Tag Archives: society

Prisoners go on hunger strike in Georgia

FEB. 10 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia’s new power duopoly is in its infancy but unrest in the Georgian prison system has given it an early test.

Media has reported that around 1,000 prisoners in the west of the country have been on hunger strike since Feb. 7 complaining about conditions which they have described as abusive.

The government dismissed their hunger strike as being organised by criminal bosses but on Feb. 10 17 inmates apparently intensified their protest by cutting themselves.

The rather ominously named Georgian Ministry of Correction said that the prisoners had stabbed themselves multiple times in the chest and arms.

“The injured inmates received medical treatment and were brought back to the prison in a normal condition. No force was used against them by the prison administration which is fully in control of the situation,” media quoted a ministry statement as saying.

The previous administration, under former president Mikheil Saakashvili, was accused of torturing prison inmates. Now Georgia’s new PM, Irakli Garibashvili, and president, Giorgi Margvelashvili, who both took office in November, have to show that they can handle the politically sensitive issue of prison unrest more deftly.

ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 171, published on Feb. 12 2014)

Uzbekistan issues new visas

FEB. 9 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — From July 1 2014, Uzbek citizens will only be able to travel abroad with a newly issued biometric passport, media reported. Biometric passports are being introduced across the world but the issue is probably more sensitive in Uzbekistan where controls on the movement of people are more stringent.

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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 171, published on Feb. 12 2014)

Uzbekistan’s extreme cold threatens lives

FEB. 12 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The extreme cold weather that has gripped Central Asia is disrupting life in Uzbekistan.

Media reports have said that the temperature in Uzbekistan has dropped to minus 28 Celsius, far below the average for this time of year. Some reports have also suggested that the authorities may impose a state of emergency.

Market stall owners have closed their stores, farmers have moved their livestock into barns and taxis are charging excessive prices for short journeys. Very few people are on the street.

“Commerce is at a standstill right now,” the uznews.net website quoted a market stall owner in the town of Qarshi in southern Uzbekistan as saying.

In Karakalpakstan, western Uzbekistan, reports said some of the region’s hospitals are struggling on without power supply because it’s been too difficult to send in supplies of oil or coal.

But there is also a geo-political edge to these cold snaps that means observers of Uzbekistan should pay more attention.

Central Asia’s energy distribution system is complex and interwoven. Uzbekistan supplies parts of southern Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan in a swap scenario but the authorities there have reported a drop in gas supplies since the cold snap took hold. They have said that the Uzbeks are keeping back supplies for their own use.

If the cold snap is prolonged the drop in gas supplies to neighbouring countries could also increase tension across the region.

ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 171, published on Feb. 12 2014)

Azerbaijan offers handsome sport prizes

FEB. 4 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan is offering its four Winter Olympic athletes handsome prize money if they return from the Sochi 2014 Games with a medal, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported. According to their report, Azerbaijani athletes will win $510,000 for a gold medal, $255,000 for a silver medal and $130,000 for a bronze medal.

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(News report from Issue No. 170, published on Feb. 5 2014)

Kazakhstan controls religious content

FEB. 4 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — If you think it sounds Orwellian, you wouldn’t be alone.

Kazakh officials announced that the Agency for Religion will now vet all religious content before it is run on state-owned media.

The plain speaking chief of the agency, Marat Azilkhanov, explained the move: “It’s a matter of the government’s ideology.”

Or this is just plain censorship, depending on how you look at it.

If truth be known this is the way it’s been going in Kazakhstan for some time.

In 2011, Kazakhstan introduced a law restricting religious activities and gatherings. This was generally regarded as an attempted crackdown on Islamic extremists.

New figures released by Mr Azilkhanov showed that over 500 different religious groups have failed to meet these new requirements and have been banned.

Human rights groups have complained that Kazakhstan uses the new religion laws to get rid of groups it finds troublesome.

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(News report from Issue No. 170, published on Feb. 5 2014)

Uzbek police arrests Euromaidan demonstrators

JAN. 29 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Police arrested eight demonstrators in Tashkent 48 hours after they held a protest in support of the Euromaidan demonstrations in Kiev.

A court later jailed three of the protesters for 15 days and fined the others.

The story underlines Uzbekistan’s reputation as one of the most repressive countries in the world.

The demonstration may have been small but it was important as it showed the support for the Euromaidan anti-government protests in the former Soviet Union. Among those demonstrating was the relatively well-known Uzbek photographer Umida Akhmedova and her son.

The Uzbek authorities’ reaction is just as indicative.

They came down hard and fast on the demonstrators. For governments in Central Asia and the South Caucasus, the Euromaidan protest is bad news as it shows that the might of the Russia-centric leaders can be challenged.

This may have been a rare pro-Euromaidan demonstration in Central Asia but it is still important to monitor the region for any more signs of unrest. It’s extremely rare for protests in Tashkent to surface. Judging by the authorities reaction, they don’t want to see another one.

ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 170, published on Feb. 5 2014)

Uzbek police halts Euromaidan protest

JAN. 29 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Police in Tashkent arrested eight people 48 hours after they had held a protest outside the Ukrainian embassy in support of the pro-EU Euromaidan demonstrations in Kiev. A court later sentenced three of the activists to 15 days in jail.

(News report from Issue No. 170, published on Feb. 5 2014)

Young woman dies after immolation in Azerbaijan

FEB. 4 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — A 21-year-old woman in Baku died after setting herself on fire, the fourth immolation in Azerbaijan in just over a month. Media reported that the woman had been rejected by a lover. In December, a man set himself on fire outside an Azerbaijani ministry because of an argument with officials. His death triggered an anti-government protest march.

(News report from Issue No. 170, published on Feb. 5 2014)

Ivanishvili sets up NGO in Georgia

FEB. 4 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Bidzina Ivanishvili, the richest man in Georgia, has already changed the face of Georgian politics. He achieved what at one time seemed the impossible and defeated former President Mikheil Saakashvili and his party in two consecutive elections.

Now, having forced Mr Saakhashvili — the poster-boy of Georgia’s post-Soviet Western-centric policies — into an early retirement, it seems that Mr Ivanishvili still feels he has work to do in Georgia’s civil society. Last month, Mr Ivanishvili announced that he would set up an NGO called Citizen. Now he’s given a mission statement, of sorts anyway, for Citizen.

He said it will remain small with only half a dozen or so staff, and focus on the media and assessing its bias. This has become a particular problem over the past few years with accusations of one-sidedness being thrown around.

“Through objective and quality information we will improve the level of public debate. We will then be able to act as a check on our government,” media quoted Mr Ivanishvili as saying. One of his gripes against Mr Saakashvili was there had been virtually no checks on his power.

The key issue, though, for people watching Georgia is just what influence will Mr Ivanishvili will bring to bear on both media and politics.

(News report from Issue No. 170, published on Feb. 5 2014)

Madrasah collapses in Kyrgyzstan

FEB. 3 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The second floor of a madrasah in southern Kyrgyzstan collapsed during a memorial service for a local imam injuring 49 people, local media reported. The accident highlights some of the poor building construction in rural Kyrgyzstan.

(News report from Issue No. 170, published on Feb. 5 2014)