Over 100 Nobel Laureates Demand the Release of Ales Bialiatski in Belarus

Hundreds of Belarusians have been arrested and jailed because they peacefully exercised their rights to freedom of expression.

On May 21, PEN International, the literary and free expression organization, released a letter signed by 103 Nobel Laureates, expressing solidarity with writer, human rights defender, Nobel Peace Prize winner, and PEN member Ales Bialiatski.

They also condemned the Belarusian authorities’ brutal, relentless, and systematic crackdown on independent voices. In March, a court in Belarus ordered the imprisonment of Ales Bialiatski for 10 years. It is alleged that Bialiatski, 60, financed protests and other crimes – the allegations which are believed to be frivolous and politically motivated. Bialiatski and three co-defendants were charged with supporting protests and smuggling money.

Bialiatski and his companions are not alone who are being harassed in Belarus. Hundreds of Belarusians have been arrested and jailed because they peacefully exercised their rights to freedom of expression and assembly in response to a fraudulent election in August 2020 that allowed President Alexander Lukashenko to retain power.

When the intensity of protests increased, Lukashenko’s regime shut down dozens of independent organizations and media outlets. Bialiatski is a co-founder of the Human Rights Center “Viasna” which is a non-governmental organization formed in 1996 during mass protest actions of the democratic opposition in Belarus.

In December 2022, according to Viasna, Bialiatski was barred from delivering his acceptance speech at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo, where he was hailed as a beacon of light for the region, and beyond.

“We stand with Bialiatski and fellow members of Viasna – Marfa Rabkova, Valiantsin Stefanovich, Uladzimir Labkovich, Leanid Sudalenka, Andrei Chapiuk – and call for their convictions to be overturned as a matter of urgency, and their sentences to be annulled,” said the Nobel Laureates in their letter.

Viasna published the letter on May 23 along with the names of the signatories.

Australian Parliament Screened Banned BBC Film on Modi’s Role in Gujarat Riots

In order to gain legitimacy for his actions in Gujarat, Modi is squandering huge public money to buy foreign products and services which are not actually required in India.

A new BBC documentary which explores the role of India’s prime minister (PM)

Narendra Modi in the Gujarat violence of 2002 was screened in the Parliament of Australia.

Senator David Shoebridge delivered the opening remarks before the screening of the film on May 24, 2023 at a time when Modi was visiting Australia. The event also included a panel discussion on India under Modi’s rule.

In fact, Modi’s real political career began with the Gujarat massacre of 2002 in which he was allegedly involved in the murder of thousands of Muslims - including men, women, and children.

The Gujarat violence can be compared to the criminal activity of Nazi Germany during the Holocaust for the genocide of millions of European Jews.

While Modi is the main accused in the Gujarat riots of 2002 when he was the chief minister (CM) of Gujarat, this criminal activity is again in the news, as BBC has produced a comprehensive documentary on Gujarat riots and Modi’s role in this crime. The new BBC documentary, ‘India: The Modi Question,’ sheds light on Modi’s role in the Gujarat violence.

The first part of the series aired in the United Kingdom on BBC Two channel on January 17, 2023. As usual, without any substantiation, the Indian government has termed the BBC documentary a propaganda film, saying it aims to discredit Modi. It may not be allowed for viewing in India. The second part of the documentary was shown on BBC Two on January 24, 2023.

A report by The Wire news service said the BBC documentary claims that Modi is hugely divisive and India is currently in a religious turmoil under Modi. On January 23, 2023, The Caravan magazine published the text of the report of inquiry conducted by the UK government into the 2002 Gujarat violence, which was cited in the BBC documentary on Modi.

Although the BBC film is about Modi’s role in the Gujarat violence, the Modi government is projecting it as an attack on the Indian state and blocked the screening of the film by using repressive tactics.

The Modi government under its draconian laws to censor online content directed YouTube and Twitter to take down links of the BBC documentary and both the social media sites succumbed to the government’s pressure and blocked the film. However, some media outlets have given details of the alternative channels that can be used to watch both the episodes of the two-part docuseries, ‘India: The Modi Question.’

On January 24, 2023, international human rights organization Human Rights Watch tweeted parts of the film and said, “India has banned a BBC documentary about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s role in the 2002 riots in Gujarat state. The documentary highlighted a report that found Modi ‘directly responsible’ for the ‘climate of impunity’ enabling the violence.”

It is evident from the documentary that Modi was inciting violence to kill Muslims in the state. With the aim to silence the BBC, the Indian tax department raided BBC offices in Mumbai and New Delhi in February 2023. Also, on May 22, 2023, Delhi High Court issued summons to the BBC in a defamation case filed by a

Gujarat-based NGO, which claims that its documentary on Gujarat riots is against the reputation of Modi and India.

Despite Modi’s terrible criminal record, he managed to become the PM of India in 2014 and now most world leaders hobnob with Modi for their commercial interests, as they want to sell their products and services in the Indian market.

In order to gain legitimacy for his actions in Gujarat, Modi is squandering huge public money to buy foreign products and services which are not actually required in India.

How Supreme Court Erred in Giving Delhi Bureaucracy Control to Kejriwal Govt

Unfortunately, the Supreme Court neglected or failed to take into consideration all these corruption issues before passing its judgment in favour of the Kejriwal government.

The government of prime minister (PM) Narendra Modi has taken another step to interfere in the work of Delhi Government headed by chief minister (CM) Arvind Kejriwal.

In order to oppose a Supreme Court order of May 11 that gave Delhi bureaucracy control to the Kejriwal government, the Modi government promulgated an ordinance on May 19 to create a National Capital Civil Service Authority.

The new Authority will have the power to recommend the transfers and postings of bureaucrats including all Group A officers and officers of DANICS (Delhi, Andaman & Nicobar, Lakshadweep, Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli Civil Services) serving in Delhi.

Although the Supreme Court has given its order in favor of the elected government, the confusion persists. Earlier, the Government of National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi (Amendment) Act, 2021 had stated that the term “government” in Delhi means the Lt. Governor (LG) of Delhi and the elected government of Kejriwal cannot take any decision independently.

In other words, the Kejriwal government will have to take LG’s consent before taking any executive action. The new Supreme Court order of May 11 has conflict with the NCT law passed in 2021.

Since the Supreme Court and the Kejriwal government overlooked the NCT of Delhi (Amendment) Act, 2021, the new amendment is aimed to stop Kejriwal from misusing his authority against the bureaucrats - particularly those bureaucrats who are handling the alleged crime and corruption cases of Kejriwal and his colleagues.

The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Ordinance, 2023, will divest the Kejriwal government of the arbitrary powers that Kejriwal may use to take revenge on bureaucrats who are probing different corruption cases of Kejriwal and politicians in his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

These corruption cases include Delhi liquor scandal, school construction scam, money laundering cases, and misappropriation of huge public money by Kejriwal on his house renovation.

Along with Kejriwal, the other AAP politicians whose names appear in the investigating reports of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate are Satyendar Jain, Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh, and Raghav Chadha.

It is expected that a woman politician in AAP who loudly spreads lies in the so-called press conferences attended by naive journalists will soon be called for interrogation by the law-enforcement agencies.

Unfortunately, the Supreme Court neglected or failed to take into consideration all these corruption issues before passing its judgment in favour of the Kejriwal government.

The Supreme Court should also find out how Kejriwal and his colleagues are getting vindictive against the bureaucrats who are investigating their crime and corruption cases. For example, it is alleged that the officer who was probing the Kejriwal house renovation case was divested of his duties by the Kejriwal government.

The officer has also alleged that his office room was ransacked and the documents pertaining to Kejriwal’s house renovation are missing. If this is true, then the Supreme Court should know before its decisions that the Delhi Government is being run by criminals who are hell-bent to hoodwink the voters and grab power by hook or by crook.

Meanwhile, reports suggest that the central (Modi) government has filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking a review of its verdict that granted control over transfers and postings of bureaucrats to the Kejriwal government. Since most

Supreme Court judges lack domain knowledge, they take casual decisions which cannot be challenged. The situation is worse in the high courts and lower courts.

If you evaluate the Supreme Court judgments through an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based expert system, you will find that almost all the judgments or delays are either wrong or biased. It is once again visible in the standalone decision that the Supreme Court took in favour of the Kejriwal government.

The new National Capital Civil Service Authority will be headed by Delhi CM and will include the chief secretary and the principal secretary (Home). The Authority will take decisions by the majority of votes of the members present in the Authority meetings.

Kara-Murza Facing Torture in Putin’s Prison: Wife Evgenia

It is being observed that Putin’s opponents are mostly killed, die in mysterious circumstances, poisoned, or jailed in harsh conditions, and some have fled the country to save themselves from Putin’s fury.

Evgenia Kara-Murza, the wife of jailed Russian opposition leader Vladimir Kara-Murza, said her husband is undergoing psychological torture in jail, as he is not being allowed to speak to his children.

Reuters quoted Evgenia in its report of May 18 to reveal that the Russian authorities have rejected the requests of Kara-Murza to talk to his children - aged 11, 14, and 17 years - who live in the U.S.

A fierce critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kara-Murza was sentenced on April 17 to 25 years in prison for his opposition to Putin and particularly Russia’s ruthless war against Ukraine.

As usual, the so-called world leaders have been issuing hollow statements in favour of the Russian activist, but none of them has the courage to get him released from Putin’s prison.

Instead of putting military pressure on Putin to release his political opponents, the world leaders are releasing casual statements which have no effect on Putin who is a merciless dictator.

In April, nearly 70 U.S. lawmakers sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, urging the Biden administration to intervene and get the jailed dissident released. They introduced a bipartisan Senate resolution urging the Biden administration to designate Vladimir Kara-Murza as wrongfully detained under United States law. However, it was a perfunctory attempt which could not produce any meaningful result.

Similarly, the UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk said in his carelessly written statement that the 25-year prison sentence handed down by a Moscow court against opposition politician and journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza is another blow to the rule of law and civic space in the Russian Federation. Instead of getting the Putin critic released from jail, Turk shamelessly said that he must be treated with humanity and respect in jail. Türk has repeatedly failed in his responsibility to protect human rights of people in all parts of the world.

Also, Marija Pejčinović Burić, Secretary General of the 46-nation Council of Europe (CoE) issued a casual statement, “I strongly condemn the sentencing of Russian opposition leader, Vladimir Kara-Murza, to 25 years in prison following a sham trial. “The Council of Europe stands in full solidarity with Mr Kara-Murza and calls for his immediate release.”

But she could not elaborate how her meaningless words will persuade Putin to release Kara-Murza and protect his rights in the authoritarian regime.

According to a BBC report, the UK Foreign Office announced sanctions against one judge and two investigators involved in Kara-Murza’s trial. The sanctions will also impact two Federal Security Service (FSB) agents suspected of links to his sudden, critical illness in 2015 and 2017 caused by a toxin that has never been identified.

As a result of poisoning, according to the BBC report, Kara-Murza has again been losing feeling in both his feet and his left hand. A prison doctor has diagnosed polyneuropathy, which affects the nerves.

It is being observed that Putin’s opponents are mostly killed, die in mysterious circumstances, poisoned, or jailed in harsh conditions, and some have fled the country to save themselves from Putin’s fury.

They include oligarchs Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Boris Berezovsky, former FBK head Ivan Zhdanov, former FBK lawyer Lyubov Sobol, Leonid Volkov, Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, and others.

It is alleged that Russia was also involved in the nerve-agent attack in Salisbury. After the incident, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the attack in Salisbury was the first use of a nerve agent on NATO territory.

Another Putin critic and political opponent Alexei Navalny has been languishing in jail since 2021 after surviving a poisoning attack allegedly ordered by Putin.

He is not being provided proper medical treatment as Navalny continues to be sick in solitary confinement where he is kept by the Russian authorities. On 10 January 2023, over 400 doctors in Russia signed an open letter to President Putin demanding that prison authorities stop abusing Navalny. But Putin has no respect for such humanitarian appeals.

Now, Kara-Murza is being similarly tortured while his trial for treason was held secretly and after the fake trial Putin’s court pronounced the punishment largely for Kara-Murza’s political speeches that he delivered in Russia and abroad.

But no international mechanism is available to get justice for Kara-Murza and thousands of others who are being punished by dictator Putin. The useless condemnation statements by world leaders will never help the persecuted communities in different parts of the world.

NHRC Again Fails to Get Accreditation from UN-Linked Agency

The NHRC lost its relevance particularly after the appointment of Justice Arun Kumar Mishra as its chairman.

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of India has failed to get accreditation from the Global Alliance for National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI).

According to a report of May 25, 2023 in The Indian Express, GANHRI - which is affiliated to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights - has deferred reaccreditation of NHRC for a year.

With its Head Office in Geneva, GANHRI - which represents more than 110 National Human Rights Institutions - is one of the largest human rights networks worldwide.

As a result of the GANHRI action, NHRC will not be able to represent India at the UN Human Rights Council.

The NHRC lost its relevance particularly after the appointment of Justice Arun Kumar Mishra as its chairman. Mishra - who was handpicked arbitrarily in 2021 by the government of prime minister Narendra Modi - has completely failed in his responsibility to protect human rights in India.

Under his tenure, the human rights situation in India has been going from bad to worse and the country is being censured in all parts of the world. Now, it appears that instead of protecting the human rights of Indians, Mishra is complicit in violations mainly because of his incompetence and proximity to the ruling regime which is committing human rights violations and crimes against humanity.

Today, people in all parts of India are suffering because their rights are being blatantly violated by the rulers. Mishra and his accomplices at NHRC and other law-enforcement agencies such as police are deliberately allowing the violations and mostly complicit in crimes being committed by the criminals who enjoy full impunity provided by the state.

The court judges at the Supreme Court of India and other courts do not take action against the criminals supported by the regime because most judges are either greedy who expect rewards from the authoritarian government or scared of the government politicians, most of whom have dreadful criminal records.

The incompetence of Indian judges is also among the reasons that they work as slaves to the government and fail to protect the rights of citizens.

Therefore, it becomes essential for the international human rights agencies and judicial framework to remove, prosecute, and punish Mishra and his accomplices so that the rights of nearly 1.4 billion Indians could be protected.

As a journalist and human rights defender, I (Rakesh Raman) had filed a petition in 2022 at the Complaint Procedure Unit, Human Rights Council Branch, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, for the removal of Mishra from the position of NHRC chairman.

Who Should be the Prime Minister of India After the 2024 Lok Sabha Election?

RMN Poll: PM of India After 2024 Election?

Raman Media Network (RMN) Company – which is working in diversified content creation, management, and distribution businesses on a global scale – has started an online public poll: Who Should be the Prime Minister of India After the 2024 Lok Sabha Election?

Instead of including the names of only traditional politicians in the poll, RMN has taken a breakthrough editorial decision to select a few candidates who deserve to be the prime minister (PM) of India because of their social activism and intellectual ability.

Who Should be the Prime Minister of India After the 2024 Lok Sabha Election? RMN Poll

The respondents can, however, vote according to their preference. You can also suggest more names of candidates to be included in the poll.

Note: As there are repeated reports about the fraudulent use of electronic voting machines (EVMs) in Indian elections, this poll does not take into account the EVM factor.

Now, you can choose your option in the following poll. Select your option and press the box under the options to vote. You can also view the results of the poll.

Who Should be the Prime Minister of India After the 2024 Lok Sabha Election?

Names are in alphabetical order.

● Amartya Sen

● Arundhati Roy

● Arvind Kejriwal

● Mahua Moitra

● Narendra Modi

● Rahul Gandhi

● Satyapal Malik

● None of the Above

This RMN Poll is part of our editorial section “Power Play: Lok Sabha Election 2024 in India” which covers election news, events, and political campaigns.

You can click here to participate in the RMN Poll.

After Dogfight Congress Handpicks Siddaramaiah as Karnataka CM

Congress has collapsed in other states also because of the conflicts between its top leaders.

The dying Congress party has selected Siddaramaiah for the position of chief minister (CM) of Karnataka after winning the state election for which the result was announced on May 13. The ad hoc decision of Congress has left another aspirant DK Shivakumar sulking, although he has been appointed the deputy CM.

In the 224-member Karnataka Assembly election that took place on May 10 Congress won 134 seats leaving 66 for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of prime minister Narendra Modi.

It is largely believed that the Congress government will fall in the state before completing its term because of the infighting in the party and BJP’s stratagem to destabilize it through anti-corruption agencies.

Congress leader DK Shivakumar is facing corruption allegations as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is probing a case of disproportionate assets against him. It is alleged that Shivakumar possessed Rs 74.93 crore of assets disproportionate to his known sources of income for the period between 2013 and 2018 when he was a cabinet minister.

To win the Karnataka election, Congress campaigned against BJP’s corruption and highlighted PM Modi’s alleged collusion with oligarch Gauatm Adani who is facing a series of financial fraud allegations.

However, the traditional party made Shivakumar deputy CM while he is also allegedly involved in a corruption scandal. There is a possibility that he will again be jailed, as he had been jailed before.

Shivakumar was incarcerated in Delhi’s Tihar jail for about 50 days after he was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) - which investigates serious financial crime cases - on September 3, 2019 in a money laundering case. He was released on October 23 after the Delhi High Court granted him bail.

As it appears that Congress is also full of corrupt politicians, it could not find an honest person for one of the top posts in Karnataka. If Shivakumar is jailed again, BJP will get an opportunity to break Congress in the state.

There is also a possibility that Congress will implode in Karnataka when Shivakumar is not able to control his aspiration to become the CM.

Congress has collapsed in other states also because of the conflicts between its top leaders. In Punjab, for example, the open fight between Navjot Singh Sidhu and former Punjab CM Amarinder Singh caused the downfall of the party.

The differences between Kamal Nath and Jyotiraditya Scindia led to the collapse of the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh. And now the ongoing battle between Sachin Pilot and CM Ashok Gehlot in Rajasthan has assumed drastic proportions and Congress has failed to resolve the issues. A similar situation happened in Himachal Pradesh where Congress won recently.

All these cases show that Congress will continue to be an unstable party, as it is not a process-driven organization. All decisions in the party are taken arbitrarily and opaquely by some individuals who are not quite competent.

With this kind of perfunctory approach, it will be extremely difficult for Congress to win elections or save its governments after winning the elections.

Electricity Subsidy Fraud Reported in Delhi

As a journalist and anti-corruption activist, I sent the following notice to the management committee (MC) of Jaypee CGHS (also known as Beverly Park).

The cooperative group housing societies (CGHS) of Delhi have become dangerous centres of crime and corruption. The crimes in these housing societies are being committed by the management committee (MC) members or administrators in connivance with the corrupt officials of Registrar Cooperative Societies (RCS) of Delhi Government, Delhi Development Authority (DDA), Delhi Police, Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), and a few other departments.

In order to stop crimes in the housing societies, the local residents should not feel scared and formally complain against the criminal MC members, administrators, and government functionaries. We need to work together to weed out rampant crime and corruption from Delhi’s housing societies.

Case Update: May 18, 2023

As a journalist and anti-corruption activist, I sent the following notice to the management committee (MC) of Jaypee CGHS (also known as Beverly Park). Since I did not get a response, I am publishing this case report publicly and again advise the MC to follow the law and stop the alleged irregularities at the Society. The authorities can investigate this case to catch the culprits.

I will soon file a formal case at various administrative and judicial forums against the Jaypee CGHS MC so that an appropriate legal action could be taken against the accused and the residents of Jaypee CGHS could live in a peaceful and corruption-free environment.

You can click here to study the complete case report along with a video. | Rakesh Raman