9 International Thursday, November 22, 2018 picks South Korea’s Kim as president over Russian rival Russian candidacy unnerves Western nations

DUBAI: Interpol announced yesterday that Kim Jong- ‘Political persecution’ yang of South Korea had been chosen as its new presi- In an open letter this week, a bipartisan group of dent, beating a Russian official whose candidacy had US senators said choosing Prokopchuk would be like unnerved Western nations. The US-backed Kim, acting “putting a fox in charge of a henhouse”. “ president of the global police body, was picked at a routinely abuses Interpol for the purpose of settling meeting of delegates from member nations in Dubai to scores and harassing political opponents, dissidents replace Meng Hongwei, who went missing in his native and journalists,” they wrote. Harriett Baldwin, a min- China in September. Beijing later said Meng resigned ister of state at the British foreign office, told parlia- after being charged with accepting bribes. There had ment on Tuesday that London would support Kim’s been growing Western calls for Interpol to reject bid. Anti-Kremlin figures had also raised concerns, Russian candidate Alexander Prokopchuk-a Russian including Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition interior ministry official and current Interpol vice presi- leader who has been repeatedly jailed by authorities. dent-over fears Moscow could abuse the role to target “Our team has suffered from abuse of Interpol for political opponents. political persecution by Russia,” Navalny wrote on On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Twitter. “I don’t think that a president from Russia threw his weight behind Kim, who will serve out Meng’s will help to reduce such violations.” US National term until 2020. “We encourage all nations and organi- Security Council spokesman Garrett Marquis echoed zations that are part of Interpol and that respect the rule the endorsement for Kim. “As recent events show, the of law to choose a leader with integrity. We believe Mr Russian government abuses INTERPOL’s processes Kim will be just that,” Pompeo told reporters. Critics to harass its political opponents,” he said on Twitter. have raised concerns over Russia’s previous applica- The controversy also comes amid security concerns tions for Interpol “Red Notices”, or international arrest over accusations of Russian agents attempting to warrants, to target those who have fallen foul of the poison an ex-spy in Britain and trying to hack the Kremlin. Prokopchuk will continue in his role as Interpol network of the global chemical weapons watchdog. vice president, a spokeswoman for the interior ministry Ukraine, deeply at odds with Moscow over its in Moscow, Irina Volk, told Russian news agencies. annexation of Crimea and support for separatists, “As before, his work will focus on strengthening the threatened to pull out of Interpol if Prokopchuk DUBAI: This undated handout shows Kim Jong-yang during the 87th Interpol General Assembly in positions of Interpol in the international police commu- prevailed. Lithuania also said it would consider Dubai. —AFP nity and increasing the efficiency of the organization’s withdrawing from the network. Russian presidential work,” Volk was quoted as saying. Interpol’s president spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed the US sena- chairs its General Assembly while day-to-day opera- tors’ letter as a “vivid example” of an attempt to abusing the agency. reporters. Briefly arrested in Spain this year under a tions are handled by the organization’s secretary gener- interfere in the vote. Moscow’s interior ministry The legal challenge was announced by financier Moscow-issued Red Notice, Browder said the al Juergen Stock. In remarks posted on Interpol’s offi- denounced a “foreign media campaign aimed at , named in multiple Interpol warrants, Russian candidacy was an attempt by Putin to cial Twitter account, Kim said after his election: “Our discrediting Russia’s candidate”. But two foes of and Mikhail Khodorkovsky-a former oil baron who “expand his criminal tentacles to every corner of the world is now facing unprecedented changes which Russian President , who have been spent 10 years in a Russian jail and now lives in exile globe”. Multilingual Prokopchuk worked in tax present huge challenges to public security and safety. targeted by international arrest warrants sought by in London. “The Interpol constitution has very spe- enforcement before starting as a Russian representa- “To overcome them, we need a clear vision: we need to Moscow, also said Tuesday they were launching a cific rules which forbid countries who are serial tive at Interpol in 2006, according to the interior build a bridge to the future.” bid to get Russia suspended from Interpol for abusers from using the system,” Browder told ministry. —AFP

members. Remissions cut her prison time by a Outcry, arrests over Australian ‘Bali further seven years. Groom ties knot Indonesia has harsh laws against drugs and abattoir pumping Nine’ drug the other eight members of the Bali Nine after being shot received the death penalty or life sentences. The cattle with water mule released two ringleaders, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, were executed by firing squad in BEIJING: Police in eastern China have detained 29 suspects on wedding day BANGLI: Australian heroin courier Renae 2015, causing a diplomatic rupture between linked to an abattoir that pumped up to 120 liters of water over NEW DELHI: An Indian groom shot by two gunmen as he rode a Lawrence was released from an Indonesian prison Australia and Indonesia. Australia recalled its a 12-hour period into cattle to inflate their slaughter weight chariot to his wedding in New Delhi managed to return just hours yesterday, the first of the so-called Bali Nine drug ambassador in protest. Chan and Sukumaran, before being carved up and sold, state media reported yester- later after surgery and take his vows, police said yesterday. The who apologized for their crimes, helped scores of day. The reports did not specify what crime the suspects were smuggling ring to gain freedom after the execu- being held for, but the case has provoked outrage on social unidentified assailants mingled with wedding guests dancing in a tion of the two ring leaders strained ties between Indonesian prisoners through language and extravagant street procession as the 25-year-old groom made his media over the cruelty inflicted on the animals as images of their way to the ceremony. Police said the pair climbed onto the horse- the countries. Lawrence, 41, left Bali’s Bangli training programs they set up inside Bali’s ghastly ordeal emerged. drawn carriage and opened fire before fleeing amid the panic. prison through a doorway where prison officers Kerobokan prison. From 7:00 pm till dawn, workers at the slaughterhouse The groom was struck in the shoulder and rushed to hospital, had laid Hindu offerings. A large media scrum sur- Another member of the Bali Nine, Tan Duc would slowly pump water into cattle through tubes inserted into where doctors stemmed the bleeding but could not remove the Thanh Nguyen, died of kidney cancer in May. their nostrils before they were slaughtered for the market in rounded Lawrence as she was ushered into a nearby Nanjing, a provincial state-controlled TV broadcaster bullet easily without major surgery. The groom, bandaged up, black SUV. A police convoy escorted the vehicle The other five are all serving life jail terms. They returned to his bride-to-be just three hours later and per- reported. Stills from a video clip shot by an undercover reporter formed his wedding rituals. “The bullet is stuck between the as it headed to Denpasar airport, where Lawrence have failed in repeated attempts to get their sen- from the broadcaster showed a swollen cattle on its knees with shoulder bones,” Vijay Kumar, a deputy commissioner of police was to be held in a temporary detention centre tences reduced. In Australia, Lawrence faces two tears in its eyes. Workers whom the reporter spoke with said the in Delhi said. while waiting for an overnight flight to Sydney. outstanding warrants, reportedly relating to a process was cruel, though the foreman of the abattoir said the Police are searching for the two suspects, who have not been high speed chase with police in a stolen car process was “painless”. A number of social media users said the She will not be allowed to return to Indonesia, abattoir foreman should be pumped full of water instead. found. They have not established a motive for the brazen attack said Maryoto Sumadi, the chief of Bali’s Justice before her fateful trip to the Indonesian holiday but said it did not appear to be a random act of violence. Many “Cattle deserve to be treated with dignity too. Think about it, Indian cities are in grip of wedding fever with the traditional Office. Lawrence was arrested at Denpasar air- island. She has been asked to report to police in we should be grateful for their selflessness, which has helped fill marriage season kicking off last week. The shooting is not the port in 2005 with 2.7 kilos of heroin strapped to Gosford, north of Sydney, when she returns, her our bellies,” one social media user wrote. Beef from the slaugh- first of its kind at an Indian wedding. A groom was shot dead in her body. She was initially sentenced to life in father Bob Lawrence told Australian broadcaster terhouse had been popular due to its prices, which averaged 30 northern Uttar Pradesh state in April as during his wedding ritu- Nine News. A spokeswoman for police in the yuan ($4.32) a kg, about 10 percent cheaper than its competitors, prison. With the support of prosecutors, the sen- according to the broadcaster. Consumption of beef in China is als. The murder was captured on film, with the groom clutching tence was reduced to 20 years on appeal, largely Australian state of New South Wales told his chest with both hands before slumping forward. In 2016, a growing faster than for other meats. But with limited land to pro- groom was accidentally shot dead by a reveller as he rode a because Lawrence co-operated with investiga- Reuters the two warrants related to traffic duce big herds to meet rising beef demand, China has been step- horse for his wedding ceremony in Uttar Pradesh. —AFP tors and disclosed the roles of other Bali Nine offences, but declined to elaborate. —Reuters ping up imports. Last year, China shipped in almost 700,000 tons of the red meat worth about $3.3 billion. —Reuters