MAY 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – A Kyrgyz court sentenced Altynbek Muraliyev, son of former PM Amangeldi Muraliyev, to 12 years in prison for treason and espionage. Muraliyev was arrested in November 2014, while attempting to leave Kyrgyzstan. The National Security Service said he had given classified information to foreign governments.
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(News report from Issue No. 281, published on May 20 2016)
MAY 13 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyz legislators proposed a new bill to restrict foreign media funding into the country, a law that could further undermine Kyrgyzstan’s shaky freedom of expression record. The new law would ban foreigners from setting up media organisations in the country and restrict foreign funding to 20% of an organisation’s total revenue. Media lobby groups have said that this law will serve only to restrict media and reduce free speech.
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(News report from Issue No. 281, published on May 20 2016)
MAY 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov pardoned 853 prisoners to mark the Day of the Constitution. The presidential grace is a routine gesture that shows Mr Berdymukhamedov’s control over the essential institutions in the country. According to official media, around 4,000 people have been freed in the past year through presidential pardons.
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(News report from Issue No. 281, published on May 20 2016)
MAY 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Opposition MPs in Georgia have protested against what they said was a rushed reform of the Constitutional Court that will curtail its power and subvert it to the government.
The ruling Georgian Dream coalition set the final vote on the bill for Saturday May 14, just 14 hours after it had sparked furious arguments in parliament.
The opposition, led by the United National Movement party (UNM), the party of former President Mikheil Saakashvili, said the bill was in effect a punishment against the Constitutional Court for ruling against the Georgian Dream several times in the past few months.
Shalva Shavgulidze, opposition MP for the Free Democrats, said: “The only purpose of this bill is for the ruling party to gain control over the Constitutional Court.”
These charges were rejected by MPs from the Georgian Dream. MP Eka Beselia said that the changes were needed to reduce the previous UNM government’s influence over it. “This Court has to be fully liberated from political influences,” she said.
The bill, now adopted, raised the quorum for the 9-member Court from five to six, effectively making it more difficult for the Court to veto laws supported by the government.
Democracy lobby groups have said that this will make the Court a less effective check on the government’s executive powers.
Under the new law the minimum numbers of judges needed to make a decision was also raised to seven from six, again making it more complicated to pass judgements.
In September, just a few weeks before what will be a fiercely fought parliamentary election, President Giorgi Margvelashvili, will appoint new judges to the Court after two of the sitting judges reach the end of their 10-year terms.
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(News report from Issue No. 281, published on May 20 2016)
MAY 12 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Police in Bishkek arrested three leaders of the opposition People’s Parliament group for planning what they said was a coup. Sources at law enforcement agencies said that police had arrested leader Bekbolot Talgarbekov and his associates Torobai Kolubayev and Marat Sultanov. Talgarbekov had been a senior government official under Kyrgyzstan’s first post Soviet president, Askar Akayev. Kyrgyzstan has suffered two violent revolutions since independence in 1991.
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(News report from Issue No. 280, published on May 13 2016)
MAY 11 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – A Tajik court sentenced Bakhtiyor Nazarov, son of former deputy minister of defence Abdukhalim Nazarzoda, to 22 years in prison for inciting riots and calling for a revolution. In September 2015, Nazarzoda allegedly organised a coup against President Emomali Rakhmon. The Tajik security forces later killed Nazarzoda and accused several members of the opposition Islamic Renaissance Party of masterminding the attack.
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(News report from Issue No. 280, published on May 13 2016)
APRIL 29 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Kyrgyzstan extended a prison sentence on the widely reviled Maxim Bakiyev, the son of the ousted former president Kurmanbek Bakiyev, to 30 years for money laundering and extortion. Bakiyev has been living in London since he fled Kyrgyzstan after a revolution in 2010. In 2015, a transparency group revealed that he owns a mansion in southern England worth an estimated $5m. Kyrgyzstan has applied to have Bakiyev extradited but his lawyers have successfully countered this request by saying that he wouldn’t receive a fair trial in Kyrgyzstan.
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(News report from Issue No. 280, published on May 13 2016)
MAY 7 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – A Kyrgyz court freed Nariman Tuleyev, former mayor of Bishkek, after roughly three years in prison. He had been convicted of corruption over a deal to buy Chinese buses and snow removal equipment. It’s unclear exactly why the Kyrgyz authorities had decided to amnesty Tuleyev although there have been allegations that he was beaten in prison.
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(News report from Issue No. 280, published on May 13 2016)
MAY 13 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – A GM Uzbekistan executive in Russia said that the authorities in Uzbekistan had opened an investigation into the company for losses incurred by its Russian division.
Yelena Kuznetsova, director of marketing at the Russian representative office for Ravon, GM Uzbekistan’s brand in Russia, refused to confirm to Reuters, though, whether a news report on the opposition website Uzmetronom that police had detained an executive at
“The company (GM Uzbekistan) is being investigated because the Russian distributor was unable to repay its debt,” she said.
An earlier report by Uzmetronom said police had detained Tokhirjon Jalilov, the former GM Uzbekistan CEO, for a scam involving Ravon cars bound for Russia.
GM Uzbekistan is one of the country’s most important joint ventures. The Uzbek government owns a 75% stake in the project. GM owns a 25% stake.
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(News report from Issue No. 280, published on May 13 2016)
MAY 12 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh PM Karim Massimov approved the members of a newly- established commission that will discuss reform of the land code. Bakhtyzhan Sagintayev, vice PM will head the commission which includes politicians, businessmen and members of civil society. The proposed amendments to the land code triggered weeks of protests throughout Kazakhstan and forced Pres. Nursultan Nazarbayev to delay introducing them.
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(News report from Issue No. 280, published on May 13 2016)