News

October 13, 2003 20:25

• Azerbaijan: election run-up is not free and fair

  Azerbaijan's presidential elections cannot be considered free and fair because of widespread abuse and bias favoring government candidates, Human Rights Watch said in a briefing paper released yesterday.

October 13, 2003 20:24

• No less than 190 people were detained during last purges in Chechnya

  Overall losses of the federal forces and Chechen rebels came to 12 people killed as a result of Saturday clashes in Chechnya.

October 13, 2003 19:58

• Election program of Azerbaijan presidential contender Lala Shovket holds ultimatum to Armenia

  Shovket's election program holds the ultimatum to Armenia: either it withdraws troops from the "occupied territories" within 12 months, or the threat of starting military operations exists.

October 13, 2003 18:42

• Police dispersed activists of youth movement "Kmara" once again

  The "Kmara" activists were beaten up by police; reportedly some of them got severe injuries.

October 13, 2003 18:39

• Georgian Central Election Commission secretary was beaten up in Tbilisi

  "Gogi Mikanadze suffered an attack by political opposition members, as he possesses specific evidence confirming the fact that the opposition parties were involved in the falsification the voting lists," Irakly Gogava, a leader of the pro-government election bloc "For New Georgia", told the press.

October 13, 2003 17:09

• Four refugees were abducted in Ordzhonikidzevskaya village

  According to witnesses, the young people were abducted by Russian military men on Engels Street.

October 13, 2003 17:06

• Humanitarian aid is being conveyed to children of Chechnya

  The action "Journey of Peace" started in Yekaterinburg on October 6. Different things and gifts, letters and children's drawings for Chechen children were gathered there with the assistance of the local patriarchate and businessmen.

October 13, 2003 16:20

• President of North Osetia met with Russian President's Plenipotentiary in the South Federal District

  Issues of the effective realization of the federal targeted program "Russia's South" were considered at the meeting.

October 13, 2003 16:18

• Eurasia Foundation has awarded Armenia grants to sum of 9 million US dollars since 1995

  These grants were assigned mainly for the development of private enterprise, civil society and local government in Armenia.

October 13, 2003 16:16

• Internet website of "The III Sector" journal has been opened

  The website contains articles of Azerbaijan and foreign authors in the field of political science and philosophy, as well as ones of experts in the field of democracy development.

October 13, 2003 14:58

• Deputies of Parliament of Kabardino-Balkaria blamed Chechens themselves for beating of Chechen refugees

  Some other deputies believe the federal center is also to blame for the beating of Chechen young people in Kabardino-Balkaria as it disregards problems of Chechen refugees in the other regions of the Northern Caucasus.

October 11, 2003 18:59

• Presidential elections in Chechnya cannot be considered free and democratic

  The aim of this election "farce" was to give Kadyrov legitimacy. For in 2000, Moscow appointed him as its administrator of the republic even though at that time the republic had its own legally elected and internationally recognized president and parliament.

October 11, 2003 18:56

• Criminal Code of Armenia represents more serious danger to journalists than bill "On Mass Information"

  The articles on the inadmissibility of abuse of freedom of speech and transparency of financial resources are among the main disputable provisions of the bill.

October 11, 2003 18:53

• Book "War in the Shadow. Russia and Chechnya" has been published in ten thousand copies

  The collection of articles compiled by Florian Hassel, the Moscow correspondent of the Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper, was published with the assistance of the Heinrich Boell Foundation.

October 11, 2003 18:51

• Training on collecting information about missing people of Georgian-Abkhazian conflict

  The International Committee of the Red Cross mission is holding four-day training for the Commission for Abkhazian Refugees and Missing People and the Movement "Mothers of Abkhazia for Peace and Social Justice".

October 11, 2003 18:49

• Seminar "Legal Basics of Media Representatives' Participation in Elections"

  The meeting was arranged by the Yeni Nesil journalist union, the Media Rights Institute of Internews Azerbaijan, the Confederation of Azerbaijan Journalists, and the Research Center "Serene World".

October 11, 2003 18:49

• Organization "Fair Elections" expresses indignation about inaccuracies in voter lists

  "We call upon all political parties, the government and public to cooperate during the process of rechecking the voter lists so that to avoid falsification of the elections," reads the statement of the organization.

October 11, 2003 18:45

• "Address purges" in Stariye Atagi village

  Russian military men backed by armored equipment entered the village of Stariye Atagi, the Grozny (rural) district, on October 8.

October 11, 2003 18:42

• Legislation on the media is actively discussed in Abkhazia

  Karen Andreasian, an advisor of the international non-government organization "Article 19", presented results of the independent examination of the legislation prepared at the instance of the Media Club.

October 10, 2003 23:50

• Press conference devoted to elections in Chechen Republic

  "Political stabilization has effect on the economic development of Russia's South," claimed Russian President's Plenipotentiary in the South Federal District Viktor Kazantsev.