s self-defense claim “just didn’t stack up.” 

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta is scheduled to sentence Webster on Sept. 2. 

Webster’s jury trial was the fourth for a Capitol riot case. The first three defendants to get a jury trial also were convicted of all charges in their respective indictments. A judge decided two other cases without a jury, acquitting one of the defendants and partially acquitting the other. 

Webster, who wore a mask in court, showed no obvious reaction to the verdict. 

“We’re disappointed,” defense attorney James Monroe said after the verdict, “but we recognized from the beginning that folks here (in Washington, D.C.) were quite traumatized by what transpired on Jan. 6. And I think we saw some of this expressed today.” 

Prosecutors asked for Webster to be detained, but the judge agreed to let him remain free until his sentencing. He’ll continue to be monitored with an ankle bracelet. The judge said it was a “close call” whether to jail him immediately but noted that he has complied with current conditions of release and doesn’t have any prior convictions. 

Webster drove alone to Washington from his home near Goshen, New York, on the eve of the Jan. 6 “Stop the Steal” rally. He was wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying a U.S. Marine Corps flag on a metal pole when he approached the Capitol, after listening to Trump address thousands of supporters. 

Webster said he went to the Capitol to “petition” lawmakers to “relook” at the results of the 2020 presidential election. But he testified that he didn’t intend to interfere with Congress’ joint session to certify the Electoral College vote. 

Rathbun’s body camera captured Webster shouting profanities and insults before they made any physical contact. Webster said he was attending his first political protest as a civilian and expressing his free speech rights when he yelled at officers behind a row of bike racks. 

The body camera video shows that Webster slammed one of the bike racks at Rathbun before the officer reached out with an open left hand and struck the right side of Webster’s face. Webster said it felt as though he had been hit by a freight train. 

“It was a hard hit, and all I wanted to do was defend myself,” Webster said. 

Rathbun said he was trying to move Webster back from a security perimeter that he and other officers were struggling to maintain. 

After Rathbun struck his face, Webster swung a metal flag pole at the officer in a downward chopping motion, striking a bike rack. Rathbun grabbed the broken pole from Webster, who charged at the officer, tackled him to the ground and grabbed his gas mask. 

Rathbun testified that he started choking as the chin strap on his gas mask pressed against his throat. Webster said he grabbed Rathbun by the gas mask because he wanted the officer to see his hands. 

Rathbun reported a hand injury from a separate encounter with a rioter inside the Capitol. He didn’t report any injuries caused by Webster, but jurors saw photos of leg bruises that Rathbun attributed to his confrontation with the retired officer. 

Webster faced counts of assaulting, resisting or impeding an officer using a dangerous weapon; civil disorder; entering and remaining in restricted grounds with a dangerous weapon; disorderly and disruptive conduct in restricted grounds with a dangerous weapon; engaging in physical violence in restricted grounds with a dangerous weapon; and engaging in an act of physical violence on Capitol grounds. 

Webster retired from the NYPD in 2011 after 20 years of service, which included a stint on then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s private security detail. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1985 to 1989 before joining the NYPD in 1991. 

More than 780 people have been charged with riot-related federal crimes. The Justice Department says more than 245 of them have been charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement. More than 100 officers were injured. 

Two other defendants testified at their trials. Dustin Byron Thompson, an Ohio man who was convicted by a jury of obstructing Congress from certifying Biden’s presidential victory, said he was following orders from Trump. A judge hearing testimony without a jury acquitted Matthew Martin, a New Mexico man who said outnumbered police officers allowed him and others to enter the Capitol through the Rotunda doors. 

Two riot defendants didn’t testify at their trials before jurors convicted them of all charges, including interfering with officers. One of them, Thomas Robertson, was an off-duty police officer from Rocky Mount, Virginia. The other, Texas resident Guy Wesley Reffitt, also was convicted of storming the Capitol with a holstered handgun. 

U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump nominee who acquitted Martin of all charges, also presided over a bench trial for New Mexico elected official Couy Griffin. McFadden convicted Griffin of illegally entering restricted Capitol grounds but acquitted him of engaging in disorderly conduct. 

 

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Supreme Court: ‘Boston’s Refusal to Fly Christian Flag Unconstitutional’

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Boston may not deny a Christian group the ability to fly a flag bearing the image of a cross outside City Hall. One of the three flagpoles there is occasionally used by secular organizations to celebrate the city’s history and diversity. 

The unanimous decision was fundamentally about free speech rights. The court said the city created a public forum open to everyone when the city allowed organizations to utilize the flagpole in front of City Hall, which was designed to promote diversity. This was intended for commemorative events and the court ruled that denying this same treatment to the Christian flag was a violation of free speech.

“When the government encourages diverse expression — say, by creating a forum for debate — the First Amendment prevents it from discriminating against speakers based on their viewpoint,” Justice Stephen Breyer wrote in the decision.

“The city’s lack of meaning­ful involvement in the selection of flags or the crafting of their messages leads us to classify the flag raisings as pri­vate, not government, speech — though nothing prevents Boston from changing its policies going forward,” Breyer added.

Harold Shurtleff, director of Camp Constitution sued the city in 2018 who denied him access to use one of the three flagpoles, two of them are reserved for the American flag and the Massachusetts state flag. Boston argued that the flags displayed are government speech that may be chosen by city officials.

The court questioned the city’s control of the flag messages considering that Boston approved 284 requests to fly a flag with no denial except for the one made by the religious group in 2017.

Camp Constitution’s case was represented by conservative Christian legal group Liberty Counsel who fought to protect the camp’s mission “to enhance understanding of our Judeo-Christian moral heritage” and “free enterprise.”

The Biden administration backed the Christian group in the case and argued in court papers that since Boston’s flagpole was treated as a forum accessible to all, it had illegitimately discriminated against Camp Constitution in their view.

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Conservatives, Progressives Raise Concerns About Biden Approach to Ukraine

U.S. President Joe Biden has strong bipartisan support in Congress for his latest $33 billion aid request for Ukraine, in addition to the $13.6 billion in economic, humanitarian and military assistance already sent earlier this year.

In recent visits to Ukraine and Poland, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Congress was working quickly to pass Biden’s request, calling the aid package “an enormous amount of money” that lawmakers were “very proud” to provide.

But a handful of lawmakers on both the right and the left have raised concerns about the expansion of presidential authority to support a conflict in Europe. While Biden has made clear the U.S. will never commit ground forces to Ukraine to openly oppose Russia, the massive amount of support has revived questions about presidential war powers and the scope of American involvement overseas following two decades of war in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Ten of the 206 House Republicans voted against the Ukraine Lend-Lease Act, legislation that eased restrictions on Biden’s ability to transfer U.S. weapons to Ukraine. No Democrats voted against the bill.

Conservative Congressman Thomas Massie explained his vote against Lend-Lease, saying language of the legislation defined defensive weapons too broadly.

“Congress just authorized Biden to transfer virtually any weapon of war, other than a nuclear weapon, to Ukraine,” he tweeted. “Insane!”

Opponents of the Lend-Lease Act also expressed concerns that the flow of weapons to Ukraine could deplete the United States’ own stockpiles. They said the massive assistance to Ukraine should be more carefully considered when there are domestic concerns about rising costs due to inflation.

“President Biden is requesting billions more in aid for Ukraine that could potentially draw our military into another trillion-dollar conflict half a world away,” Rep. Tom Tiffany said in a statement after the vote.

“If the last two decades have taught us anything, it is that it’s always much easier to get our country into a foreign conflict than it is to get out. Intervening in an overseas military engagement — whether through the deployment of U.S. personnel or a blank-check for military assistance — is among the most serious decisions an American leader can make. It is a step that should only be taken when clear, vital national security interests of the United States are at stake,” he added.

Last month, 15 Republicans and two progressive Democrats voted against a ban of Russian oil and energy imports. Both Republicans and Democrats opposed to the ban said the move could not be made without considering the impact on Europe and without developing a better strategy for American energy independence.

Last week, four progressive Democrats and four conservative Republicans also voted against a non-binding resolution that would have given the Biden administration the ability to seize the assets of Russian oligarchs.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat, tweeted that oligarchs “should suffer huge financial losses” but said she voted against the legislation because it would give Biden the ability to “violate the 4th Amendment, seize private property and determine where it should go — all without due process.”

The 4th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects against unreasonable search and seizure of property by the government. Ocasio-Cortez said the bill “sets a risky new precedent in the event of future presidents who may seek to abuse an expansion of power.”

Ocasio-Cortez and other progressives have largely supported Biden’s approach to the unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine while continuing to emphasize there can be no military solution to the crisis.

Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee has kept the issue of presidential war powers in public discussion for more than two decades since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. In the wake of those attacks, Congress passed the 2001 and 2002 Authorizations for the Use of Military Force (AUMFs), authorizing U.S. presidents to take military action.

Lee and other lawmakers have noted that presidents of both parties interpreted AUMFs so broadly they were able to take action against individuals and groups that were not directly involved in the attacks and, in some cases, didn’t even exist.

With the stakes for confrontation with Russia so high, there has been concern with some lawmakers that U.S. aid could escalate the situation. Lee, who strongly condemned the Russian invasion in February, said in a statement, “I am confident in President Biden’s repeated commitment to keep U.S. military personnel out of any conflict in Ukraine itself. Should the ongoing situation compel the President to consider U.S. military intervention in addition to these sanctions, however, Congress must be consulted prior to any authorization as per the War Powers Resolution of 1973. The American people deserve to have a say before we become involved in yet another foreign conflict.”

But in Poland this week, Lee made clear she is in support of U.S. assistance to Ukraine, viewing it as a key tool in maintaining U.S. interests abroad.

“This is a moment in history — it’s a defining moment, quite frankly, whether or not the world goes forward with our democratic principles or moves backwards, which is what Putin is attempting to do,” Lee told reporters.

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EU Says Apple Pay May Violate EU Antitrust Laws

The European Union on Monday accused Apple of abusing its dominant Apple Pay market position to prevent other companies from competing in contactless payment technologies. 

“Apple has built a closed ecosystem around its devices and its operating system, iOS. And Apple controls the gates to this ecosystem, setting the rules of the game for anyone who wants to reach consumers using Apple devices,” EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager said. “By excluding others from the game, Apple has unfairly shielded its Apple Pay wallets from competition.” 

The 27-nation bloc’s executive arm, the European Commission, said Apple’s practice “has an exclusionary effect on competitors and leads to less innovation and less choice for consumers for mobile wallets on iPhones.”  

The commission has not disclosed what, if any, fines could be levied against Apple should it be found in violation of antitrust laws. 

In response, Apple said it would cooperate with the Commission. 

The company said it “will continue to engage with the Commission to ensure European consumers have access to the payment option of their choice in a safe and secure environment.”  

The Commission has been investigating several aspects of Apple’s business practices in Europe since 2020, including the possibility the company violates European antitrust laws over music streaming and the app store. 

Some information in this report comes from The Associated Press. 

 

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Ghanaian Women Drive New Growth in Coffee Production

In Ghana, a modified coffee seedling and new farming practices are helping the country achieve steady growth in coffee production – which had declined markedly over the past decade. Women farmers are taking the lead in producing coffee , as Senanu Tord reports from Accra, Ghana.

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What Is Title 42?

The Biden administration recently announced it plans to end a Trump-era policy known as Title 42, which allowed the US to quickly expel migrants to their country of origin or Mexican border towns and denied them a chance at asylum.

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Russia’s Bolshoi Scraps Performances by Critical Directors  

Russia’s Bolshoi Theatre has announced it is cancelling the performances directed by Kirill Serebrennikov and Timofey Kulyabin who have spoken out against Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine.

Late Sunday, Russia’s top theatre announced that instead of the three performances of “Nureev,” a ballet directed by Serebrennikov, the audiences this week will see a production of Aram Khachaturian’s ballet, “Spartacus.”

The prestigious theatre also said that instead of “Don Pasquale,” a comic opera by Gaetano Donizetti directed by Timofey Kulyabin, audiences this week will see a production of Gioachino Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville.”

The Bolshoi did not give any reason for the cancellations and spokeswoman Katerina Novikova told AFP on Monday that she had no “official” comment.

The Bolshoi performed “Spartacus” in early April, saying that proceeds would be used to help the families of Russian troops who died in Ukraine.

Serebrennikov, 52, was allowed in March to leave Russia, where he had been found guilty in 2020 of embezzling funds at Moscow’s Gogol Centre theatre.

His supporters say the conviction was revenge for his criticism of authoritarianism and homophobia under President Vladimir Putin.

Speaking to AFP in Berlin last month, Serebrennikov said he felt “just horror, sadness, shame, pain” about Russia’s military campaign in pro-Western Ukraine.

“Nureev” is based on the life of Russian dance legend Rudolf Nureyev, and its use of onstage nudity and profane language outraged Russian conservatives.

Kulyabin, 37, who is also believed to be now based in Europe, has spoken out against Putin’s decision to send troops to Ukraine.

Several dancers have in recent weeks quit the Bolshoi including prima ballerina Olga Smirnova.

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