OCT. 16 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – The family of Badri Patarkatsishvili, the dead Georgian billionaire who in 2007/2008 financed opponents of President Mikheil Saakashvili, regained control of Imedi TV. In 2007, police raided Imedi TV after the authorities accused it of inciting unrest. From 2008, an ally of Mr Saakashvili had controlled Imedi TV.
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(News report from Issue No. 109, published on Oct. 19 2012)
AUG. 8 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – In the aftermath of fighting in the south of the country, media reported that Tajik authorities had blocked access to various news websites including the Russian-language version of the BBC, Russia’s RIA-Novosti and Asia Plus, a local news agency.
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(News report from Issue No. 100, published on Aug. 10 2012)
JUNE 22 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijani police arrested Khilal Mamedov a prominent local journalist and human rights activists for possessing heroin, media reported. Supporters of Mr Mamedov, who edits the popular Tolishi Sado newspaper in the southern region of Talysh, said his arrest was politically motivated.
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(News report from Issue No. 094, published on June 29 2012)
JUNE 27 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Media in Kazakhstan reported that prosecutors were to charge several detained opposition activists, including Vladimir Kozlov who heads the banned Alga! party, with plotting a revolution. No official statement has yet been made. A deadly riot in the town of Zhanaozen in December triggered a crackdown by the authorities against the opposition.
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(News report from Issue No. 094, published on June 29 2012)
JUNE 14 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s clampdown on media and access to information continued when parliament passed a law that will restrict journalists’ ability to obtain corporate records, media reported. The new law states that information will only be granted with the consent of the companies and individuals being investigated.
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(News report from Issue No. 093, published on June 22 2012)
JUNE 1 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Uzbek authorities launched a new social networking website called YouFace. The Uzbek authorities are notoriously paranoid about the influence of social networking websites and youface.uz is monitored by the authorities. As well as having a similar name to Facebook, it also has a similar layout.
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(News report from Issue No. 091, published on June 8 2012)
MAY 18 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Perhaps deciding that it was too close to reality, Tajikistan declined to screen a new film by British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen entitled The Dictator, media reported. The satirical film depicts a dictator risking his life to crush signs of democracy. Human rights groups have accused the Tajik authorities of cracking down on personal liberties.
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(News report from Issue No. 089, published on May 25 2012)
APRIL 30 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – A new TV station owned by the wife of Georgian opposition leader and billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili began broadcasting. The opening of Channel 9 will increase pressure on President Mikheil Saakashvili and his political party ahead of a parliamentary election later this year.
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(News report from Issue No. 086, published on May 4 2012)
MAY 2 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Other than Georgia, US-based Freedom House rated media in Central Asia and the South Caucasus as “Not Free”. Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan propped up the bottom of the table, closely followed by Kazakhstan. Media freedom in Georgia, the report said, had improved in 2011.
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(News report from Issue No. 086, published on May 4 2012)
APRIL 17 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – The family of award-winning Azerbaijani investigative journalist Idrak Abbasov alleged that security guards beat him when he tried to film the demolition of houses in Baku. The allegations will further damage Azerbaijan’s already tarnished media image ahead of the Eurovision Song Contest next month.
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(News report from Issue No. 084, published on April 20 2012)
