DEC. 22 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in Georgia suspended the mayor of Tbilisi, Gigi Ugulava, while various investigations into alleged fraud were ongoing media reported. Mr Ugulava’s suspension damages the image of Tbilisi as a place for foreign companies to invest. He has denied any wrongdoing and said the charges were politically motivated.
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(News report from Issue No. 166, published on Jan. 8 2014)
JAN. 6 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Human rights groups have said they are concerned about the pre-trial conditions of Anar Mammadli, arrested last month in Azerbaijan on tax evasion charges, media reported. Mr Mammadli is the head of the independent Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Center and has previously criticised Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.
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(News report from Issue No. 166, published on Jan. 8 2014)
DEC. 19 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Rights groups criticised Turkmenistan’s parliamentary election, officially heralded as the start of multi-party politics, as mere window dressing. The vote on Dec. 15 was the first time an election in Turkmenistan has been contested by two parties. In reality the opposition party was staunchly pro-president.
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(News report from Issue No. 166, published on Jan. 8 2014)
DEC. 24 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Kazakh authorities allowed Alma Shalabayeva, wife of dissident Kazakh banker Mukhtar Ablyazov, to leave Kazakhstan and return to Italy from where she was deported in May. Mr Ablyazov is currently in French custody waiting the result of an extradition request from Kazakhstan.
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(News report from Issue No. 166, published on Jan. 8 2014)
DEC. 20 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — In an emailed interview with the Guardian newspaper, Gulnara Karimova said the recent power struggles in Uzbekistan had not affected her close relationship with her father, Uzbek President Islam Karimov. She also said that she thought that she had been the victim of an attempted poisoning in Uzbekistan in 2011.
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(News report from Issue No. 166, published on Jan. 8 2014)
JAN. 7 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s Musavat party quit the main opposition group saying the mission to unseat President Ilham Aliyev had been unsuccessful.
The announcement in a terse statement, if unsurprising, throws Azerbaijan’s disparate opposition into more difficulties.
At the election in October, the opposition alliance had eventually united behind one candidate but the campaign was marred by poor organisation. Their preferred candidate, Oscar winning screen writer Rustam Ibragimbekov was ineligible to stand because he had dual Russian citizenship.
Local media outlets have reported that Musavat, which is not particularly popular, is looking to other fringe opposition groups to team up with.
The other opposition group, the Azerbaijani Popular Front Party (APFP), has accused Musavat of doing deals with the authorities.
Founded in 1911, Musavat, which means equality in English, was outlawed when Azerbaijan was part of the Soviet Union. It returned to active politics in 1993.
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(News report from Issue No. 166, published on Jan. 8 2014)
DEC. 12 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Karimov family feud appeared to have deepened after Lola Karimova-Tillayeva, the Switzerland-based youngest daughter of Uzbek Tresident Islam Karimov, wrote on her website that she was considering taking legal action against her elder sister Gulnara Karimova. The two sisters have been locked in a row over Gulnara’s presidential ambitions.
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(News report from Issue No. 165, published on Dec. 18 2013)
DEC. 15 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan held a parliamentary election it described as its first multi-party vote. In reality the opposition parties vowed fidelity to Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov. Rights groups describe Turkmenistan as one of the most repressive countries in the world.
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(News report from Issue No. 165, published on Dec. 18 2013)
DEC. 17 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — In a new report, the media freedom lobby group the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) ranked Azerbaijan as one of the worst 10 countries in the world for locking up reporters and editors the authorities dislike. Media and human rights groups have criticised Azerbaijan throughout the year for its heavy handed treatment of journalists.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 165, published on Dec. 18 2013)
DEC. 17 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has been living in New York since leaving office last month, Georgian media reported. They quoted him as saying that he was working on various projects for US universities. Ukrainian TV broadcast an interview with Mr Saakashvili supporting pro-EU protesters in Kiev.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 165, published on Dec. 18 2013)