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October 31, 2003 19:51

• Workshop for Chechen NGOs on UN mechanisms of human rights defense took place in Nazran

  The workshop was arranged and held by the public organization "Echo of War" and the World Organization Against Torture.

October 31, 2003 19:49

• Chechen refugees can hardly count on compensation payments

  On October 28, 2003, a member of the Society for Russian-Chechen Friendship, along with a delegation of displaced persons who had been excluded from the Migration Service's computer data base, visited the Ingush Interior Ministry's Migration Service Department.

October 31, 2003 19:21

• Manifestation of non-government organization for fair elections

  The International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED), along with 400 observers accredited to monitor the parliamentary elections, held an hour manifestation in the center of Tbilisi yesterday in support of free and fair elections.

October 31, 2003 19:17

• European Court of Human Rights is to try second case against Georgia

  The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) set November 16 as a date of holding hearing on the merits regarding the case of Tengiz Asanidze, who is currently in custody in Batumi, the Ajarian Autonomous Republic.

October 31, 2003 18:15

• Citizens of Krasnodar had chance to pass deputies mandates

  On October 28, on the threshold of parliamentary elections in the Russian Federation and Krasnodar Territory, a survey of citizens with the purpose of working out mandates to the future deputies was conducted in front of the Central Kolkhoz Market of Krasnodar.

October 31, 2003 14:56

• Open Club of Abkhazian NGOs advocates adoption of law on the official language

  "The public authority heads are unlikely to have a perfect command of the Abkhazian language by January 1, 2007," said participants in a round table discussion at the Open Club of NGOs.

October 31, 2003 14:54

• Abkhazian Foreign Minister and OSCE ODIHR Advisor discussed humanitarian projects

  At the meeting which took place in Sukhum on October 29, Foreign Minister of Abkhazia Sergey Shamba noted that the republic still needed humanitarian projects, however, the priority and necessity of some of them should be discussed with the public.

October 31, 2003 11:52

• First refugees from Pankisi returned to Chechnya

  At present, there are some 4,000 Chechen refugees in the Pankisi Gorge. Russia's Minister for Chechnya Stanislav Ilyasov conducted negotiations in Tbilisi over their return.

October 31, 2003 11:44

• Reporters Without Borders calls for release of Agence France-Presse correspondent kidnapped in Ingushetia

  The statement reads, "We call on Ali Astamirov's abductors to make themselves known and to release him as soon as possible. We also call on President Putin to do everything possible to find Ali and obtain his release without putting his life in danger."

October 31, 2003 11:40

• Terrorist act in Urus-Martan district of Chechnya

  According to witnesses, the explosive hurled the truck with the servicemen and totally destroyed it, killing several soldiers.

October 30, 2003 22:41

• UN office is closing in Sukhumi

  "The closure of the UNHCR office in Sukhumi is caused by financial difficulties," said head of the UNHCR Field Office in Georgia Catherine Bertrand.

October 30, 2003 22:36

• Opposition party leader survived attempt in Zugdidi

  A group of armed men tried to attack leader of the National Movement opposition election bloc Mikhail Saakashvili in the Western Georgian town of Zugdidi yesterday. But Saakashvili's supporters and his bodyguards stopped the car which tried to break into the crowd surrounding Saakashvili in the center of Zugdidi.

October 30, 2003 22:32

• Opposition leader refused to meet with OSCE

  David Berdzenishvili, leader of "Saakashvili ? National Movement" bloc, said on October 28 that the reason why he had refused to meet with OSCE observers was their behavior. On October 23, when the Interior Ministry?s forces broke up the opposition?s demonstration in Batumi, they "hid away", said Berdzenishvili.

October 30, 2003 18:53

• Persecutions in Azerbaijan: plain people suffer

  The Institute of Peace and Democracy (Azerbaijan) keeps on informing of the unceasing persecutions of the opposition after the elections of October 15.

October 30, 2003 17:18

• Migration Service recalculates refugees, but it is reluctant to ensure people with humanitarian relief

  "Actually, we do not insist on humanitarian relief. We would manage to find jobs to earn some money if we were not counted every week by migration service employees," complains Zargan Ulubayeva, a woman from the "Sputnik" tent camp.

October 30, 2003 15:53

• Meeting in Pobedinskoye village

  The protest demonstration ensued from the recent abduction of two locals, Dudurkayev brothers, by unknown enforcement agents.

October 30, 2003 15:10

• Media Rights Institute condemns arrest of "Yeni Musavat" editor-in-chief

  "Rauf Arifoglu is known as one of the most fervent critics of the Azeri government. In light of his position and activities, it is very difficult to interpret his arrest unambiguously. It may be that the main reason for his arrest was to silence another strong critic of the Azeri government," reads the statement of Internews' Media Rights Institute on the arrest of "Yeni Musavat" editor-in-chief Rauf Arifoglu.

October 29, 2003 16:36

• Crisis Center of the Federation of Human Rights Organizations of Azerbaijan on lasting persecution of dissenters

  The information and analytical Internet agency "Caucasian Knot" publishes extracts from the letter of Leyla Yunus, director of the Institute of Peace and Democracy.

October 29, 2003 16:34

• Vaan Badasian: "Armenia should be a guarantor of Nagorny Karabakh"

  The proposal of Armen Rustamian, Chairman of the Armenian National Assembly's Foreign Relations Committee, to change a modus of negotiations for the Karabakh settlement is under discussion in Nagorny Karabakh.

October 29, 2003 15:18

• Paruyr Ayrikian is skeptical about introduction of ombudsman institution in Armenia

  "At the conjuncture that is in Armenia now, when laws do not work, the institution of the ombudsman can function only if it is supported by independent press; but there is no independent press in Armenia today," said chairman of the Union "National Self-Determination" Paruyr Ayrikian.