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Successive poor harvests have diminished Ndodana Makhalima’s household food stocks and the family’s nutrition status.

A subsistence farmer in Lupane, about 110 kilometres north of Zimbabwe’s second city, Bulawayo, 56 year-old Makhalima has learnt to live with hunger on his door step. “In the past I could eat umxhanxa (a mix of maize and melon) and […]

By Mbom Sixtus
YOUNDE, Cameroon, Dec 15 2015 (IPS)

Farmers and activists in Cameroon say a jail sentence handed down on an environmentalist who exposed land-grabbing by a multinational agro-industrial company, sends a dangerous signal to communities trying to protect their land and resources.

Nasako Bessingi, Director of Struggle to Economize Future Environment, SEFE, was sentenced on November 3, by a court in Mundemba, a small village in Cameroon’s southwest region. The SG-SOC company, a subsidiary of the New York-based Herakles Farms and two of his former employees sued him for defamation.

The verdict: a fine of just over 1,800 dollars or 3-years imprisonment. He was also ordered to pay damages of about 18,000 dollars to the two civil parties and costs of about 364 dollars. Nasako was given 24 hours to pay the fine otherwise he faces jail for 3 years.

Nasako says his NGO has paid the fine “Just to have time to do other things while our lawyer Adolf Malle follows up an appeal at the southwest regional Court of Appeal.”

Recounting his plight to IPS, he said Herakles Farms sued him following government’s suspension of its activities. He also revealed to IPS he had written petitions against the company in which he accused its officials of lying to villagers.

In his complaints, he notified the government of the company’s activities, clearing, felling trees and planting nurseries pending authorization, which he called illegal. He said he had also reported claims by the multinational firm that it had authorization to acquire 73,000 hectares of land on a 99 year-lease at the cost at about 50 cents per hectare per year.

“My complaint was filed in August 2012 and in November 2013, President Paul Biya signed a decree, limiting the company to 19,843 hectares of land in Cameroon and to pay seven dollars per hectare per year.” The company abandoned the project.

Going by Nasako, the initial suit filed by the company, charged him with inciting the government to suspend the activities of the company, but during the proceedings which took close to two years, the company modified its claims and emphasized on defamation.

Nasako led journalists from both the local and international media to cover conflicts between Herakles Farms (SG-SOC) and communities of the Mundemba sub-division in the southwest of Cameroon. He was attacked in the forest a few days later on his way to an interior village in the subdivision for a sensitization campaign.

In his report of the incident, a copy of which he forwarded to Bruce Wrobel, (now deceased), the CEO of the company at the time, stating that he had identified the attackers as workers of his company.

“They used the report against me claiming I defamed the company, whereas there were many witnesses at the scene of the event,” Nasako said. “I filed a complaint in court against the company, but they too filed one at the same time and for some reasons, the court decided to listen to the multinational firm.”

Several environmental NGOs, some of which were equally against the land grabbing attempts of Herakles Farms, have denounced the verdict which to them is unjust. Nasako says he is comforted by officials of local and international NGOs including Nature Cameroon, Cultural Survival, the African Coalition Against Land Grabbing, Green Peace among other sympathizers.

To Samuel Nguiffo, Coordinator of the Yaounde-based Center for Environment and Development, CED, “The conviction of Nasako Besingi, which follows a series of other procedures, suggests a desire to intimidate environmental activists, in a context marked by the proliferation of investments in land and natural resources, which strongly encroach on village land.”

A statement from the Amy Moas, a US-based Senior Forest Campaigner and Eric Ini, an Africa Forest Campaigner for Green Peace, says Nasako is “Guilty for nothing more than exercising his democratic right to protest.” They hold that Herakles Farms has consistently worked to silence its critics and that the activist has been intimidated and assaulted in recent years.

Chief Alexander Ekperi of Esoki, one of the villages affected by the Herakles agro-industrial project told IPS that as a traditional ruler, he was a middleman between the investors and the indigenes. He said his people depend on farming and without land they will be idle and poor.

“I am 100 per cent in support of Nasako. The company concealed information from us. We were fooled our village will be developed but Nasako and other environmentalist educated us on the project and we realized the company was going to exploit both timber and non-timber products, grab our farmland and leave people stranded. We were not even aware of how much land the company was grabbing,” he said.

The traditional ruler complained, “Even our people, like Dr. Blaise Mekole who were close to the investors have vanished and no longer communicate with us. People are looking up to me to pay for some work they did for the company, whereas I was given a fake ECOBANK cheque. It was a mafia (incident) and we regret the person who exposed it is getting a heavy sentence.”

Peter Okpo Wa-namolongo who lives in one of the villages in the Korup National Park, believes Nasako’s verdict was unjust. “I don’t know if some of our elite are truly Cameroonians, because when it comes to money, they don’t feel for their own people. The investors give us oil, food and beer and pay the elite huge amounts of bribe money for our land,” he said.

Wa-namolongo pointed out, “These big companies have money. They pay their way into places and I’m sure even the judges received their money. I am strongly against what is happening to Nasako.”

Mosembe Cornelius, owner of a vast farmland that was coveted by Harakles farms told IPS that “The main problem is that government has incomplete information about the crisis. I would have lost my own seven hectares if environmentalists were not here to help.”

Before Mosember could finish his statement, another villager, Edwin Njio joined in and said, “Environmentalists helped us meet international lawyers who exposed the illegality of the company. We would be dead without our land. We the villagers are very angry.”

He also said, “We were treated as animals but we now understand our rights. If Nasako is convicted then the whole of Cameroon should be jailed. Even our chiefs (traditional rulers) treated us as if we don’t deserve respect.”

But Chief Eben Joseph sees things conversely. He is one of the traditional rulers in whose jurisdiction Herakles Farms’ project was being set up. “This project was going to bring development to my village. The head of state wants Cameroon to be emergent by 2035. How can we get there without foreign investments?” he asked.

Quizzed on the disparities in the amount the company paid per hectare on the annual basis and what was later determined by the head of state, as well as the surface area of land they initially wanted to exploit and the limitations by the 2013 Presidential Decree, Chief Eben stated he is a businessman.

“One cannot invest where he will not make profit. You go where you will make the highest profit. Gulf Oil had a permit to exploit oil in the Bakassi Peninsular in the 1970s, they claimed to the government the oil was little and sold their permit to Pecten which then exploited oil for about 30 years. Pecten recently sold the same area to Addax Petroleum which is still exploiting oil where Gulf Oil had claimed had little oil. It’s just business,” he said.

The traditional ruler said the government would have been collecting taxes from Herakles Farms while villagers enjoy some royalties. “Nasako and I have been friends for long, he always sees things from his own unique way. But he is not above the law. I will not say whether his court sentence was right or wrong.”

To Chief Orume, another traditional ruler in the region, “I knew this company will bring development to my village which is in a conservative area with community forests and a national park. I knew they would construct roads to ferry their produce out of the forest. But I am surprised they have just disappeared and we don’t know when they will be back.”

Though grappling with an appeal, Nasako told IPS that he has received complaints from laid-off workers of Herakles Farms. “They made severance payments to some workers in July 2015 promising to pay 70 other workers on September 30 but did not,” he said.

The company wrote an appeal to Cameroon’s presidency on October 3, pleading the government should intervene in court cases against the company. Jonathan Watts, the company’s Chief Operations Manager, sent a letter saying the company spent funds on court cases and said that the government should help dismiss the cases so that the company could focus on producing palm oil, which is a disputed product in ecological circles as it destroys forests.

(End)

A view of Gringo beach and, in the background, the city of Bajos de Haina, the Dominican Republic’s main industrial hub and port, and the third-most polluted city in the world. Credit: Dionny Matos/IPS

By Ivet González
BAJOS DE HAINA, Dominican Republic , Dec 15 2015 (IPS)

Rubbish covers the beaches and clutters the rivers, the garbage dump is not properly managed, and more than 100 factories spew toxic fumes into the air in the city of Bajos de Haina, a major industrial hub and port city in the Dominican Republic.

“We’ve only made it into the news as one of the world’s most polluted places,” lamented Adriana Vallejo, a schoolteacher who talked to IPS in the Centro Educativo Manuel Felix Peña, a school that teaches the arts in this city 80 km to the south of Santo Domingo.

Vallejo was referring to the list of the 10 most polluted places on earth drawn up periodically by the New York-based Blacksmith Institute (which has changed its name to Pure Earth).

The Institute’s latest report, from 2013, listed Bajos de Haina in third place, after Dzerzhinsk, Russia, and Chernobyl, Ukraine, which suffered one of the worst environmental disasters in history, caused by the catastrophic nuclear accident in 1986.

“Those up above are not paying attention to the environmental problem,” said Vallejo, referring to the ruling classes and the authorities. “We, from here down below, can do practically nothing.”

According to the “Map of Poverty in the Dominican Republic 2014”, 33 percent of households in this city of 159,000 people are poor.

“Private companies contribute a little to improving things, but only with small gestures, such as facilities at the school that were refurbished by the oil refinery (the only one in this Caribbean island nation). We haven’t seen a real desire for Haina to change,” said the teacher, who has lived here for 25 years.

“When the situation gets out of hand, we hold protest marches,” she said. “The people have had to take to the streets to fight serious problems like burning in the garbage dump, which enveloped Haina in a curtain of smoke.”

The manufacturing, chemical products, pharmaceutical, metallurgical and power plants and the oil refinery emit every a combined total of 9.8 tons of formaldehyde, 1.2 tons of lead, 416 tons of ammonium, and 18.5 tons of sulfuric acid annually.

The mouth of the Ñagá River, whose waters have darkened as a result of industrial waste and which has become more narrow due to the loss of the mangroves lining the banks, in the Dominican Republic coastal city of Bajos de Haina. Credit: Dionny Matos/IPS

The city’s thermoelectric complex produces more than 50 percent of the electricity available for the economy and the country’s 9.3 million inhabitants.

In this city, 84 hazardous substances have been identified, 65 of which are major toxics.

Factories dump waste into the rivers and the sea. And noise pollution is another problem affecting human health.

Scientific studies warn that a majority of local residents suffer from ailments such as asthma, bronchitis, the flu and acute diarrhea.

In this city of 50 square km, the main environmental woes are air, water and noise pollution, problems caused by the open-air dump, and municipal solid waste scattered everywhere.

Where tons of garbage now cover a wide open area, there was a forest 30 years ago, “where I used to wander as a kid,” said high school math teacher Juan Ventura, who took IPS to the dump. “People who used to live around here back then are nostalgic and sad; we miss what was once a natural area that used to be known as El Naranjal.”

“The city’s garbage is brought here, with absolutely no kind of health policies. For decades, they even brought in part of the garbage from Santo Domingo. The only thing they did was burn it, and the entire local population had to breathe the nauseating smoke.

“It’s pathetic that the local authorities have no serious policy for recycling, and some local residents scavenge waste materials on their own, without any protective measures,” he said, pointing to around a dozen men and women sorting through bags of garbage for scraps of material, plastic and metal, to classify and sell them to recycling companies.

One of the women, her hands filthy from scavenging, told IPS that she is involved in this informal activity because of the money she can earn.

The woman, who is originally from neighbouring Haiti, said she makes between 22 and 44 dollars a day collecting plastic that she resells – a considerable sum in a country where the minimum monthly wage is 231 dollars.

The authorities say Haina is suffering from the legacy of years of nearly non-existent environmental legislation.

The neighbourhood Paraíso de Dios or God’s Paradise turned into a living hell during the 20 years that the Metaloxa car battery recycling smelter operated there with no environmental controls or oversight. Local residents in the area where the plant used to operate have extremely high blood lead levels.

For a decade the community put up a battle until Metaloxa was forced to pull out in 1999, when the Public Health Ministry finally took action.

But many locals suffered irreversible damage to their health.

Residents of this city complain that enforcement of the 2000 law on the environment and natural resources is lax.

“There is no respect for the environment,” Mackenzie Andújar, a 41-year-old plumber who lives in the area of Gringo beach, told IPS. “There is no control over factories here; they dump their toxic waste out of chimneys and into the water. The situation in Haina has only gotten worse in recent years.”

The Ñagá River, which flows into the sea at Gringo beach, is filthy and narrow as a result of garbage dumps and deforestation. Plastic bottles, cardboard, old clothes and other trash is strewn over the sand dunes, while children splash in the water. The view from the beach is the furnaces and smokestacks of the nearby factories.

“The locals are uncultured; when a dog or other animal dies, they throw the corpse into the river or on the beach, instead of burying it,” said Andújar.

The environmental crisis, the high population density, the poor living conditions and the lack of services infrastructure make this a conflict-ridden area, according to the 2011 study titled “a socioeconomic and environmental diagnosis on the management of solid household waste in the municipality of Haina”

“The environmental problems in our community are hard to deal with, but we also have social contamination caused by crime and young people’s lack of interest in studying,” said music student Juan Elías Andújar.

“In school they talk to us about ecological issues,” he told IPS. “We have a group called ‘Guardians of Nature’, to raise social awareness and carry out actions like clean-ups of beaches. Haina could change if each person were willing to make an effort.”

Edited by Estrella Gutiérrez/Translated by Stephanie Wildes

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December 9, 2015 (GAMBELLA) – President Omer Hassan Al Bashir of Sudan on Wednesday participated in the Ethiopian all-tribes cultural event in Gambella town, capital of Gambella regional government in western part of Ethiopia where he praised Ethiopians for their unity in diversity.

Tens of thousands gathered at Gambella regional stadium celebrating cultural event of all tribes in Ethiopia, Gambella, 9 December 2015 (ST Photo)

The Sudanese head of state whose country has been marred with violence, sometimes pitting tribes against one another particularly in the western region of Darfur, visited the Ethiopian town close to the South Sudanese border at the invitation of his counter-part, prime minister Haile Mariam Dessalegn.

Bashir who spoke in Arabic and translated in Amharic at the opening of his speech as the Guest of Honour for the event, addressed tens of thousands of participants from all over Ethiopia. The Sudanese president turned the crowd wild when he made his greetings in Nuer language, one of the ethnic groups in Ethiopia who constitute the majority population in Gambella region.

“Maale, maale mi goaa. Yien a thin,” he said, which translates ‘how are you, how are you doing', a similar greeting language spoken by South Sudanese Nuer across the border.

He was earlier received at Makot Airport in Gambella by the governor of Gambella region, Gatluak Tut Khot, whose regional government hosted the event.

The Sudanese leader is also expected to conduct bilateral talks with the Ethiopian Prime Minister Dessalegn on Wednesday evening to discuss issues of mutual interest after he and his counter-part returned to Addis Ababa from Gambella.

“The two presidents will meet to discuss issues of common concern and [President] Bashir might also meet with other guests. This is a good occasion to renew contacts between the leadership of the two countries at the highest levels,” announced the Sudanese ambassador to Ethiopia, Osman Nafie, on Tuesday.

Senior officials from other African countries also participated in the event. South Sudan was represented by the speaker of the national parliament, Manasseh Magok Rundial, who said he represented president Salva Kiir who could not come in person to Gambella for the celebration.

More than 80 different ethnic groups of Ethiopia participated in the cultural event, displaying their respective cultures at the Gambella stadium.

Nuer and Anyuak cultural groups, the host communities, had been welcoming the guests with their respective traditional dances, dressed in traditional dresses. Symbolic traditional villages of Nuer and Anyuak have been built outside Gambella town for show to the guests from other regions.

EVENT COMMEMORATES CONSTITUTION

The Ethiopian cultural day, 9 December, is celebrated annually to commemorate the ratification of the country's constitution by parliament after the fall of the Ethiopian former dictator, Mengistu Haile Mariam, 24 years ago.

The constitution established the federal democratic republic of Ethiopia which is based on ethnicities and referred to as the ‘Nations and Nationalities' grouped into administrative regional governments across the country.

Ethiopia is the second-most populous nation on the African continent after Nigeria with over 100 million inhabitants who are distributed among 83 nationalities or tribes, with largest tribes such as the Oromo and Amhara having their own regional governments while smaller tribes are grouped into other regions.

Gambella region is inhabited by five ‘nationalities' with the Nuer and Anyuak ethnic groups being the majority in the area. They also share cultures and languages with their South Sudanese communities on the other side of the border.

The Ethiopian federal government has also encouraged the development of ethnic languages in schools. In Gambella currently, the Nuer and Anyuak languages are being taught from primary to secondary school levels and with further intention to introduce it into colleges in Gambella region.

The cultural day served as an important forum for nations, nationalities and peoples to show their respective cultures; learn about cultures of other ethnic groups and show unity in diversity as Ethiopians and strong solidarity for peace.

The event is also an opportunity to implement development projects in a particular regional town where an annual cultural event takes place.

Almost all main roads inside Gambella town and leading to the other neighbouring regions including to the South Sudanese border town of Pagak have been tarmacked, some constructed years ago while others shortly before the cultural event.

(ST)

December 9, 2015 (KHARTOUM) - Sudan's ruling National Congress Party (NCP) Wednesday said that subsidies would be lifted gradually admitting the move will negatively impact on the poor and low-income families.

FILE - A man selling eggs waits for customers at the market in Khartoum, Sudan (REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah)

On Monday, Sudan's finance minister Badr al-Din Mahmoud urged the National Assembly legislators to approve the 2016 budget including lifting of government subsidies on wheat, flour, fuel and electricity in order to avoid economic collapse.

The chairman of the NCP's economic sector in Khartoum state Al-Mahi Khalafalla stressed that the lifting of subsidies is part of the economic reform program, saying it would be implemented gradually according to a well-thought plan to remove the distortions of the national economy.

He told the official news agency (SUNA) that the poor and vulnerable sections of the society must be put into consideration when the gradual lifting of subsidies is implemented.

“Subsidizing commodities doesn't [help] achieve social justice [in the country] because nobody is benefiting from government subsidies but the [foreign] diplomatic missions and the rich people,” he said.

Khalafalla added that subsidized goods are being smuggled to neighbouring countries where they are sold at higher prices, pointing the government couldn't control Sudan's vast borders to prevent smuggling operations.

The NCP official underscored the need to direct part of the subsidies money to build a wide social security network to offer health insurance and financial support for the productive and the low-income families.

He also stressed the importance to direct large amounts of the subsidies money to increase the production and the productivity to achieve the goals of the economic reform program including improving the living conditions and increasing exports.

Khalafalla further noted that the 2016 budget must include an increase in government employees' salaries because lifting of subsidies would provide real financial resources and help avoid deficit financing which increases inflation rate.

Sudan's economy was hit hard since the southern part of the country declared independence in July 2011, taking with it about 75% of the country's oil output.

However, the government succeeded in bringing inflation rate down from a high of 46.8% in July 2014 to 11.3% in August 2015 but ordinary citizens continue to complain from cost of living increases that impaired their access to basic commodities.

Also, the Sudanese pound has lost 100% of its value since South Sudan's secession. The exchange rate of the US dollar on the black market has reached 11.5 Sudanese pounds (SDG).

The official dollar exchange rate stated by the Central Bank of Sudan (CBoS) is around 6.1 SDG.

The curtailment of fuel subsidies in September 2013 almost doubled prices of gasoline and diesel, triggering some of the worst protests Sudan has seen in years.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) at the time approved of Khartoum's decision saying that fuel subsidies “disproportionately” benefit the rich, but called for “a new package of corrective measures”, including addressing fiscal imbalances and tax reforms.

In august 2014, the Sudanese government announced the implementation of the five-year program as an extension of the tripartite program, which included the partial lifting of subsidies in 2012 and 2013.

It also agreed to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Staff-Monitored Program (SMP) to help it achieve a set of economic and financial policies and objectives which include sustaining economic growth, controlling inflation, reforming the banking sector and reducing budget deficit among others.

(ST)

December 9, 2015 (JUBA) - Rebecca Nyandeng, wife of late John Garang de Mabior, founding leader of the ruling Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), has called on South Sudanese rival leaders to launch a nationwide reconciliation plan ahead of the SPLM extraordinary convention scheduled to take place on Saturday, 12 December.

Rebecca Nyandeng de Mabior (ST File Photo)

In an exclusive interview with Sudan Tribune on Tuesday, Nyandeng said the country has been deeply divided by more than 21 months of civil war, urging rival leaders to work for reunification of the ruling party as a prerequisite for stability in the nation.

“The momentum in which the Arusha reunification agreement was reached should be maintained because many believe unity of the SPLM is the unity of the country,” Nyandeng said on Tuesday.

“SPLM is a historical party with many people having attachment to it and they feel that it is good to resolve differences through dialogue,” she added.

She revealed that in her recent meeting with vice-president, James Wani Igga, and members of former detainees, they discovered that one of the challenges the South Sudanese leadership should address together as the first priority was to silence guns and embark on reconciliation process in order to take the country forward.

“The biggest challenge today is to unite the hearts of our people through a national reconciliation process because there is no path towards nation building and reclaiming our pride as people of one nation if we don't take bold decisions and reconcile our people,” she said.

The former presidential advisor who fled the country and lived in the neighbouring Kenya in a self-imposed exile, however said she hoped the upcoming extraordinary convention of the SPLM leadership would be an opportunity for the leaders to pledge commitment to pursue national reconciliation in a country still divided by a war resulting from attempts to reform the ruling party in 2013.

SPLM split in November 2013 when its top leaders could not agree on the way forward, particularly on democratic processes and political reforms as well as on leadership succession and intra-party elections of top leaders.

The differences centered on the type of documents to adopt including the party's constitution, manifesto, code of conduct and rules and regulations. Nyandeng also together with the armed opposition leader, Riek Machar, who was the party's first deputy chairman and Pagan Amum, secretary general, announced their interest to contest for the chairmanship position in an upcoming convention of May 2013.

When the differences resulted to military clashes on 15 December 2013, Nyandeng accused the country's president, Salva Kiir, who also chaired the party, of dictatorship and massacre of members of the Nuer ethnic group in the capital, Juba, sparking the war. She then fled the country and only returned to Juba last week in the company of former detainees, a group of 10 senior party leaders who were once detained, released into exile and returned to the country this month.

But while Rebecca is keen to speak about reunifying the party, supporters of President Salva Kiir are unlikely to accept radical institutional reforms prerequisite for reconciliation and to change the way the government had been running the affairs of the country before and after independence in 2011.

Although it is unlikely to bring about immediate change as it is unclear what exactly it will look like in the coming months since the government “does have an impact to the extent that it is a step in the right direction”, Rebecca believed it could be a preliminary step in what is likely to be a long road.

"In order to halt blood-letting and stabilise the situation, I appeal to the government, particularly the president himself and the parties in peace process to refrain from making sensational statements and commit ourselves to implementing the peace agreement,” Nyandeng stressed.

“Peace is the priority of our people,” she emphasized.

The appeal called on global community to support launching a political dialogue on the basis of the IGAD brokered peace agreement in August which calls for the formation of a transitional government of national unity to run the country for 30 months before elections can be conducted in 2018.

Nyandeng however said the peace agreement is at a critical stage and needed support from the international community in order to survive.

“The peace agreement which has been signed is at [a] critical stage and it is time the international community come together to launch a political process to make parties work together, government and opposition,” she further stressed.

She pointed out the need to halt offensive operations by the government's military forces and armed rebel units in the country, particularly in the conflict affected states of Upper Nile region.

She also called for compliance to security provisions in the peace agreement which call for redeployment of all the forces to positions from which they cannot shell themselves and to halt both ground attacks and air strikes.

She also called for deployment of international observers to monitor the ceasefire, the unconditional release of all prisoners, the establishment of corridors for refugees and humanitarian aid, and the dispatch of aid to rebuild infrastructures which have been the brunt of intense fighting in the conflict affected areas.

"I believe that a strong demonstration of commitments, translating words into actions is needed now. The leaders should reach mutual understanding on the steps that will facilitate full implementation of the peace agreement,” she said.

However, observers fear that the rush by the SPLM and former detainees to conduct a partial extraordinary convention without the armed opposition faction led by Riek Machar, will further widen divisions between the factions of the ruling party and become counter-productive to the spirit of Arusha reunification process.

It was the second time the movement split in 2013 after the first split in 1991 over whether or not to fight the 21 years of war with Sudan for the objective of the right to self-determination for the people of South Sudan.

The two factions, led by Garang and Machar, respectively however reunited in 2002 with the understanding to accommodate both the objectives of secular united Sudan advocated by late Garang and self-determination leading to independence for the people of South Sudan, which Machar advocated, resulting to the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2005 and independence of South Sudan in 2011.

(ST)

The former girlfriend of South African rapper Nkululeko Habedi, known as Flabba, is found guilty of his murder.

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Nigeria save a penalty and score one to beat hosts Senegal as they secure a place at the 2016 Olympics.

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A French judge drops the warrant to arrest Ivory Coast's parliamentary speaker, who is an ex-rebel leader, following a diplomatic protest, his lawyers say.

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