MARCH 29 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – A Bishkek court jailed three nationalist opposition MPs for between 12 and 18 months for calling for a revolution and trying to break into a Kyrgyz government office in October last year. The politicians — Kamchibek Tashiyev, Sadyr Zhaparov and Talant Mamytov — wanted the Kumtor gold mine to be nationalised.
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(News report from Issue No. 129, published on March 29 2013)
MARCH 21 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s parliament voted to cut the president’s authority, the latest move in the power struggle between supporters of President Mikheil Saakashvili and PM Bidzina Ivanishvili. The amendment scraps the president’s right to sack a cabinet. The pro-Western Mr Saakashvili finishes his second term and final term as president in October.
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(News report from Issue No. 128, published on March 22 2013)
MARCH 12 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – A Baku court jailed the editor of an independent newspaper for nine years for extortion. Police arrested Avaz Zeynally, editor of the Khural daily, in October 2011 after a parliamentarian from the ruling party alleged that he had asked for a bribe. Mr Zeynally’s supporters say the charges have been made up.
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(News report from Issue No. 127, published on March 15 2013)
FEB. 26 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – Britain’s Supreme Court threw out a final appeal by Kazakh fugitive billionaire Mukhtar Ablyazov against a 22-month prison sentence for lying in court about his assets. Ablyazov is facing charges that he embezzled $6b from Kazakhstan-based BTA Bank where he had once been chairman.
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(News report from Issue No. 126, published on March 8 2013)
FEB. 22 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s parliament passed a law limiting the sale of religious books and videos, media reported. Parliamentarians justified the restrictions by insisting they were necessary to reduce the inflow of extremist propaganda. Religious items now have to be vetted and can only be sold in designated shops.
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(News report from Issue No. 125, published on Feb. 22 2013)
FEB. 23 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – A judge in Georgia delayed the politically sensitive trial of former defence minister Bacho Akhalaia until Feb. 28. Mr Akhalaia is accused of abuse of power. Supporters of President Mikheil Saakashvili have accused his opponents of orchestrating a witch-hunt since they won a parliamentary election last year.
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(News report from Issue No. 125, published on Feb. 22 2013)
FEB. 23 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – A judge in Georgia delayed the politically sensitive trial of former defence minister Bacho Akhalaia until Feb. 28. Mr Akhalaia is accused of abuse of power. Supporters of President Mikheil Saakashvili have accused his opponents of orchestrating a witch-hunt since they won a parliamentary election last year.
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(News report from Issue No. 125, published on Feb. 22 2013)
FEB. 12 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – A military court in Bishkek sentenced, in absentia, former Kyrgyz president Kurmanbek Bakiyev and his brother, Janysh, to prison for involvement in the murder of a rival in 2009. Mr Bakiyev fled to Belarus from Kyrgyzstan after a revolution in April 2010. The Kyrgyz authorities have asked Belarus to extradite him.
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(News report from Issue No. 124, published on Feb. 15 2013)
FEB. 12 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – A military court in Bishkek sentenced, in absentia, former Kyrgyz president Kurmanbek Bakiyev and his brother, Janysh, to prison for involvement in the murder of a rival in 2009. Mr Bakiyev fled to Belarus from Kyrgyzstan after a revolution in April 2010. The Kyrgyz authorities have asked Belarus to extradite him.
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(News report from Issue No. 124, published on Feb. 15 2013)
FEB. 8 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – On Feb. 1, Uzbekistan banned buying foreign currencies with cash. Officially, the ban was imposed to stamp out Uzbekistan’s burgeoning black market. Unofficially it appears to be another form of control over ordinary people.
A black market for US dollars in Uzbekistan has been vibrant for years because of heavy currency controls imposed by the government. These controls made it far cheaper to buy US dollars under the counter at the back of a carpet shop than it did in a bank.
But reports from Tashkent already suggest that strategy of banning currency transactions in cash to quash the black market, if this was the real aim, may have backfired. Despite the crackdown US dollars are still being traded. According to Eurasianet, the effect of the currency restrictions was to limit supply of US dollars and push prices up by roughly 40%.
The restrictions on US dollars may also effect wider sales. US dollars are often used in Uzbekistan to buy cars or houses as using sum, the local currency, in a large cash purchase is practically impossible because of the piles of notes needed.
Uzbek officials will point out that if you have a bank account you can, electronically, still buy US dollars. The worth of this, in a cash based economy, is, though, highly questionable.
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(News report from Issue No. 123, published on Feb. 8 2013)