APRIL 30 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — A photo essay on the prominent society website voxpopuli.kz of a lesbian couple celebrating their unofficial wedding in Karaganda, an industrial city in central Kazakhstan, caused a stir. Like its neighbours, Kazakhstan’s society is conservative and homosexuals are marginalised. Homosexuality was illegal in Kazakhstan until 1997.
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(News report from Issue No. 134, published on May 6 2013)
APRIL 30 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan released five political prisoners last year, the US reported. Human rights groups often criticise Uzbekistan, much to the embarrassment of the US and other Western countries which have made deals with the Uzbek government in return for help shifting military equipment out of Afghanistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 134, published on May 6 2013)
APRIL 23 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Uzbek authorities unexpectedly released opposition activist Mamadali Makhmudov from prison ahead of a visit by a senior US official, media reported. Mr Makhmudov, 72, was imprisoned in August 1999 for attempting to overthrow the government. Uzbekistan has one of the world’s worst human rights records.
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(News report from Issue No. 133, published on April 29 2013)
APRIL 18 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The European Parliament adopted a resolution criticising Kazakhstan for not respecting political, media and religious freedoms. Its statement called for the authorities to release the leader of the banned opposition Alga! Party, Vladimir Kozlov, from prison. He was convicted last year for inciting unrest.
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(News report from Issue No. 132, published on April 22 2013)
APRIL 12 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – Citing the Uzbek authorities’ refusal to allow private access to inmates, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) cancelled all future prison visits in Uzbekistan.
The ICRC released a terse, unequivocal statement from its Geneva headquarters.
“The decision to terminate visits to places of detention is a rare occurrence and is never taken lightly,” it said.
The ICRC, which had suspended trips since October 2012, said prison visits are pointless unless inmates feel they can talk freely and the Uzbeks simply weren’t willing to allow this.
The cramped, Soviet-built prisons in Uzbekistan are considered some of the worst in the world. Allegations of torture and mistreatment litter activists’ accounts of prison life.
ICRC’s decision will embarrass Uzbekistan’s Western military partners.
Rowing back on years of criticism of alleged human rights abuses by the authorities, NATO governments led by the US have been eager to make deals with Uzbekistan to help withdraw their military forces from neighbouring Afghanistan by the end of 2014. Uzbekistan has a useful railway network and is considered more stable than Pakistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 131, published on April 12 2013)
APRIL 3 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — A monitor from the Feb. 18 presidential election in Armenia said she is being blackmailed for alleging vote fraud against supporters of president Serzh Sarksyan, media reported. Narine Esmaeli said she received phone calls telling her to drop the allegations or intimate photos of her would be released.
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(News report from Issue No. 130, published on April 5 2013)
APRIL 2 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Police in Kyrgyzstan arrested the Uzbek editor of a newspaper in the south of the country for alleged involvement in the murder of a man during ethnic fighting in 2010. The arrest of Muhammadsoli Ismoilov, editor of Ush Sadosi, triggered a protest by Uzbeks who have complained of police bias and maltreatment.
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(News report from Issue No. 130, published on April 5 2013)
MARCH 27 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijani officials opened an investigation into the US vote monitoring group the National Democratic Institute (NDI) for distributing grants without the correct registration, media reported. The authorities in Azerbaijan have been cracking down on media and rights groups ahead of an election next year.
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(News report from Issue No. 129, published on March 29 2013)
MARCH 18 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan needs to stop clamping down on civil society and instead allow freedom of expression, the Council of Europe’s human rights commissioner, Nils Muiznieks, told Reuters. Mr Muiznieks said the Azerbiajani authorities have not yet followed through on their promises to protect human rights.
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(News report from Issue No. 128, published on March 22 2013)
MARCH 10 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – Human rights groups heavily criticised the Azerbaijani authorities for using rubber bullets and tear gas to break up an unsanctioned rally in central Baku. Hundreds of people had gathered to protest the death of three conscripts who allegedly committed suicide. Media reported no injuries at the rally.
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(News report from Issue No. 127, published on March 15 2013)