FEB. 4 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – The authorities in Azerbaijan arrested two opposition leaders and accused them of orchestrating clashes between protesters and police in a provincial town last month. Human rights groups have said that the Azerbaijani authorities are using the clashes as an excuse to clampdown on their opponents.
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(News report from Issue No. 123, published on Feb. 8 2013)
DEC. 27 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev pardoned and released from jail 87 prisoners, including journalists, human rights activists and political opponents, state media reported. The Azerbaijani authorities have clamped down heavily on their opponents over the past couple of years.
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(News report from Issue No. 118, published on Dec. 28 2012)
DEC. 6 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Nine human rights groups have combined to appeal to the Uzbek authorities to release all their political prisoners on the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the country’s constitution on Dec. 8. Activists regularly criticise Uzbekistan for its poor human rights record.
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(News report from Issue No. 116, published on Dec. 7 2012)
Nov. 14 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – US-based Human Rights Watch accused police in southern Kyrgyzstan of stripping detainees and beating them. The Kyrgyz interior ministry denied the charges. Accusations of mistreatment of detainees have dogged police in southern Kyrgyzstan for years.
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(News report from Issue No. 113, published on Nov. 16 2012)
NOV. 1 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Gulnara Karimova, daughter of Uzbekistan’s President Islam Karimov, has just launched a perfume and released a new pop song but media reports say that this has not sated her and she is now planning to produce a film. Human rights activists have accused Mr Karimov of various abuses, allegations he denies.
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(News report from Issue No. 111, published on Nov. 2 2012)
OCT. 29 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) criticised as unfair life jail sentences handed out to two more Uzbeks in southern Kyrgyzstan for offences related to ethnic violence in June 2010. HRW has documented several similar cases in southern Kyrgyzstan. It has said the courts are biased against Uzbeks and are seeking revenge.
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(News report from Issue No. 111, published on Nov. 2 2012)
OCT. 25 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – US-based Human Rights Watch described as “politically motivated” a decision by a court in Tajikistan to close a human rights group for holding an incorrect licence. The Association of Young Lawyers (Amparo), which is based in the north Tajikistan city of Khujand, investigates torture allegations.
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(News report from Issue No. 110, published on Oct. 26 2012)
SEP. 21 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s parliamentary election on Oct. 1 was always going to be a close run affair. The United Movement Party, the party of President Mikheil Saakashvili, has found its most dogged and well-funded opponent yet in the Georgian Dream, the party of the country’s richest man, Bidzina Ivanishvili.
Now, though, after the broadcasting of a leaked video from inside a prison showing guards raping inmates with truncheons, it’s become even more fraught.
Hundreds of people poured out onto the streets of Tbilisi to protest against the videos shortly after they were aired on Sept. 18. A junior cabinet minister resigned immediately and then, a couple of days later the interior minister, Bacho Akhalaia, also quit.
The damage may have already been done, though. It’s not clear yet what impact the video will have on voters’ intention but it does feed into the feeling, shared by many Georgians, that not far below the glossy surface lies a more unsightly side of the current government.
The video, broadcast by two pro-opposition TV channels and apparently timed to have maximum impact on the election, may have had its desired effect.
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(News report from Issue No. 105, published on Sep. 21 2012)
SEP. 10 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a 153-page report Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused Kazakhstan of breaching workers’ rights last year in the run-up to deadly riots on Dec. 16. HRW said the government and energy companies had abused workers’ right to protest. The energy companies refuted the allegations.
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(News report from Issue No. 104, published on Sep. 14 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)
