Tag Archives: law

Kazakh beer king imprisoned for funding coup

ALMATY, NOV. 8 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — A closed court in Astana sentenced Tokhtar Tuleshov, the self- styled beer king of southern Kazakhstan, to 21 years in prison for attempting to stage a coup against Kazakh leader Nursultan Nazarbayev.

Prosecutors had said that Tuleshov had financed a series of anti- government protests in April and May that focused on land ownership. The breadth of the protests and their leaderless nature unnerved Mr Nazarbayev. Police arrested the protest organisers and charged Tuleshov, detained in January for unrelated charges of illegally owning weapons and fraud, with financing the demonstrations.

Tuleshov made his millions through the Shymkentpivo brewery, one of the biggest in Kazakhstan, in the southern city of Shymkent.

His supporters say that he has been framed and point out that it is not possible for him to have paid for the protests from prison.

An ostentatious and dapper figure, Tuleshov used to drive through the scruffy streets of Shymkent in a chauffeured Rolls Royce. Birthday parties for his daughter were lavish affairs with pop stars flown in to sing and guests dressing up in outlandish fancy dress.

The trial was held behind closed doors with journalists only allowed into the courtroom for the final verdict. Human rights activists have said that the arbitrary and closed nature of the trial worried them and could set a precedent.

Analysts have also speculated that Mr Nazarbayev and other senior members of the government from the central and northern tribes in Kazakhstan used Tuleshov to send a warning to high-ranking members of the southern tribe not to challenge their dominance.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 304, published on Nov. 11 2016)

Female judges to deal with rape in Kazakhstan

NOV. 10 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s Prosecutor-General Zhakip Asanov said female attorneys should be in charge of all criminal trials involving sexual violence, such as rape and paedophilia. In a statement, Mr Asanov said women are better at understanding such cases. Rights groups have accused the Kazakh justice system of being soft on sexual violence.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 304, published on Nov. 11 2016)

Insulting Tajik President becomes a crime

NOV. 3 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon signed into law a motion passed by parliament at the end of last year that insulting the president would become a criminal office, media reported. The new law underlines the increasingly autocratic nature of the regime that Mr Rakhmon has built up in Tajikistan. Last month, MPs also decreed that he should be given the title of Founder of the Nation.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 303, published on Nov. 4 2016)

Kazakh citizen to face trial for fighting in Ukraine

OCT. 24 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in Aktobe, north-west Kazakhstan, started hearing the trial of Maksim Yermolov, a Kazakh citizen of Russian ethnicity, for fighting alongside Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. He was arrested in Feb. 2015 after returning from Ukraine’s Dontesk region. Kazakhstan has a sizable Russian population in the north of the country and has always worried that many would prefer to separate from Kazakhstan and join Russia.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 302, published on Oct. 28 2016)

Russian soldier dies in brawl in Tajikistan

OCT. 25 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Ahliddin Mashrabov, a Tajik, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for killing a Russian soldier during a fight in a restaurant in the Tajik provincial city of Qurghon-Teppa. Mashrabov pleaded guilty to murdering Mashrabov but said that he was attacked first. The case has shown up the often fractious ties between Russian soldiers based in Tajikistan and ordinary Tajiks. Russia has 7,000 soldiers based in Tajikistan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 302, published on Oct. 28 2016)

Acting Uzbek President wants court strengthened

OCT. 23 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Continuing his apparent charm offensive ahead of a presidential election on Dec. 4, acting Uzbek president Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed a decree to improve and strengthen the country’s judicial system. Media reported that the decree should strengthen the rights of the defendants and the independence of the courts. Human rights groups have said that the Uzbek state uses the courts to impose its political will.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 302, published on Oct. 28 2016)

Uzbek acting-President approves mass amnesty

OCT. 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan acting president Shavkat Mirziyoyev approved an amnesty for hundreds of inmates to mark the 25th anniversary of the country’s constitution in December, media reported. Reports said that women, inmates under 18 and over 60 and those who don’t pose any risk to society would be freed. Mr Mirziyoyev is on a charm offensive ahead of an election in December that is expected to give him the presidency on a permanent basis. Islam Karimov, who ruled from 1991, died in September.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)

Tajik government proposes special forces’ rights

OCT. 10 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Tajik government proposed new amendments to the law on national security forces that will allow them to break into homes without a warrant. The amendments, said to be aimed at strengthening security in the country, need approval from parliament before entering into force. Critics have said that these checks will be used against the opposition.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 300, published on Oct. 14 2016)

Kyrgyz Parliament bans underage marriage

OCT. 5 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Parliament approved a ban on underage marriage, five months after MPs had controversially voted against it. Kyrgyz law only allows people over 18 to marry, but under special religious conditions, minors could get married. The bill, which passed by a narrow margin, now needs President Almazbek Atambayev’s signature to enter into force. Around 15% of women marry before turning 18 in Kyrgyzstan, the Kyrgyz statistics committee said.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 299, published on Oct. 7 2016)

Georgian Police arrest nationalists in Tbilisi after demo

TBILISI, SEPT. 27 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Police in Tbilisi arrested 11 men after they attacked Turkish cafes and people wearing Muslim clothes after a march by nationalists through the city.

According to reports, a group of men, some masked, gathered at Rustaveli metro station in the centre and walked through a small street with numerous cafes and foreign restaurants where they shouted “Glory to our nation, death to enemies” and attacked the cafes.

The interior ministry later released a statement which blamed a group called Georgian Power, linked to hooligans at Georgia’s biggest football team Dynamo Tbilisi.

Earlier this year, a group of nationalists threw sausages at diners in a Tbilisi vegan restaurant.

A few days after that another group of nationalists and ultraconservative Orthodox Christians disrupted an open air concert in Tbilisi, accusing the organisers of arranging mass orgies.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 298, published on Sept. 30 2016)