All news

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.

October 29, 2003 15:15

• About 3,500 people have disappeared in Chechnya since beginning of the second Chechen war

  Such data were published yesterday by Kheda Saratova, director of the independent press center in Grozny, and journalist Aleksandr Mnatsakanian.

October 29, 2003 13:43

• International Helsinki Federation on problem of Chechnya

  The Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers should pay attention to the human rights situation in the Chechen Republic.

October 29, 2003 12:49

• "Yeni Musavat" can address Ilkham Aliyev

  Baku's executive power head Gajibala Abutalybov addressed the letter to Musavat party leader Isa Gambar in which he demanded that the party left its headquarters at the address: 3 Prospect Azerbaijan before November 1, 2003.

October 29, 2003 12:47

• Opposition party blocked railway line

  The participants of the action protested against inaccurate voter lists and claimed these very lists provided a basis for the elections to be falsified.

October 29, 2003 11:41

• Russian NGOs "express concern" about federalization of Georgia

  The Russian non-government analytical center "Council for National Strategy" has prepared a document concerning future aspects of Georgia's federalization. The Georgian State Security Council considers this document to be another unofficial work, which does not present a stance of the Russian government.

October 29, 2003 10:59

• 80 participators of mass disorders were set free in Azerbaijan

  110 people were set free earlier, after negotiations of human rights activists with the Interior Minister Ramil Usubov and Prosecutor General Zakir Garalov.

October 29, 2003 10:57

• Aleksandr Nikitin: "About 2 thousand people are considered to be missing in Chechnya, according to official data"

  Deputy prosecutor of the republic Aleksandr Nikitin denied information that Russian security agencies were involved in the abductions.