A tiny court in a remote area of Nepal yesterday postponed its verdict on 36 men charged with the killing of a group
of farmers in a battle over a prized plant dubbed the “Himalayan Viagra.”
Police officers surrounded the courthouse to prevent violence between supporters of the defendants and victims’ relatives, but the court
was forced to put off the hearing after the prosecutor failed to arrive.
The defendants make up nearly all the male population of the tiny village of Nar, 4,000m high in the Himalayas, where the bodies of seven men who disappeared after going to hunt for the plant were found last year.
The 36 all deny murder and say the victims, who were from outside the village, died accidentally when a fight broke out over the right to hunt for the rare parasitic plant, yarchagumba.
The yellowy-brown fungus, which grows on the larva of a species of moth, is found in only a few parts of the Himalayas and the Tibetan plateau above 3,500m.
Known for its aphrodisiac qualities, yarchagumba attracts a high price on the international market and is in particular demand in China, where a kilogram can fetch tens of thousands of dollars.
It is a major source of income for families in many remote Himalayan communities, which fiercely protect the valuable plant from outsiders.
Battles over yarchagumba have broken out in the past, but have been resolved within communities that have traditionally operated outside the national judicial system because of their remoteness and cultural traditions.
The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said the yarchagumba case “epitomizes the impact of the social changes that are going on in the far flung and previously inaccessible rural areas of Nepal.”
The valley where the victims went missing in June last year is among the most remote parts of Nepal, and it was several weeks before authorities learned of the extraordinary story of their deaths. Local authorities say police had to walk for days to reach the area, where they discovered the bodies of the seven men.
Police initially arrested the entire village, but later released the women and children. Most of the men were charged with murder and held in the district capital, which can only be reached on foot and does not have its own judge.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese