MAY 21 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Tashkent ordered the closure of Noviy Vek, a privately owned weekly newspaper for, apparently, undermining the moral values of the country. Uzbekistan has one of the worst records for free press in the world.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)
MAY 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s parliament will consider adopting a law that will shift supervisory powers over commercial banks away from the Central Bank to an independent supervisory body, media reported.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)
MAY 28 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s Constitutional Court ruled that the country’s parliamentary election process is unfair.
In particular, the Court said discrepancies in the size of the constituencies used for the first-past-the-post system diminished the election’s fairness.
In Georgia’s parliamentary elections, 150 MPs are voted into parliament. The first- past-the-post system is used to elect 73 MPs and proportional representation for the remain- ing 77 seats. The problem,advocates for change have said, is that the first-past-the-post constituencies vary in size from 6,000 voters to over 150,000 voters.
The landmark ruling strengthens the case for change.
“It’s up to the Georgian Parliament to decide on proportional and majoritarian models of the electoral system provided that constitutional rights and freedoms of citizens will be protected in this process,” Georgian media quoted the Constitutional Court as saying.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)
MAY 16 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – To celebrate Constitution Day on May 18, Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov issued an amnesty to 1,200 people languishing in Turkmenistan’s prisons, the AFP news agency reported. Mr Berdymukhamedov is given to issuing presidential amnesties to mark official holidays.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 232, published on May 20 2015)
MAY 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The authorities in Azerbaijan questioned businessman Ibrahim Ibrahimov over an outstanding loan from the state-linked International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA), media reported, the second high-profile Azerbaijani company owner to be hauled into a police station in a week.
Turan news agency reported that Mr Ibrahimov took a loans $57m, but sources in IBA told the news agency that the sum was actually $850m.
Last week police detained Nizami Piriyev, head of Azerbaijani Methanol Company. He was charged with financial fraud. Mr Piriyev is also charged with not repaying bank loans.
Natiq Cafarli, economist and executive director of ReAL opposition movement said in an interview with faktxeber.com that he does not expect the oligarchs to stay in jail for a long time. He said that the government just wants to recover its money.
“The ruling party does not need a lot of news around famous people,” he said. “They will be released soon.”
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 232, published on May 20 2015)
MAY 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s Constitutional Court ruled that loans taken out in US dollars before the 30% devaluation of the Azerbaijani manat in February have to be repaid in full. Borrowers had hoped the Court would agree for debt to be repaid in manat at the lower rate.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 232, published on May 20 2015)
MAY 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – At a meeting in Brussels focused on human rights, the EU criticised new legislation passing through Kyrgyzstan’s parliament that outlaws promoting gay relationships.
The legislation is similar to laws brought in by Russia two years ago. Analysts have said Bishkek may have been motivated to introduce the rules by a desire to cosy up to the Kremlin.
The criticism of gay rights in Kyrgyzstan came the day after anti-gay rights protesters in Bishkek attacked a pro-gay rights meeting being held in the garden of an upmarket Bishkek hotel.
Over the past few years, the West has watched as Kyrgyzstan, once its poster-boy in Central Asia, has moved increasingly towards Russia. This month it also joined the Kremlin-led Eurasian Economic Union.
As well as criticising Kyrgyzstan over its gay rights record, EU officials also praised the country for trying to clamp down on torture in prison and improving women’s rights.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 232, published on May 20 2015)
MAY 16 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a potentially damaging hit to Kazakhstan’s hopes of hosting the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, 27 current or former Olympic athletes wrote to the International Olympic Committee to ask it to pressure the Kazakh government into ditching a new law that bans so-called gay propaganda.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 232, published on May 20 2015)
MAY 12 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Baku rejected an appeal by journalist Khadija Ismayilova against a conviction for libel in February. Ms Ismayilova is in prison waiting for her trial to begin for coaxing another journalist into a suicide attempt. Her supporters have said that the charges are fabricated.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 231, published on May 13 2015)
MAY 7 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia will allow parliament to vote on the appointment of the prosecutor-general, media reported, a move designed to bolster democracy. Under the current system the PM appoints the country’s top prosecutor. New laws will introduce a special council to advise on an appointment which will then need to be approved by government and parliament.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 231, published on May 13 2015)
