Spain court blocks jailed Catalan separatist from collecting MEP credentials

[ad_1]

FILE PHOTO: Jailed Catalan politician Oriol Junqueras attends the first session of parliament following a general election in Madrid, Spain, May 21, 2019. Bernat Armangue/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain’s Supreme Court on Friday blocked Catalan separatist Oriol Junqueras from leaving jail to collect his credentials for the European Parliament, to which he was elected on May 26.

Without the credentials, Junqueras, who is in prison awaiting the conclusion of a high profile trial on Catalonia’s bid for independence from Spain, is unable to claim his seat in the European legislature.

The court said its ruling did not mean he would permanently lose his European seat and that he must remain in jail while it concludes its deliberations surrounding the trial of 12 Catalan political leaders who led the region’s secession push in 2017.

Junqueras had been set to temporarily leave the prison where he has been held since 2017 on Monday to collect the papers.

Catalonia’s independence drive has overshadowed Spanish politics for years and is a major test for Pedro Sanchez’s Socialists after they won a national election in April but fell short of a majority.

Junqueras, the former deputy head of the region, is charged with rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds for his part in organizing a referendum and declaration of independence that were deemed illegal by Spain’s Constitutional Court. He denies the charges.

Two other Catalan politicians won European Parliament seats in May but have also been unable to formalize their places because they will be detained if they return to Spain to collect their MEP papers.

The region’s former leader Carles Puigdemont and local council member Antoni Comin have both lived in self-imposed exile in Belgium since arrest warrants were issued following the attempted secession.

Junqueras was allowed to leave jail in May to collect his credentials as a member of Spain’s lower house of parliament following April’s election although he will not be able to serve as a lawmaker until the trial is concluded.

Reporting by Belen Carreno; Writing by Paul Day; Editing by Jesus Aguado and Catherine Evans

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[ad_2]

Source link

Tanker attack to be discussed at G20 ministerial meeting: Japan industry minister

[ad_1]

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan’s industry minister, Hiroshige Seko, said on Friday an attack on two tankers in the Gulf of Oman this week will be discussed at a meeting of G20 energy and environment ministers this weekend.

FILE PHOTO - Japan's Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Hiroshige Seko leaves the European Commission headquarters after a meeting on steel overcapacity, in Brussels, Belgium March 10, 2018. REUTERS/Francois Walschaerts

The ministerial meeting of the Group of 20 major economies will be held in Karuizawa, northwest of Tokyo, in the run up to the G20 summit to be held in Osaka, western Japan, on June 28-29.

Two tankers, one operated by a Japanese shipping company, were attacked in the Gulf on Thursday. The United States blamed Iran for the attacks, raising concerns about a new U.S.-Iranian confrontation and driving up oil prices. Tehran denied involvement.

“Maintaining energy security is something we can share with other ministers and is an important policy issue to be discussed at the G20 energy ministerial meeting,” Seko said at a regular press conference.

“The Middle East is a key area for global energy security. We want to talk with other ministers about our concerns about global security and threats,” he said.

Seko declined to comment when asked about whether Japan would send its armed forces to the Gulf to protect tankers.

He also declined to comment on remarks by U.S. officials blaming Iran for the attacks, saying Japan was still investigating details of the incident.

The attacks happened while Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was in Tehran trying to help ease rising tensions between the United States and Iran.

Seko said Abe told Iranian leaders that Japan wanted to maintain economic cooperation with Iran, including buying crude oil when international circumstances allowed. Japan stopped purchases earlier this year after the reimposition of U.S. sanctions on Tehran.

Seko said the attack would not affect Japan’s energy supplies.

The other ship that was attacked was an oil tanker chartered by Taiwan’s state oil refiner, CPC Corp, to carry fuel from the Middle East.

GRAPHIC: Attacks in Gulf of Oman IMG - tmsnrt.rs/2X8ePpU

Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; writing by Aaron Sheldrick; editing by Richard Pullin

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[ad_2]

Source link

Mali president visits Dogon village where dozens killed

[ad_1]

BAMAKO (Reuters) - President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita of Mali on Thursday visited the site of an ethnic massacre in central Mali in which gunmen killed dozens of people, vowing once again to crack down on spiraling insecurity.

Attackers believed to belong to the Fulani ethnic group raided the ethnic Dogon village of Sobane Da on Sunday and Monday, killing 35 people, according to the government, although a local authority maintains the real figure is 95 deaths. Neither has produced evidence for these tolls.

Keita cut short a trip to Switzerland on Wednesday to return to Mali and handle the fallout from the attack, the latest in a series of retaliatory strikes by Dogon hunters and Fulani herders that have killed hundreds of civilians this year.

“The state will proceed immediately to disarm anyone who illegally owns a firearm and those who refuse to surrender their arms will be sanctioned severely by the law,” he said in Sobane Da, before visiting the wounded at a local hospital.

Keita’s government made a similar pledge after an attack in March by suspected Dogon militiamen that killed more than 150 Fulani villagers. But it has struggled to disarm militias, whom local communities look to for protection from Islamist militants and ethnic reprisals.

The violence between Dogon and Fulani and regular attacks by jihadist groups with links to al Qaeda and Islamic State have led many Malians to lose faith in their government’s ability to protect them.

Keita’s government also announced it had fired General Sidy Alassane Toure as governor of the Mopti region where the killings occurred. It declared three days of national mourning.

Toure became the latest government official to lose his job as a result of authorities’ failure to contain spiraling ethnic violence around Mopti.

After the March attack in the village of Ogossagou, Mali’s worst act of violence in years, Keita dismissed two top army officials. His prime minister and entire government also resigned shortly thereafter.

The new prime minister, Boubou Cisse, visited the scene of this week’s killing on Tuesday, and said that among the dead were 24 children, some of whom had been shot in the back.

French forces intervened in Mali, a former French colony, in 2013 to push back a jihadist advance from the north, but the militants have since regrouped and turned parts of north and central Mali into a launchpad for attacks across the region.

Writing by Juliette Jabkhiro and Aaron Ross; Editing by Tim Cocks and Alison Williams

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[ad_2]

Source link