News

April 19, 2004 11:38

• Final parliamentary election returns announced in Georgia

  The following political parties will be represented in the Georgian parliament: the ruling United National Movement - Democrats party, which won 66.2% of the vote, and the Right - Industrialists bloc, which got 7.5% of the vote.

April 19, 2004 11:36

• Relatives of beaten soldier block highway in Georgia

  The people said Beso Kokaya had been beaten four days earlier by about 10 servicemen who then tied him to a tree.

April 19, 2004 10:45

• Restrictions on use of arms removed from Ingush policemen

  Policemen are allowed to open aimed fire first if there is a real threat to their life in the course of special operations to detain criminals.

April 17, 2004 17:59

• Head of precinct election commission detained in Adjaria

  Djambul Shaminadze, head of the precinct election commission in the village of Danisparauli, which is in the Khulo election district, was detained by officers of law-enforcement agencies in the morning of April 16 in a hospital ward, to which he had been taken with signs of beating the day before.

April 17, 2004 17:20

• New meeting of Armenian opposition in Yerevan

  At about 19:00 local time April 16, the opposition staged a meeting on the square adjacent to Matenadaran in downtown Yerevan. About 10 thousand people gathered in spite of the cold weather and torrential rain.

April 17, 2004 16:37

• 3 policemen injured in terrorist act in Chechnya

  When an UAZ car with members of the Russian interior ministry's mobile detachment for Chechnya was moving near the village of Ordzhonikidzevskaya, an improvised radio controlled bomb went off.

April 17, 2004 16:33

• Explosion kills two school boys in Chechnya

  An unidentified bomb went off near the village of Alleroy in Chechnya's Kurchaloy district.

April 17, 2004 15:39

• Georgian-Abkhazian meetings to be held in Moscow and Geneva

  The Prime Minister of Abkhazia and the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Georgia met on April 16 in Sukhum to discuss the Georgian-Abkhazian meetings set for April - in Moscow and Geneva.

April 17, 2004 15:12

• International Helsinki Federation reports on numerous violations of human rights in Armenia

  In its report, the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) has summarized the evidence of violations of freedom of assembly, of freedom of movement, of freedom of the media, and of the persecution of political dissenters that have occurred in Armenia.

April 17, 2004 14:58

• Human Rights Watch: Georgia returns terrorist suspects to countries practicing torture, including Russia

  The human rights organization recommends that the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture examine and establish clear standards and criteria for the use of diplomatic assurances by governments with the purpose of ensuring that governments adhere to their absolute obligation not to expose persons to a risk of torture.

April 17, 2004 14:30

• Chechen NGO denies functionaries' statements on situation in Satsita refugee camp

  According to data of the Chechen National Rescue Committee, 1,500 people in 300 tents are officially registered on the territory of the Satsita camp, though the real number of people living in this temporary accommodation center exceeds 2,000 people.

April 17, 2004 14:17

• Great number of war crimes against civilian population registered in Chechnya

  16 civilians were killed in the Chechen Republic for seven days, 7 of them were children.

April 16, 2004 20:19

• Akhmed Zakayev: only Chechens themselves can stand up for their right to live

  Akhmed Zakayev, special envoy of Aslan Maskhadov and prime minister of the unrecognized Ichkerian government, has made a statement on the April 15 vote at the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.

April 16, 2004 19:09

• Colonel Aleksandr Litvinenko sings appeal for interim UN administration in Chechnya

  On April 15, FSB (Federal Security Service) Colonel Aleksandr Litvinenko, the author of the books "FSB Blows Up Russia" and "LCG ? Lubyanka Criminal Group" who received political asylum in England, joined the appeal "For an Interim United Nations Administration in Chechnya" initiated by the Transnational Radical Party.

April 16, 2004 18:53

• Former defense minister arrested in Armenia

  Lieutenant-General Vagarshak Arutyunian is charged with making appeals to overthrow the power by force.

April 16, 2004 18:47

• Operation to search for rebels continues in southern districts of Chechnya

  The Russian military and officers of local security agencies have been conducting large-scale operations in several southern districts of Chechnya for the last few days.

April 16, 2004 16:31

• Second round of parliamentary elections in Adjaria frustrated

  "All responsibility for the frustration of the elections lies with the Adjarian leadership and those people who create illegal armed units there," said Chairman of the Georgian Central Election Commission Zurab Chiaberashvili.

April 16, 2004 12:45

• Armenian politicians discuss situation in country

  "A corridor is left even during military operations so that people can leave, but on April 13 the people were encircled on all sides," said Erdzhanik Abgarian, board member of the Armenian National Movement.

April 16, 2004 11:54

• Journalists beaten during dispersal of opposition meeting in Armenia, OSCE to seek punishment for the guilty

  The OSCE is deeply concerned over the use of force during the dispersal of the opposition meeting, said Head of the OSCE Office in Yerevan Ambassador Vladimir Pryakhin.

April 16, 2004 11:31

• Karabakh foreign minister sees no objective preconditions for renewal of military operations

  "The level of fighting efficiency of the Karabakh army gives hope that the balance of forces in the region, due to which the truce is preserved, will be maintained in the future too," the minister said.