Tag Archives: law

Editorial: Georgia and religion

FEB. 5 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia looks set to make insulting religion a crime. This new law needs to be treated with extreme care.

It’s vital in a modern, progressive society to keep the principle of free speech sacrosanct and any move to erode this right should be rejected. And it does feel as if Georgian Dream, who know that they are going to be in a very tough, possibly dirty and definitely personal, battle to win a parliamentary election later this year, are playing politics with the issue.

Winning over traditional voters is vital for Georgian Dream. They have previously gone to great lengths to cosy up to the Orthodox Church and its supporters.

By making insulting religion a crime, they are protecting the Church further and should secure more support from the traditional, conservative section of the electorate.

There is a need to protect religion from slurs and insults, but this draconian law is probably not the answer.

ENDS

(Editorial from Issue No. 266, published on Feb. 5 2016)

Tajikistan to rename cities

FEB. 1 2016, DUSHANBE (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rakhmon ordered Parliament to rename a number of cities, regions and a reservoir to give them more of a Tajik flavour.

Since becoming an independent state in 1991, the Tajik government has been keen to build up a back-story for the country. It replaced most of the Russian place names with names mostly derived from the Samanid Empire (819-919), a common tactic in Central Asia which had not been independent countries before 1991.

In 2007 Rakhmon also dropped the Russian suffix ‘ov’ from his name.

His press office said: “The renaming of districts and cities promotes national values and a sense of dignity. It is especially important to educate younger generations about the rich culture of the ancestors of the modern statehood of Tajik people.”

But not everybody thinks it is such a good idea.

Dushanbe taxi driver Odilbek, 38, said it was a waste of money. “These people do not understand what they are doing,” he said. “We have more serious problems and this is a waste of money. People will call the cities by their old names anyway.”

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 266, published on Feb. 5 2016)

Georgia to introduce law that punishes blasphemy

FEB. 2 2016, TBILISI (The Conway Bulletin)– Georgia took a major step towards introducing a law that will fine people for insulting religion after Parliament’s committee for human rights said that it supported a bill that criminalises blasphemy.

The bill has divided the country, pitting conservative religious groups who say the law is needed to dampen an increase in hate speech against liberal groups who argue the bill will limit free speech.

The parliamentary human rights committee decided that a law was needed to protect all religions from abuse.

Eka Beselia, head of the committee, said that many European countries already have a similar law.

On the streets of Tbilisi, young Georgians generally thought that the law was unnecessary. Otar Babukhadia, 23, a student said: “I think it’s just a popularity contest for the upcoming elections. It won’t affect anything, it’s just a formality.”

The Orthodox Church, a powerful institution in Georgia, issued a statement which said that it was not behind the proposed new law but that it did support fining people for insulting religion.

“Although there are frequent cases of insults and use of hate speech against the Church and its leader, the adoption of such a bill has not been our initiative – neither now nor previously,” it said.

The ruling Georgian Dream is close to the Orthodox Church and Salome Minesashvili, a political scientist at the Georgian Institute of Politics in Tbilisi, said that by introducing this law, which will protect the Church from criticism, the party aims to shore up support ahead of a parliamentary election in October.

“When democracy-linked values clash with traditions, Georgians expect the government to prioritise traditions at the expense of freedom.” she said.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 266, published on Feb. 5 2016)

Tajikistan pays remittances in somoni

FEB. 3 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajikistan’s Central Bank ordered all remittances sent from Russia to be paid out in the local somoni currency. The Central Bank said the move was designed to support the somoni. It has lost around a third of its value over the past few months. Remittances to Tajikistan, vital to the economy, are down. Russia is the main source of remittances.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 266, published on Feb. 5 2016)

Kazakh government wins case v Mongolia

FEB. 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Kazakh government defeated a law suit filed against it by Erdenet Mining, a Mongolian company, in a London commercial court over the bankruptcy of a mining company in the 1990s. Although Balkhashmys, the mining company, was private, the Mongolian company still said Kazakhstan had responsibility for its losses. The court in London said that it had no jurisdiction over the case and threw out the Mongolian claims.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 266, published on Feb. 5 2016)

Georgia investigates corruption allegations

FEB. 5 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s ministry of defence said it was investigating allegations that some Georgian soldiers on assignment in the Central African Republic were part of a rouge group of peacekeepers who abused children and raped women. The UN said it had opened an investigation after allegations were levied at peacekeepers. Georgia sent 150 soldiers on an EU-led mission to the Central African Republic between Feb. 2014 and March 2015.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 266, published on Feb. 5 2016)

Soldier pleads guilty in Armenia

JAN. 22 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Valery Permyakov, a Russian conscript soldier, pleaded guilty to assaulting and killing a family of seven in the Armenian town of Gyumri last year. The murders triggered anti-Russia protests outside Russia’s military base, its biggest in the South Caucasus, and threatened to damage bilateral relations.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 265, published on Jan. 29 2016)

ICC investigates war crime in Georgia-Russia war

JAN. 27 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) officially launched an investigation into alleged war crimes during an eight day war in August 2008 between Georgia and Russia. Georgia, a signatory of the treaty which set up the ICC, said it would comply with the investigation. The ICC’s investigation has the potential to damage recently improved Georgia- Russia relations.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 265, published on Jan. 29 2016)

Azerbaijani lawyer to defend journalist

JAN. 21 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Khadija Ismayilova, a high-profile imprisoned Azerbaijani journalist, said that she had appointed Amal Clooney, the wife of Hollywood star George Clooney, as her lawyer ahead of a hearing in the European Court of Human Rights linked to her conviction this year on economic-related charges. Ismayilova is looking to challenge her conviction through the European Court. Europe and the West have accused Azerbaijan of cracking down on free speech.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

Uzbekistan searches for assets

JAN. 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan is trying to recover up to $1m of assets frozen in bank accounts in Europe belonging to Gulnara Karimova, the eldest daughter of Uzbek president Islam Karimov, media reported. Ms Karimova has been under house arrest in Tashkent for nearly two years. She was once considered a potential successor to her father. Swiss authorities are investigating her for money laundering.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)