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Thousands of demonstrators gathered again Saturday in Russia’s Far East city of Khabarovsk to denounce the arrest of the region’s governor a month ago, protests that are posing a direct challenge to the Kremlin.Sergei Furgal was arrested on July 9 on suspicion of involvement in murders and taken to jail in Moscow. The estimated 3,000 demonstrators on Saturday protested the charges, believing them to be politically motivated, and want him returned to the city for trial. Furgal has denied the charges.Furgal, who has been removed from his post, is a popular figure in the region bordering China about 6,100 kilometers (3,800 miles) east of Moscow. Since his arrest, daily demonstrations have been held in the city, with attendance peaking on weekends.Demonstrations in support of the Khabarovsk protesters were held in at least seven other cities in Russia. The OVD-Info organization that monitors political arrests said at least 10 people were arrested in those demonstrations.No arrests were reported in Khabarovsk, where authorities have not interfered with the demonstrations, apparently hoping they will fizzle out. 
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Three months after easing nationwide restrictions to stem the spread of the coronavirus, the government in Athens has placed the tiny Greek island of Poros into fresh lockdown following a sudden flare-up of infections in scores of locals and tourists. The lockdown comes as the coronavirus pandemic spreads rapidly in Greece, tripling infections in the past 10 days alone and marring the country’s image as a near virus-free summer retreat.With a population of about 3,000, Poros, a one-hour jaunt from the Greek capital, has been a favorite destination this summer, attracting record numbers of tourists seeking a safe summer hideout from the coronavirus.But on Friday, most of Poros’ visitors were seen scrambling onto ferries bound for Athens or other islands.More than 30 people, mainly young Greeks, tested positive for COVID-19 within a 24-hour period, an outbreak officials fear could spread rapidly across the idyllic, pine-cloaked island.Scores of suspected cases are being examined with results likely by the end of the weekend.But authorities, concerned by the rising rates of COVID-19 infections across the country, are not taking any chances. They are taking aggressive action to contain the flare-up in Poros.Bars and nightclubs are barred from operating at late hours. Curfews now have been imposed. All social and religious events have been suspended. And beginning at dawn, text messages from homeland security offices have been ringing across Poros, notifying people to wear masks.It is not clear what exactly caused the Poros outbreak. Authorities have not tracked the infections to “patient zero.”Whatever the reason though, local officials, including Mayor Giannis Dimitriadis, blame authorities for being too lax in monitoring regulations that have been in effect for weeks.In every society, authorities set the example by observing regulations and keeping citizens vigilant, he said. Police here were not enforcing the rules, he said.Dimitriadis said he notified authorities more than a month ago, urging them to act against what he called recurring and serious lapses.But Poros is just one example of what critics are calling state neglect and reckless behavior by locals defying existing regulations across the country.“The rising rate has me extremely concerned,” Manolis Dermitzakis, a Greek professor of medicine in the University of Geneva said. “We’ve seen cases triple in a short period of time in Greece.” And ultimately, he said, it all boils down to the fact that measures are not being fully adhered to.What’s the point, he said, of having a mandatory mask order when most Greeks are wearing them under their noses, beneath their chins or dangling on one of their ears? This half-baked compliance is dangerous, he said.Since the Poros outbreak, authorities have intensified inspections, issuing steep fines against offenders.But if the measures fail to quash Greece’s rise in new coronavirus infections, the government may have no other option than to take tougher, nationwide measures, potentially reimposing a national lockdown.Until then, the U.S. State Department is urging American citizens to reconsider travel plans to Greece.
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Two years after a pan-European military initiative was first proposed to help tackle the Sahel’s Islamist insurgency, the Takuba task force is finally becoming reality, as its first troops arrive amid the coronavirus pandemic, political turmoil and spreading unrest.A group of roughly 100 Estonian and French special forces are the first on the ground to comprise Takuba, the Tuareg name for a sabre. Some 60 Czech troops are to join them in October, and another 150 Swedish ones by early next year. Estonia, Belgium and more recently Italy count among others to announce troops for the mission intended to help Mali and Niger forces fight extremist groups in the region.But for now, and likely in the future, the main foreign troop contributor in the region is France, analysts say, whose own 5,100-troop Barkhane counterinsurgency operation enters its seventh year.And despite recent military victories, they say, chances of eradicating the conflict are remote, unless the Europeans and Africans offer more holistic, long-term solutions.“If you have a gushing wound on your neck, you don’t put a plaster on it,” said Andrew Yaw Tchie, a senior Africa security expert at the London-based Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies, or RUSI.Victory possible?France thinks differently. At a June Sahel summit in Nouakchott, Mauritania, French President Emmanuel Macron urged regional and international governments to intensify their military campaign against the Islamists.”We are all convinced that victory is possible in the Sahel,” Macron said, citing progress in recent months.Emboldening his stance was the early June killing of a key Islamist leader by French forces with the reported aid of a U.S. drone. Abdelmalek Droukdel, headed al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, one of the main groups operating in the region.But other prominent jihadist leaders, including two linked to al-Qaida, remain at large, in a tangled conflict in which Islamist and local extremist groups have fueled and profited from inter-communal violence as well.Overall, the United Nations estimates terrorist attacks against civilian and military targets in three of the most vulnerable Sahel countries — Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger — has increased fivefold since 2016.In a recent interview with VOA, J. Peter Pham, the top U.S. envoy to the Sahel region, noted extremist attacks in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger had increased 40 percent in the first quarter of this year alone.Asked whether counter-insurgency efforts were winning, Pham added, “It depends on what time horizon you use and what definition you use for winning.”While Droukdel’s death might be considered a “specific” success, he noted insecurity was expanding in Burkina Faso and central Mali, which “certainly cannot be counted a success.”Spreading threatExtremist groups are also spreading southward, deeper into sub-Saharan Africa — profiting from north-south ethnic and religious divides within countries, and more recently, analysts say, the coronavirus pandemic.Against this backdrop, there is no unified international military response, says Bakary Sambe, director of the Timbuktu Institute in Dakar.“Today, there are 19 different international strategies in the Sahel and no coordination,” Sambe said. “At a time when terrorist groups are beginning to coordinate, international partners are diverging.”The Takuba task force is intended to facilitate regional coordination, as well as to provide equipment and training to Malian and other G-5 Sahel forces, which also hail from Niger, Mauritania, Burkina Faso and Chad.Some observers see it as a test case for Macron’s broader goal of a more unified European Union defense, which a number of other EU member states are lukewarm about.It’s also unclear how many European countries will ultimately commit to the Sahel initiative. Some, including Norway and Germany, have already bowed out for a mix of reasons. Britain, which formally exited the EU last year, plans instead to dispatch 250 forces to beef up the U.N.’s MINUSMA peacekeeping mission in Mali.RUSI’s Tchie, who describes Britain as joining an “unwinnable fight in the Sahel” with its U.N. commitment, has similar reservations about the Takuba troops.“In essence, all you’re doing is saying, ‘Let’s deal with counterterrorism, and at some point, we’ll deal with the other stuff,’” he said, summarizing what he considers the European thinking.Yet such thinking, he added, fails to address interlinking problems, including climate change, corruption, poverty and underdevelopment that are fueling the conflict.Parallels with SomaliaAdding to the challenges is the current political turmoil in Mali, where West African leaders are trying to find an exit plan to a crisis in which protesters are calling for President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita to quit.Some regional forces have been accused of civilian abuses. For their part, extremist groups have capitalized on the coronavirus pandemic to further their interests, including staging attacks and recruiting new members, analysts say.France faces its own set of challenges. Its Barkhane force has lost 43 men in its Sahel operations since 2013. It also faces a negative image in some countries, where memories of its colonial presence linger.Takuba is partly intended to send the message that “France is not alone in the Sahel,” the country’s newspaper Le Monde wrote.The Timbuktu Institute’s Sambe sees it another way.“I think that wanting to realize Takuba is in itself an admittance that Barkhane and other foreign interventions have been a failure,” he said. “It’s been years that a purely security and military approach hasn’t functioned to eradicate terrorism.”In London, RUSI’s Tchie draws parallels between the Islamist groups in the Sahel and Somalia, where the al-Shabab terrorist group has grown and spread despite years of U.S. and other military efforts. In both regions, he says, extremist groups have scored points in local communities, he says, in ways national and foreign intervention has not.“It delivers justice, it delivers humanitarian relief to communities, and people feel more secure,” he said of al-Shabab. “It’s not that people want to go to al-Shabab. But when they need security, justice and things to work for them, al-Shabab delivers.”  
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U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has warned Russia’s foreign minister about alleged bounty payments to Taliban militants for killing U.S. troops in Afghanistan, according to The New York Times.The Times reported Friday that Pompeo made the warning to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during a July 13 phone call, citing unidentified U.S. officials.It said Pompeo’s warning was the first known rebuke from a senior U.S. official to Russia over the alleged bounties program.Pompeo has previous declined to say whether he specifically raised the bounty allegations with Russia. However, he told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last month that he has “raised all of the issues that put any Americans at risk” each time he has spoken to Lavrov.Trump has called the reports of Russian bounties on U.S. troops “another Russian hoax” despite concerns about them from the intelligence community.Trump told reporters in Florida last month, “It was never brought to my attention and it perhaps wasn’t brought because they didn’t consider it to be real. And if it is brought to my attention, I’ll do something about it,” he said.During an interview with “Axios on HBO,” Trump said he had not raised the bounty allegations in a recent phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.“That was a phone call to discuss other things, and, frankly, that’s an issue that many people said was fake news,” Trump said.White House officials have said that Trump was not briefed on the suspected bounties because the assessment was not conclusive. However, several media outlets, including the Times, have reported that the issue was included in one of the president’s written daily briefings in February. Trump has said he was never personally told about the issue.Russia has denied that it paid bounties to Taliban militants for killing U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
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In the closing days of the Belarus presidential election campaign, opposition candidates are holding mass rallies and incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko is visiting businesses, giving speeches to the Security Council and government – and lashing out at the news media.During a meeting with campaign staff, Lukashenko railed at local and international media, saying the Belarussian edition of Russian daily Komsomolskaya Pravda “will soon turn into a tabloid” and accusing foreign outlets, including the BBC and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, of being biased and calling for riots.Lukashenko, who has been in power for 26 years, asked the Foreign Ministry to intervene.“There is no need whatsoever to wait until the end of the election campaign. Get them out of here if they do not comply with our laws and call people to Maidans,” he said on July 23, referring to mass protests in Ukraine in 2013 over the country’s move away from the European Union.In the months leading up to the August 9 vote, journalists and bloggers in Belarus have been arrested, harassed and even deported as Lukashenko faces an unexpectedly tough election amid discontent with the economy and his poor handling of the coronavirus pandemic.The president, who says he People look at a presidential election information board in Minsk, Belarus, Aug. 7, 2020.Opposition presidential candidates were also A man stands next to an election campaign poster during a rally held by supporters of Svetlana Tikhanouskaya, a candidate in the upcoming presidential election and President Alexander Lukashenko’s main challenger, in Minsk, Belarus, Aug. 6, 2020.Earlier in the campaign, Sergei Tikhanovsky was the main irritant for authorities, said Klaskovsky.“He traveled all over the country,” Klaskovsky said. “In small towns, he would give the microphone to disadvantaged people blasting the authorities. And the authorities felt that it was dangerous, because their biggest fear is the street, since the election commissions are staffed with loyal people and the counting of votes is completely under state control.”On May 6, authorities charged Sergei Tikhanovsky and seven others with “organizing and preparing actions that grossly violate public order.”Boris Goretsky, deputy chair of the Belarusian Association of Journalists, said arrests and oppression of journalists have increased, with over 60 incidents recorded during the campaign.“The authorities are afraid of freely disseminated information, as evidenced by the recent arrests of journalists after rallies,” Goretsky told VOA. “Authorities try to detain the maximum number of journalists so no one is there to provide video coverage and distribute it on the internet.“After all, information is what motivates people to act,” he said.In addition to the arrests, authorities are beating journalists at rallies and obstructing live broadcasts, said Natalya Radina, editor-in-chief of the news website Charter’97.Klaskovsky, of BelaPAN, added that bloggers and administrators of public and Telegram channels working under the “Country to Live In” brand have been hit hard, but the pressure is also felt by independent news websites, news agencies and publications whose editorial offices are abroad.These journalists are often not invited to press conferences or other official events, where the priority is given to state-owned press. And those covering mass gatherings risk being arbitrarily detained, having equipment broken or confiscated and, if they lack accreditation, being fined for “illegal fabrication of mass media products.”“The rest of the press finds itself in an information vacuum,” Klaskovsky said.The Belarus Embassy in Washington told VOA on Friday to send questions via email. The embassy did not respond to VOA’s emailed questions.‘Under supervision’Independent media in Belarus are still tightly controlled. Journalists need accreditation to access official events, and the State Security Committee — still known as the KGB, its Soviet-era name — regularly monitors the press, with officials calling reporters to discuss their work.FILE – Opposition supporters wearing protective masks amid the coronavirus disease outbreak wait in a line to put signatures in support of their potential candidates in the upcoming presidential election in Minsk, Belarus, May 31, 2020.Because of these officials — described by some journalists as “supervisors” — “it is very difficult to determine the degree of independence of a local outlet,” said Irina Khalip, a Belarus correspondent for Novaya Gazeta, an independent Russia paper known for its critical and investigative coverage of Russian political and social affairs.“All foreign journalists need to be accredited with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. And this accreditation comes with lines you cannot cross,” Khalip said. “One step over and your accreditation is revoked.”In May, the Foreign Ministry stripped a Channel One correspondent of his accreditation and deported him to Russia. The ministry did not state the reason, but Channel One, a Russian state broadcaster, said it came one day Belarus citizens in Poland demonstrate during a solidarity rally in front of the Belarusian Embassy before the upcoming presidential election, in Warsaw, Aug. 7, 2020. Belarus will hold its presidential election on Aug. 9.The journalist was convicted of rioting after the 2010 election and authorities jailed her husband, Andrew Sannikov, who ran as an opposition presidential candidate.News websites based outside Belarus are a key source of information. Despite attempts by authorities to block the sites, readers are finding ways to access them online.The Charter’97 website has been blocked for over two years, editor-in-chief Radina said. “But people have learned to bypass the blocking via virtual private networks [and] anonymizers, and still read us because they need accurate information.”“It is impossible to completely cut off information, because these days not only journalists but everyone can record videos on their mobile phones and post them on the internet. Information on what happens in Belarus on August 9 and 10 will appear anyway,” Radina said.Goretsky, deputy chair of the Belarusian Association of Journalists, said the internet, along with social media and Telegram channels, makes it faster and easier to share or access objective information.“People no longer watch TV day and night; they watch YouTube channels. This gave birth to the phenomenon of Sergei Tikhanovsky, who created his own channel, which was popular with the older generation as well,” he said.“While the government has been fighting all these years for print runs and compulsory subscriptions, independent publications have de facto taken over the internet,” Goretsky said. “And although many of them do not have accreditation and cannot attend official events, they have several advantages, including the internet.”This article originated in VOA’s Russian service.
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The director of US intelligence on Friday raised concerns about interference in the 2020 election by China, Russia and Iran.U.S. intelligence has assessed that China is hoping President Donald Trump does not win reelection, Russia is working to denigrate Democrat Joe Biden and Iran is seeking to undermine democratic institutions, said Bill Evanina, director of the National Counterintelligence Security Center.In a statement, Evanina provided the U.S. intelligence agencies’ most recent assessment of election threats to the November presidential election.“Many foreign actors have a preference for who wins the election, which they express through a range of overt and private statements; covert influence efforts are rarer,” Evanina said. “We are primarily concerned about the ongoing and potential activity by China, Russia, and Iran.”China views Trump as “unpredictable” and does not want to see him win reelection, Evanina said. China has been expanding its influence efforts ahead of the November election in an effort to shape U.S policy and pressure political figures it sees as against Beijing, he said.“Although China will continue to weigh the risks and benefits of aggressive action, its public rhetoric over the past few months has grown increasingly critical of the current administration’s COVID-19 response, closure of China’s Houston consulate and actions on other issues,” he wrote.On Russia, U.S. intelligence officials assess that Russia is working to “denigrate” Biden and what it sees as an anti-Russia “establishment” among his supporters, Evanina said. He said that would track Moscow’s criticism of Biden when he was vice president for his role in Ukraine policies and support of opposition to President Vladimir Putin inside Russia.On Iran, the assessment said Tehran seeks to undermine U.S. democratic institutions as well as Trump and divide America before the election.“Iran’s efforts along these lines probably will focus on on-line influence, such as spreading disinformation on social media and recirculating anti-U.S. content,” Evanina wrote. “Tehran’s motivation to conduct such activities is, in part, driven by a perception that President Trump’s re-election would result in a continuation of U.S. pressure on Iran in an effort to foment regime change.”
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France and Germany have quit talks on reforming the World Health Organization in frustration at attempts by the United States to lead the negotiations, despite its decision to leave the WHO, three officials told Reuters. The move is a setback for President Donald Trump as Washington, which holds the rotating chair of the G-7, had hoped to issue a common road map for a sweeping overhaul of the WHO in September, two months before the U.S. presidential election. The United States gave the WHO a year’s notice in July that it is leaving the U.N. agency — which was created to improve health globally — after Trump accused it of being too close to China and having mishandled the coronavirus pandemic. The WHO has dismissed his accusations. European governments have also criticized the WHO but do not go as far as the United States in their criticism, and the decision by Paris and Berlin to leave the talks follows tensions over what they say are Washington’s attempts to dominate the negotiations. FILE – U.S. President Donald Trump speaks prior to signing executive orders on lowering drug prices in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at the White House in Washington, July 24, 2020.”Nobody wants to be dragged into a reform process and getting an outline for it from a country which itself just left the WHO,” a senior European official involved in the talks said. The German and French health ministries confirmed to Reuters that the two countries were opposed to the United States leading the talks after announcing its intention to leave the organization. A spokesman for the Italian health ministry said that work on the reform document was still under way, adding that Italy’s position was in line with those of Paris and Berlin. Asked about the position of France and Germany, a senior Trump administration official said: “All members of the G-7 explicitly supported the substance of the WHO reform ideas.” “Notwithstanding, it is regrettable that Germany and France ultimately chose not to join the group in endorsing the road map,” he said. A spokesman for the British government declined to comment on the latest developments but added that Britain supported the WHO and urged a reform of the body “to ensure it remains flexible and responsive.” The talks on WHO reform began about four months ago. There have been nearly 20 teleconferences between health ministers from the Group of Seven industrialized nations, and dozens of meetings of diplomats and other officials. A deal by the G-7, which also includes Japan and Canada, would facilitate talks at the G-20 and United Nations, where any changes would have to be agreed upon with China, Russia and other major governments not in the G-7. It is unclear whether a G-7 summit in the United States, at which Trump hopes leaders will endorse the road map, will now go ahead in September as planned. U.S. officials have not said what reforms Washington has sought. But an initial reform road map proposed by Washington was seen by many of its allies as too critical, with one European official involved in the negotiations describing it as “rude.” Despite changes to the original text, Washington’s push remained unacceptable, mainly to Germany, sources familiar with the negotiations said. Funding and ‘politicized management’ In the weeks before the collapse of the talks, negotiators had told Reuters positions were getting closer as Washington softened its approach and European negotiators started to see the reform process as a means to make the WHO more independent from political pressure.European governments had also begun to make skeptical remarks about the WHO in public, with Germany’s health minister urging the WHO to hasten a review of its handling of COVID-19.FILE – Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus attends a news conference in Geneva, Switzerland, Feb. 28, 2020.In private, some Europeans have supported a tougher line, with some criticizing WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and what they see as politicized management of the pandemic. “Everybody has been critical of Tedros,” a negotiator from a European G-7 country told Reuters. A German government source said: “It must … be ensured in future that the WHO can react neutrally and on the basis of facts to global health events.” But European governments want to make the WHO stronger, better funded and more independent, whereas the U.S. withdrawal of funds is likely to weaken it — Washington is the largest contributor, providing 15% of the budget. Some Europeans see Trump’s criticism of the WHO as an attempt in the run-up to the U.S. election to distract attention from his handling of COVID-19, and Berlin’s ties with Washington have been strained by his decision in July to withdraw thousands of U.S. troops from Germany. Plans to reform the WHO are unlikely to be definitively shelved, especially if Trump is defeated in the November election. European governments want Washington to remain a WHO member and a financial supporter, and they have shown an interest in boosting their own funding to the body. 
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A Moscow court convicted 7 young Russians on extremism charges Thursday — sentencing several of the group to lengthy prison sentences in a closely watched case that seemed to encapsulate the limits of political youth activism in today’s Russia. Prosecutors argued that the defendants — most in their teens and 20’s — had organized an illegal online extremist chat group called “The New Greatness” with the intent of overthrowing the government in 2018.   The accused all denied the charges and said evidence was fabricated.Indeed, to critics, the case was the latest example of the government’s abuse of Russia’s vague anti-extremism laws — and subservient court system — to crush perceived political rivals through any means necessary. The state’s case was marred by credible accusations of torture and entrapment by Russia’s Federal Security Services, or FSB.  The government’s key witness was an undercover FSB agent named “Ruslan D” who prosecutors say infiltrated the group to learn of their plans. Throughout the trial, the accused countered that the agent himself concocted “The New Greatness” label and pushed a radical political agenda to the other participants in an otherwise largely apolitical group chat. Supporting government evidence came from an additional suspect in the case — Pavel Rebrovsky, who later cut a plea deal with investigators and was given a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence in April 2019.  Rebrovsky has since rescinded his testimony — saying it was given under pressure from state investigators.The judge cited Rebrovsky’s initial confession as proof of the group’s guilt, nonetheless.Authorities also promoted the group’s guilt by releasing a video confession from another defendant, Ruslan Kostylenkov. Kostylenkov, 27, later retracted the statement explaining he had been coerced through torture and rape while in custody.  He was given the harshest sentence — a 7-year prison term.  Two others were given 6.5- and 6-year prison terms. The remaining accused were handed suspended sentences, including Anna Pavlikova, who was a 17-year old high school student when the case began.   Lawyers for all said they would appeal the ruling.  Acquittals are exceedingly rare in Russia, with conviction rates hovering at over 99% in criminal trials.FSB Unbound   Outside the courthouse, several hundred supporters — most of them younger Russians — gathered and shouted chants of “Not guilty!” and “Let them go!”  While inside the courtroom, the defendants were forced to stand for 4 hours as the judge read his verdict in a hushed whisper. The case was widely seen as the latest legal warning shot against youth dabbling in politics — particularly as the Kremlin has increasingly struggled to gain support among a generation that has essentially known one leader, Vladimir Putin, for their entire lives. In February, a court sentenced a group of young leftist activists to lengthy prison terms for running an “anarchist terrorist” cell called “The Network.” The case was similarly tainted by allegations of fabricated evidence and torture at the hands of the federal security services. 
  Russian Leftist Activists Convicted of Terrorism ChargesA military court in the western city of Penza gives seven members of a left-wing group prison terms of up to 18 years on terrorism charges human rights groups call fabricatedAnd, like in The New Greatness trial, the group’s goal was allegedly ending President Vladimir Putin’s rule. The initial arrests in The New Greatness occurred in March 2018, just days before Putin was elected to a new 6-year term. “It was a gift to the president from the FSB,” said Alina Danilina, whose boyfriend, 22-year old law student Vyachaslav Kryukov, was sentenced to six years.   “It’s a catastrophe,” she added about Thursday’s ruling. “The worst happened.” “There is no evidence, no objective reason for my involvement in this case,” wrote Kryukov in a statement provided to VOA ahead of the verdict.  “It feels extremely strange that they accused me of things I’ve always opposed. Extremism stands for hatred and violence — I’ve never been like that.” Indeed, the case seemed to point to a security apparatus untethered — with many voicing suspicion agents were inventing threats simply to justify their continued existence and generous state funding.“These people have to do something to prove their effectiveness. So they forge these fake cases to show there is extremism and they are doing an important job,” said Alexey Minyaylo, 35, a political activist who himself was arrested and faced charges of “inciting riots” against the government during a charged election season in 2019.  “They know how to beat out a confession,” he tells VOA in an interview. “What they don’t know is how to gather evidence. And this is especially true when there is nothing to find.”“It’s a security service out of control,” said Nikolai Svanidze, a veteran journalist who sits on Russia’s Presidential Human Rights Council, in an interview outside the courthouse. “It means any provocateur can give false testimony and make an honest person guilty,” added Svanidze, while noting similarities to the worst of Russia’s Soviet-era repressions. “The scale is different, but the principles are the same.” Torture Allegations  The grim nature of the torture allegations were front and center throughout the trial — even if judge refused to acknowledge them or investigate the charges.  In October of last year, Kostylenkov and Kryukov slit their wrists during a courtroom hearing — the two of them yelling “This is an unfair trial” and “Freedom for political prisoners” before being rushed to hospital. “Their nerves couldn’t handle it anymore,” said Kostylenkov’s lawyer, Svetlana Sidorkina at the time. “All the evidence proves that they didn’t commit a crime.”Kostylenkov later detailed horror at the hands of FSB agents. In a letter written to a friend last March but only released to the media during the final phase of the trial, he said he had been beaten and sexually assaulted with a kitchen mallet to gain his confession.   ndeed, the violence hovering over the case was captured in a stunt before the day’s final verdict: Activists dressed as police slit the throat of a mannequin dressed as Christ — spraying red paint on supporters before being detained by security officers.  Meanwhile, Kira Yegorova, an actress, showed up to give a more low-key performance — she was holding a teddy bear. “The state is destroying our children,” she tells VOA.  And yet — for some — the trial has meant there was also fast growing up to do. Kryukov’s girlfriend, Alina Danilina 23, announced the verdict meant that she and Vyachaslav Kryukov were getting married. “It’s the only way I can visit him in prison,” she tells VOA. “We’ve lost for now,” she added. “But I will fight until the end.” 
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Officials in northwestern Italy have evacuated part of an Alpine resort town and are closely monitoring a glacier which, following days of warm temperatures, is showing signs of breaking apart and could crash into the valley below.Officials Thursday evacuated 75 residents and tourists in the Ferret Valley from their homes and two lodgings in the shadow of the glacier.Aerial views of the Planpincieux Glacier taken Friday show a large section – estimated to be about 500,000 cubic meters in size, breaking away from the rest of the ice field. A regional glacier expert, Valerio Segor, told reporters Friday the section is about the size of a cathedral, or perhaps a soccer field if it were under 80 meters of ice.Segor said the next two or three days will be critical for the glacier, as temperatures are expected to rise during that time. He said water circulation between the ice and rocks beneath will determine if glacier breaks apart.‎The Planpincieux Glacier is located under a group of Alpine peaks on the Italian side of Mont Blanc, near the border with France.
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A Moscow court convicted 7 young Russians on extremism charges Thursday — sentencing several of the group to lengthy prison sentences in a closely watched case that seemed to encapsulate the limits of political youth activism in today’s Russia. Prosecutors argued that the defendants — most in their teens and 20’s — had organized an illegal online extremist chat group called “The New Greatness” with the intent of overthrowing the government in 2018.   The accused all denied the charges and said evidence was fabricated.Indeed, to critics, the case was the latest example of the government’s abuse of Russia’s vague anti-extremism laws — and subservient court system — to crush perceived political rivals through any means necessary. The state’s case was marred by credible accusations of torture and entrapment by Russia’s Federal Security Services, or FSB.  The government’s key witness was an undercover FSB agent named “Ruslan D” who prosecutors say infiltrated the group to learn of their plans. Throughout the trial, the accused countered that the agent himself concocted “The New Greatness” label and pushed a radical political agenda to the other participants in an otherwise largely apolitical group chat. Supporting government evidence came from an additional suspect in the case — Pavel Rebrovsky, who later cut a plea deal with investigators and was given a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence in April 2019.  Rebrovsky has since rescinded his testimony — saying it was given under pressure from state investigators.The judge cited Rebrovsky’s initial confession as proof of the group’s guilt, nonetheless.Authorities also promoted the group’s guilt by releasing a video confession from another defendant, Ruslan Kostylenkov. Kostylenkov, 29, later retracted the statement explaining he had been coerced through torture and rape while in custody.  He was given the harshest sentence — a 7-year prison term.  Two others were given 6.5- and 6-year prison terms. The remaining accused were handed suspended sentences, including Anna Pavlikova, who was a 17-year old high school student when the case began.   Lawyers for all said they would appeal the ruling.  Acquittals are exceedingly rare in Russia, with conviction rates hovering at over 99% in criminal trials.FSB Unbound   Outside the courthouse, several hundred supporters — most of them younger Russians — gathered and shouted chants of “Not guilty!” and “Let them go!”  While inside the courtroom, the defendants were forced to stand for 4 hours as the judge read his verdict in a hushed whisper. The case was widely seen as the latest legal warning shot against youth dabbling in politics — particularly as the Kremlin has increasingly struggled to gain support among a generation that has essentially known one leader, Vladimir Putin, for their entire lives. In February, a court sentenced a group of young leftist activists to lengthy prison terms for running an “anarchist terrorist” cell called “The Network.” The case was similarly tainted by allegations of fabricated evidence and torture at the hands of the federal security services. 
  Russian Leftist Activists Convicted of Terrorism ChargesA military court in the western city of Penza gives seven members of a left-wing group prison terms of up to 18 years on terrorism charges human rights groups call fabricatedAnd, like in The New Greatness trial, the group’s goal was allegedly ending President Vladimir Putin’s rule. The initial arrests in The New Greatness occurred in March 2018, just days before Putin was elected to a new 6-year term. “It was a gift to the president from the FSB,” said Alina Danilina, whose boyfriend, 22-year old law student Vyachaslav Kryukov, was sentenced to six years.   “It’s a catastrophe,” she added about Thursday’s ruling. “The worst happened.” “There is no evidence, no objective reason for my involvement in this case,” wrote Kryukov in a statement provided to VOA ahead of the verdict.  “It feels extremely strange that they accused me of things I’ve always opposed. Extremism stands for hatred and violence — I’ve never been like that.” Indeed, the case seemed to point to a security apparatus untethered — with many voicing suspicion agents were inventing threats simply to justify their continued existence and generous state funding.“These people have to do something to prove their effectiveness. So they forge these fake cases to show there is extremism and they are doing an important job,” said Alexey Minyaylo, 35, a political activist who himself was arrested and faced charges of “inciting riots” against the government during a charged election season in 2019.  “They know how to beat out a confession,” he tells VOA in an interview. “What they don’t know is how to gather evidence. And this is especially true when there is nothing to find.”“It’s a security service out of control,” said Nikolai Svanidze, a veteran journalist who sits on Russia’s Presidential Human Rights Council, in an interview outside the courthouse. “It means any provocateur can give false testimony and make an honest person guilty,” added Svanidze, while noting similarities to the worst of Russia’s Soviet-era repressions. “The scale is different, but the principles are the same.” Torture Allegations  The grim nature of the torture allegations were front and center throughout the trial — even if judge refused to acknowledge them or investigate the charges.  In October of last year, Kostylenkov and Kryukov slit their wrists during a courtroom hearing — the two of them yelling “This is an unfair trial” and “Freedom for political prisoners” before being rushed to hospital. “Their nerves couldn’t handle it anymore,” said Kostylenkov’s lawyer, Svetlana Sidorkina at the time. “All the evidence proves that they didn’t commit a crime.”Kostylenkov later detailed horror at the hands of FSB agents. In a letter written to a friend last March but only released to the media during the final phase of the trial, he said he had been beaten and sexually assaulted with a kitchen mallet to gain his confession.   ndeed, the violence hovering over the case was captured in a stunt before the day’s final verdict: Activists dressed as police slit the throat of a mannequin dressed as Christ — spraying red paint on supporters before being detained by security officers.  Meanwhile, Kira Yegorova, an actress, showed up to give a more low-key performance — she was holding a teddy bear. “The state is destroying our children,” she tells VOA.  And yet — for some — the trial has meant there was also fast growing up to do. Kryukov’s girlfriend, Alina Danilina 23, announced the verdict meant that she and Vyachaslav Kryukov were getting married. “It’s the only way I can visit him in prison,” she tells VOA. “We’ve lost for now,” she added. “But I will fight until the end.” 
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Russia boasts that it’s about to become the first country to approve a COVID-19 vaccine, with mass vaccinations planned as early as October using shots that are yet to complete clinical trials — and scientists worldwide are sounding the alarm that the headlong rush could backfire.Moscow sees a Sputnik-like propaganda victory, recalling the Soviet Union’s launch of the world’s first satellite in 1957. But the experimental COVID-19 shots began first-in-human testing on a few dozen people less than two months ago, and there’s no published scientific evidence yet backing Russia’s late entry to the global vaccine race, much less explaining why it should be considered a front-runner.“I’m worried that Russia is cutting corners so that the vaccine that will come out may be not just ineffective, but also unsafe,” said Lawrence Gostin, a global public health law expert at Georgetown University. “It doesn’t work that way. … Trials come first. That’s really important.”According to Kirill Dmitriev, head of Russia’s Direct Investment Fund that bankrolled the effort, a vaccine developed by the Gamaleya research institute in Moscow may be approved in days, before scientists complete what’s called a Phase 3 study. That final-stage study, usually involving tens of thousands of people, is the only way to prove if an experimental vaccine is safe and really works.Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said members of “risk groups,” such as medical workers, may be offered the vaccine this month. He didn’t clarify whether they would be part of the Phase 3 study that is said to be completed after the vaccine receives “conditional approval.”Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova promised to start “industrial production” in September, and Murashko said mass vaccination may begin as early as October.In this photo made from footage provided by the Russian Defense Ministry on July 15, 2020, a group of volunteers participating in a coronavirus vaccine trial pose for a photo as they leave the Budenko Main Military Hospital outside Moscow, Russia.Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease specialist, questioned the fast-track approach last week. “I do hope that the Chinese and the Russians are actually testing a vaccine before they are administering the vaccine to anyone, because claims of having a vaccine ready to distribute before you do testing I think is problematic at best,” he said.Questions about this vaccine candidate come after the U.S., Britain and Canada last month accused Russia of using hackers to steal vaccine research from Western labs.Delivering a vaccine first is a matter of national prestige for the Kremlin as it tries to assert the image of Russia as a global power capable of competing with the U.S. and China. The notion of being “the first in the world” dominated state news coverage of the effort, with government officials praising reports of the first-step testing.In April, President Vladimir Putin ordered state officials to shorten the time of clinical trials for a variety of drugs, including potential coronavirus vaccines.According to Russia’s Association of Clinical Trials Organizations, the order set “an unattainable bar” for scientists who, as a result, “joined in on the mad race, hoping to please those at power.”The association first raised concern in late May, when professor Alexander Gintsburg, head of the Gamaleya institute, said he and other researchers tried the vaccine on themselves.The move was a “crude violation of the very foundations of clinical research, Russian law and universally accepted international regulations” the group said in an open letter to the government, urging scientists and health officials to adhere to clinical research standards.But a month later, the Health Ministry authorized clinical trials of the Gamaleya product, with what appeared to be another ethical issue.Human studies started June 17 among 76 volunteers. Half were injected with a vaccine in liquid form and the other half with a vaccine that came as soluble powder. Some in the first half were recruited from the military, which raised concerns that servicemen may have been pressured to participate.Some experts said their desire to perform well would affect the findings. “It’s no coincidence media reports we see about the trials among the military said no one had any side effects, while the (other group) reported some,” said Vasily Vlassov, a public health expert with Moscow’s Higher School of Economics.As the trials were declared completed and looming regulatory approval was announced last week, questions arose about the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness. Government assurances the drug produced the desired immune response and caused no significant side effects were hardly convincing without published scientific data describing the findings.The World Health Organization said all vaccine candidates should go through full stages of testing before being rolled out. “There are established practices and there are guidelines out,” WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier said Tuesday. “Between finding or having a clue of maybe having a vaccine that works, and having gone through all the stages, is a big difference.”In this photo made from footage provided by the Russian Defense Ministry on July 15, 2020, medical workers look at volunteers participating in a coronavirus vaccine trial as they leave the Budenko Main Military Hospital outside Moscow, Russia.Offering an unsafe compound to medical workers on the front lines of the outbreak could make things worse, Georgetown’s Gostin said, adding: “What if the vaccine started killing them or making them very ill?”Vaccines that are not properly tested can cause harm in many ways — from a negative impact on health to creating a false sense of security or undermining trust in vaccinations, said Thomas Bollyky, director of the global health program at the Council on Foreign Relations.“It takes several years to develop any drug,” said Svetlana Zavidova, executive director of Russia’s Association of Clinical Trials Organizations. “Selling something the Gamaleya (institute) tested on 76 volunteers during Phase 1-2 trials as a finished product is just not serious.”Russia has not yet published any scientific data from its first clinical trials. The WHO’s list of vaccine candidates in human testing still lists the Gamaleya product as in Phase 1 trials.It uses a different virus — the common cold-causing adenovirus — that’s been modified to carry genes for the “spike” protein that coats the coronavirus, as a way to prime the body to recognize if a real COVID-19 infection comes along. That’s like vaccines being developed by China’s CanSino Biologics and Britain’s Oxford University and AstraZeneca.It’s not the first controversial vaccine Russia developed. Putin mentioned earlier this year that Russian scientists delivered an Ebola vaccine that “proved to be the most effective in the world” and “made a real contribution to fighting the Ebola fever in Africa.”Russia’s Health Ministry authorized two Ebola vaccines for domestic use — one in 2015 and another one in 2018 — but there is little evidence either was widely used in Africa.People wearing face masks and gloves to protect against coronavirus come through passages equipped with disinfectant sprays at a shopping mall entrance in Moscow, Russia, Aug. 3, 2020.In 2019, the WHO considered the 2015 vaccine along with several others for use in Congo but didn’t pick it. It pointed out that it had been approved for emergency use after Phase 1 and 2 trials, but not Phase 3. According to ClinicalTrials.Gov, a website maintained by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, a study among 2,000 people in Guinea and Russia was still ongoing last month.The 2018 Ebola vaccine, according to the WHO, was tested on 300 volunteers in Russia and completed all three phases. The Associated Press couldn’t find any records of the studies in the Health Ministry’s registry of approved clinical trials. As of 2019, both Ebola vaccines were listed by the WHO as “candidate vaccines.”Russia’s Health Ministry did not respond to numerous requests for comment, and the Gamaleya institute referred an interview request to the ministry.It remains unclear whether Phase 3 trials, said to be carried out after the COVID-19 vaccine receives “conditional approval,” will wrap up by October, when health officials plan to start mass vaccinations, and how trustworthy the results will be. The study will supposedly involve 1,600 participants — 800 for each of the two forms of the vaccine; in comparison, a similar Phase 3 trial in the U.S. includes 30,000 people.According to Dmitriev, countries including Brazil and India have expressed interest in the vaccine.For Lawrence Gostin, this is another cause for concern.“There may be many people in the world who don’t care about the ethics and just want the vaccine,” he said.  
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The Committee to Protect Journalists on Thursday called on Belarus to immediately release a blogger arrested a week ago and allow him and other reporters to “freely and safely” cover Sunday’s presidential elections.The organization’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator in New York, Gulnoza Said, said President Aleksandr Lukashenko “wants an election to put a veneer of legitimacy on his longstanding leadership, but he is achieving the reverse by harassing and detaining journalists up and down the country who are trying to cover his opposition.”Belarusian police arrested Evgeniy Vasilkov, who also works as a mechanic, at his garage in Khoiniki July 31 and took him to a police station, local media reported.He was accused of writing a slogan used by Lukashenko critics on road signs.Vasilkov has denied the charge, saying his arrest was retaliatory because of his support for an opposition candidate.He appeared before a local judge who sentenced him to 10 days of detention for “disobeying” police, for allegedly refusing to show them the identification at his arrest.On July 31, Belarusian police also detained five reporters, working for Belsat, an independent satellite broadcaster, while they were livestreaming rallies in support of the opposition candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya.Her supporters had taken to the streets in large numbers at rallies in the capital, Minsk, and other Belarusian cities.Tikhanovskaya, 37, entered the race with the promise to free political prisoners and call new elections after the arrest in May of her husband, opposition blogger and presidential hopeful, Sergei Tikhanovsky. He was charged with attacking a police officer, a claim he rejected as a provocation.Lukashenko is campaigning for a sixth term amid an increase in opposition protests against his autocratic rule and economic difficulties caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
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