SEPT. 19 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia stepped up its campaign against former president Mikheil Saakashvili after a court ruled the authorities could seize his property including houses and a vineyard, media reported. Georgia’s prosecutor-general has charged Mr Saakashvili with abuse of office. Mr Saakashvili lives in New York.
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(News report from Issue No. 201, published on Sept. 24 2014)
SEPT. 21 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russia handed over Erlan Kosaev, a former BTA Bank official wanted in connection with fraud, to Kazakhstan for prosecution. Mr Kosaev was a colleague of Mukhtar Ablyazov, who is currently in a French jail. Kazakhstan wants to extradite Mr Ablyazov although rights groups have said that he wouldn’t face a fair trial.
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(News report from Issue No. 201, published on Sept. 24 2014)
SEPT. 16 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – More news stories have emerged to suggest that Gulnara Karimova, eldest daughter of Uzbek President Islam Karimov, has been charged with various economic crimes.
The most pressing of these are three photos allegedly showing Ms Karimova under house arrest in Tashkent. These were released by her PR agent in London.
In the photos, which are undated, three men in military style fatigues appear to be pushing and pulling a gaunt- looking Ms Karimova. Gone are her designer dresses, and expensive make-up. Instead Ms Karimova wears a tracksuit top and has her hair tied back in a simple bunch.
A statement alongside the photos said they showed that Ms Karimova was staving and that she wouldn’t face a fair trial in Uzbekistan.
“She [Gulnara] is willing to travel to any court where the rule of law is upheld so she can clear her name,” the statement said. “The fact that an Uzbek military court — which sits in secret — has already found her associates to be guilty makes it almost impossible for Gulnara tried fairly in the normal Uzbek judicial process.”
There is, no doubt, a kernel of truth in all this. It’s more difficult to see, though, who is going to come to the aid of Ms Karimova. She is reviled in Uzbekistan, where she was once touted as a successor to her father, and is liked hardly any more outside Uzbekistan.
Ms Karimova has been under house arrest for most of this year. Her close associates have already been jailed for a mix of crimes. Although it’s unclear exactly what Ms Krimova will be charged with, she is probably facing a prison sentence.
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(News report from Issue No. 200, published on Sept.17 2014)
SEPT. 17 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan has opened another trial against Maksim Bakiyev, the son of ousted president Kurmanbek Bakiyev, media reported. Bakiyev lives in London. He fled Kyrgyzstan with his father in 2010. He has already been sentenced in absentia to 25 years in jail for corruption.
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(News report from Issue No. 200, published on Sept.17 2014)
SEPT. 11 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The message was clear.
In front of a coarse sign with a line running through it showing two stickmen having gay sex beside the warning “Homosexualism is a threat to the nation”, Kazakh politician Dauren Babamuratov, leader of a small nationalist faction in parliament, called on the government to ban gay men from holding various positions in parliament. He also claimed that blood samples could determine the sexual orientation of a person.
“I think it is very easy to identify a gay person by his or her DNA,” he said according to media.
“A blood test can show the presence of degeneratism in a person.”
His comments will find support in Kazakhstan where anti-homosexual sentiment is running high.
Last month a poster for an Almaty gay club depicting Russian poet Alexander Pushkin and Kazakh composer Kurmangazy Sagyrbayuly sparked an uproar.
There have been moves in Kazakhstan to introduce the type of laws that Russian already has in place that bans the discussion of homosexuality in schools.
Attitudes towards homosexuality in Kazakhstan have improved over the past few years. A handful of gay friendly bars have popped up but the homosexual community is still wary of flaunting itself too publicly.
Earlier this year, The Conway Bulletin carried a report from outside a nightclub in Almaty that described verbal abuse being hurled at people standing in the queue to enter the club.
Relatively, though, Almaty is the most liberal city for gay rights in Central Asia. Homosexuals from across the region tend to migrate to Almaty to work and live as there is a degree of tolerance. In most other cities in the region, homosexuals are often beaten in the street.
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(News report from Issue No. 200, published on Sept.17 2014)
SEPT. 11 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia’s parliament ratified two loan deals with the International Development Association (IDA) and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) worth $30m to modernise the state education system, media reported.
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(News report from Issue No. 200, published on Sept.17 2014)
SEPT. 5 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The authorities in Uzbekistan have passed a law restricting articles that bloggers can publish online. The US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported bloggers cannot publish stories that defame the honour of individuals. Uzbekistan has one of the world’s tightest media laws.
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(News report from Issue No. 199, published on Sept. 10 2014)
SEPT. 8 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The authorities in Uzbekistan appear to be on the brink of charging the once all-powerful Gulnara Karimova, eldest daughter of Uzbek President Islam Karimova, with various financial crimes.
A press release from the Uzbek Prosecutor-General named a Karimova G. as part of a group that has been investigated for economic crimes.
“The investigation has undertaken to fully recover the economic damage inflicted on the State. 457 billion soms have been recovered to date from the members of the organized criminal group, who are present in Uzbekistan,” the statement said.
These various economic crimes hinge around taking state assets cheaply, embezzlement, forgery and blackmail.
Russian news agency RIA-Novosti quoted a source in the Uzbek government later confirming that the reference to Karimova G. was to Gulnara Karimova.
Ms Karimova’s closest aide Gayane Avakyan has already been imprisoned for economic crimes.
Ms Karimova has been under house arrest but, even so, the charges will shock Uzbeks who had, until 12 months ago, viewed her as untouchable. Ms Karimova had controlled all the biggest components of Uzbekistan’s industry and business, been Uzbekistan’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva and had been tipped to succeed her father as president.
A power grab by rival clan members in the Uzbek elite, though, appears to have undermined her ambitions.
Although Ms Karimova’s fall from grace sounds like a purely internal dispute, the implications are region wide. If Uzbekistan hosts a complicated dispute over power and destabilises, it will affect the entire Central Asia region. With a population of 30m, Uzbekistan is the most populous country in Central Asia and some of the best transport links. It also lies geographically at the heart of the region and shares a border with all four other Central Asian states.
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(News report from Issue No. 199, published on Sept. 10 2014)
SEPT. 1 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Under an amnesty declared earlier this year by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, people can legalise companies and cash held offshore without being taxed over the next 12 months, media reported. Mr Nazarbayev wants to bring an estimated $10b into the economy through the amnesty.
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(News report from Issue No. 198, published on Sept. 3 2014)
AUG. 29 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyz PM Djoomart Otorbayev approved a long list of bills and laws to be passed through parliament in order for Kyrgyzstan to become a member of the Russia-led Customs Union this year. The list is further evidence that Kyrgyzstan is committed to joining the group.
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(News report from Issue No. 198, published on Sept. 3 2014)