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July 7, 2021

84-Year-Old Indian Priest and Activist Dies in Police Custody
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In India, the U.N. is denouncing the recent death of 84-year-old Indian
rights activist and Jesuit priest, Father Stan Swamy. Swamy had been
charged under India's contested "anti-terror" law. He was arrested last
year over his advocacy work fighting for tribal rights, accused of
having ties to a radical left-wing group which the Indian police alleged
instigated violence in 2018. Swamy died in a hospital in Mumbai Monday
ahead of a bail hearing. He'd been denied bail before despite having
health issues, including Parkinson's disease. This is Sitaram Yechury, a
leader of India's Communist Party.

Sitaram Yechury: "I would consider this virtually death under custody,
and under custody by a government who - on charges that had not been
even established or even proved to be taken up. He's been under
detention for more than eight months."



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