Crime
Biden Accuses Russian Troops of Committing Genocide in Ukraine
By Derrick Bangura
US President Joe Biden has accused Russian forces of committing acts of “genocide” in Ukraine.
He said Russian President Vladimir Putin was trying to “wipe out the idea” of a Ukrainian identity.
Mr Biden has previously stopped short of references to genocide, instead accusing Moscow of “war crimes”.
French President Emmanuel Macron later told French TV he was reluctant to use the term and warned against an “escalation of rhetoric”.
Speaking to the public broadcaster France 2, the French President said he would be “careful with such terms today because these two peoples are brothers.”
“I want to continue to try, as much as I can, to stop this war and rebuild peace. I am not sure that an escalation of rhetoric serves that cause,” he added.
But Mr Biden insisted on Tuesday night that evidence of genocidal acts by Russian troops was mounting.
“More evidence is coming out of the horrible things that the Russians have done in Ukraine,” the president said. “And we’re going to only learn more and more about the devastation. We’ll let the lawyers decide internationally whether or not it qualifies, but it sure seems that way to me.”
He first made the comments as part of a throwaway remark during a speech in Iowa about increasing inflation, telling supporters in Iowa their ability to budget should not “hinge on whether a dictator declares war and commits genocide half a world away”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has not held back from accusing Russia of genocide and “crimes against humanity” following the discovery of mass graves in the city of Bucha, said Mr Biden’s comments were “true words of a true leader”.
“Calling things by their names is essential to stand up to evil,” Mr Zelensky wrote on Twitter.
The White House posted a copy of Mr Biden’s comments online.
Last month, US officials rowed back on comments President Biden made in Warsaw. At the end of a speech in front of Polish government officials and dignitaries he said of Mr Putin: “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power.”
The US quickly issued a clarification amid fierce backlash from the Kremlin. “The president’s point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbours or the region,” a Biden administration official said. “He was not discussing Putin’s power in Russia, or regime change.”
Genocide is widely seen as the most serious crime against humanity and is defined under international law as a mass extermination of a particular group of people.
While there is no legal consensus on whether Russia is guilty of the crime, Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has described killings in the town of Bucha as “acts of genocide”. And last week, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the attacks do not “look far short of genocide”.
The Anambra State Police Command has foiled a cult initiation ceremony in Nawfia, Njikoka Local Government Area of the state.
Spokesperson for the Command, SP Tochukwu Ikenga, disclosed this in a statement issued on Tuesday in Awka.
According to Ikenga, the operation was carried out by police operatives around 9:30am on June 15, leading to the arrest of six suspects at the scene.
Recovered during the raid were one Jojef pump action gun, two cartridges, and a golden-coloured Lexus SUV with registration number ATN 202 AE. Other items found include two cutlasses, two scissors, a cap bearing the inscription of the Supreme Vikings Confraternity, charms, and substances suspected to be hard drugs.
“They are currently undergoing police interrogation to get more insight into their modus operandi, after which the case will be charged to court on the conclusion of the investigations,” Ikenga stated.
The police spokesperson reassured residents of the command’s unwavering commitment to fighting cultism and other related crimes across the state.
An Ikeja Magistrates’ Court, Lagos, on Wednesday, remanded two persons, Olaitan Fasasi and Kehinde Tobiloba in a correctional facility over alleged attempted murder.
Fasasi, 40, and Tobiloba, 26, whose addresses were not provided, are being charged with conspiracy, attempted murder and membership of a secret society.
The Magistrate, Mr L.A Owolabi, did not take the plea of the defendants for want of jurisdiction.
Owolabi directed the police to forward the case file to the Director of Public Prosecution for legal advice.
He thereafter adjourned the case until May 31 for mention.
The Prosecutor, Josephine Ikhayere, told the court that the defendants committed the offences at about 5.02p.m on Feb. 15, at Mushin, Lagos.
She said that Fasasi, Tobiloba and others now at large, attempted to commit murder by shooting at a resident, Alfred Ademola.
“They armed themselves with a locally made gun. They belong to Eiye Confraternity, a group proscribed by law,”, she said.
Ikhayere said that the offences contravened Sections 230(1) and 411 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2012.
He said that the actions of the defendants also contravened Section 2(3)(a)(b)(c)(d) of the unlawful societies and Cultism Law of Lagos State Law.
An Area Court in Jos, on Tuesday, sentenced one Jeptha John, to three months imprisonment for stealing a Redmi mobile phone valued at N165, 000.
The judge, Shawomi Bokkos, sentenced the John after he pleaded guilty to the offence.
The judge, however, gave the convict an option to pay N20, 000 fine and N50, 000 restitution to the complainant.
Bokkos said that if the convict defaulted in paying the restitution, three months should be added to his sentence to make it six months imprisonment.
Earlier, the police prosecutor, Insp Monday Dabit, told the court that the case was reported at the B Division Police Station, Jos, on Dec. 1, 2024, by Ms Nerat Danjuma.
He said that the complainant alleged that the defendant trespassed into her house and stole her mobile phone valued at N165, 000.
The prosecutor further told the court that the offence contravened the Plateau State Penal Code, Law of Northern Nigeria.
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