JAN. 30 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan’s Central Bank has banned the cash exchange of foreign currencies, mainly US dollars, from Feb. 1, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported. The Central Bank said it needed to ban the exchange of dollars to clamp down on Uzbekistan’s burgeoning black market. Dollars can still be bought electronically.
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(News report from Issue No. 122, published on Feb. 1 2013)
DEC. 13 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan’s parliament ratified an agreement to allow Russia’s airbase to remain for another 15 years with an option for a possible 5 year extension, media reported. Under the agreement, Russia will pay $4.5m per year for the airbase, a torpedo testing site on the shores of Lake Issyk-Kul and a seismology centre.
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(News report from Issue No. 117, published on Dec. 14 2012)
DEC. 13 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Maksim Bakyiev, son or former Kyrgyz president Kurmanbek Bakiyev, appeared for his first court hearing in London over an extradition request from the US where authorities have accused him of masterminding a complex insider dealing system, media reported. Mr Bakiyev fled to London after a revolution in 2010.
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(News report from Issue No. 117, published on Dec. 14 2012)
OCT. 8 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – A Kazakh court convicted Vladimir Kozlov, a vocal opposition activist, of calling for a revolution and inciting social discord, and jailed him for 7.5 years. The sentence is linked to a deadly riot in Zhanaozen last year. The US government said the authorities were using the criminal justice system to silence its critics.
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(News report from Issue No. 108, published on Oct. 12 2012)
AUG. 28 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Surprising observers, a court in the southern Kazakh city of Taraz cleared human rights activist Vadim Kuramshin of extortion. Mr Kurashmin had faced 14 years in jail. He said the accusations had been politically motivated. Police arrested him in January during a crackdown against opposition activists.
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(News report from Issue No. 103, published on Aug. 31 2012)
AUG. 13 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Uzbekistan has cancelled all licences held by the Russian mobile operator MTS, which operates under the local brand Uzdunrobita, media reported. Uzbek officials had previously slapped temporary bans on MTS for alleged tax dodging the breaking its contract. MTS denies the allegations.
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(News report from Issue No. 101, published on Aug. 17 2012)
AUG. 10 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Georgia fined Kakha Kaladze, a Georgian ex-international footballer, $10.3m for withdrawing $2m without explaining how he was going to spend the cash, media reported. Mr Kaladze, Georgia’s most famous living footballer, supports Georgia’s opposition. Last month, the authorities froze his bank accounts on fraud allegations.
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(News report from Issue No. 101, published on Aug. 17 2012)
JUNE 22 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijani police arrested Khilal Mamedov a prominent local journalist and human rights activists for possessing heroin, media reported. Supporters of Mr Mamedov, who edits the popular Tolishi Sado newspaper in the southern region of Talysh, said his arrest was politically motivated.
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(News report from Issue No. 094, published on June 29 2012)
JUNE 27 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Media in Kazakhstan reported that prosecutors were to charge several detained opposition activists, including Vladimir Kozlov who heads the banned Alga! party, with plotting a revolution. No official statement has yet been made. A deadly riot in the town of Zhanaozen in December triggered a crackdown by the authorities against the opposition.
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(News report from Issue No. 094, published on June 29 2012)
JUNE 14 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s clampdown on media and access to information continued when parliament passed a law that will restrict journalists’ ability to obtain corporate records, media reported. The new law states that information will only be granted with the consent of the companies and individuals being investigated.
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(News report from Issue No. 093, published on June 22 2012)