Tag Archives: politics

Kazakh authorities clamping down on rights groups

FEB. 21 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The New York-based Human rights Watch said that the authorities in Kazakhstan have been harassing two local human rights groups by falsely alleging that their tax receipts were wrong. HRW said that International Legal Initiative Foundation and Liberty had both faced tax audits. The Kazakh authorities have not commented. Rights groups have previously accused Kazakhstan of using official channels to close down groups that it finds a nuisance.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 318, published on Feb.24 2017)

Kazakh journalist says was beaten

Leave a Reply

FEB. 21 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Supporters of jailed Kazakh journalist Zhanbolat Mamay said that he has been beaten in prison. Mr Mamay was arrested earlier this year for alleged financial crimes and for being linked to exiled opposition leader Mukhtar Ablyazov. He was the editor of Tribuna, one of the few genuinely independent newspaper left in Kazakhstan. Opposition groups have accused Kazakhstan of cracking down on the media.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 318, published on Feb.24 2017)

Thousands protest in Georgian capital to support Rustavi-2 TV channel

Leave a Reply

TBILISI, FEB. 19 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — An estimated 10,000 people protested in central Tbilisi against what they said was the attempted silencing of TV channel Rustavi-2’s anti-government rhetoric.

The demonstration was one of the biggest for several years in the Georgian capital and was a reminder that street-level politics are still a potent force in Georgia.

Rustavi-2, one of Georgia’s most popular TV channels and a supporter of the opposition UNM party, suspended broadcasts for two days before the demonstration.

Zaal Udumashvili, deputy director of Rustavi-2 and anchor of its main news program, told the demonstrators that the fight to save it was a fight to save democracy itself.

“Rustavi-2 is back on the air from now on, which means that the channel will never go off again,” he was quoted by media as saying.

“If Rustavi-2 falls, this will not be the fall of only one television. This will mean that there will be no space left for covering your problems, for bringing your problems to the entire country.”

Rustavi-2 is the focus of an ownership struggle currently playing out in the Supreme Court. The protesters said that the Georgian Dream government was trying to seize the channel from Giorgi and Levan Karamanishvili, associates of former president Mikheil Saakashvili, through businessman Kibar Khalvashi. Mr Khalvashi is a former co-owner of Rustavi-2 who says his stake in the TV channel was taken from him illegally.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 318, published on Feb.24 2017)

Kyrgyz police arrests crowds protesting

Leave a Reply

FEB. 24 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Police in Kyrgyzstan detained the prominent opposition figure Almanbet Shykmamatov, allegedly questioning him for nine hours over corruption allegations. Dozens of people protested outside the White House, the presidential office. Mr Shykmamatov is a member of the Ata Meken political party, which draws it support mainly from the south.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 318, published on Feb.24 2017)f

Georgian party demands inquiry into gas deal

Leave a Reply

FEB. 23 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The United National Movement (UNM) party which recently split called for a parliamentary investigation into a deal between Georgia and Russia over new gas supplies. Few details of the deal, which shifted the emphasis away from a barter deal linked to gas transits to Armenia to monetary payments, have been released. The deal was made at the end of last year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 318, published on Feb.24 2017)

Azerbaijani authorities arrest two for spying

Leave a Reply

FEB. 24 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s security service said that they had arrested two nationals Elsan Amirli and Elcin Babayev for spying. It said that the two men had been collecting information on the country’s security services on behalf of another country. It did not name the other country. The two men have been charged with treason.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 318, published on Feb.24 2017)

Turkmen president releases his next book

Leave a Reply

FEB. 21 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov released yet another new book, this time focused on the prowess of Turkmenistan’s military. Mr Berymukhamedov is given to showcasing his various skills which include authoring several books, writing poetry, teaching weighlifting techniques to his ministers and horse riding. Official news channels said that the book contained 13 chapters showcasing the Turkmen army as “a powerful defensive weapon”.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 318, published on Feb.24 2017)

Georgian court frees two men imprisoned for 11 years

Leave a Reply

FEB. 20 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in Georgia overturned a murder conviction against two men who have spent the last 11 years in prison. The men Giorgi Gvichiani and Nika Chemia were convicted of murdering Nikoloz Lominadze, financial director of the electricity producer Telasi, in 2002. On their release, they said that they had been wrongly arrested and convicted of the murder to distract and cover up other high-profile murders linked to politics.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 318, published on Feb.24 2017)

9 parties/blocks to fight election in Armenia

Leave a Reply

FEB. 21 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenia’s Central Election Commission said that five political parties and four political alliances will compete in a parliamentary election in April. The election is considered to be one of the most important in Armenia’s recent political history as a change in the constitution shifted power to parliament away from the president. Parliament will also be elected under new rules which mix proportional representation with directly elected candidates.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 318, published on Feb.24 2017)

Second former Kyrgyz PM registers for November’s presidential election

BISHKEK, FEB. 14 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Omurbek Babanov registered himself as a candidate for the Ata-Zhurt party in this year’s presidential elections in Kyrgyzstan, the second former PM to declare his intention of standing.

Mr Babanov was PM for eight months under President Almazbek Atambayev in 2011/12. He follows former PM Temir Sariev as declaring his candidacy early ahead of the election planed for November.

Like his rival, Mr Sariev, Mr Babanov, 47, had been forced to resign as PM in August 2012 over corruption allegations.

Both will be competing to replace Mr Atambayev who is stepping down after a single five year term, as stipulated by the constitution. Observers have said the vote could be one of the few genuinely competitive elections in Central Asia since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 317, published on Feb.17 2017)