Russia: Crime Among Police Rises by 10%

The head of the Interior Ministry’s internal investigation department, Oleg Goncharov, said that police officers committed 2,500 crimes in the first half of this year, or 10 percent more than a year earlier.Goncharov complained that police convicted of crimes were not receiving adequate sentences:

“Even though the majority of policemen commit crimes classified by lawmakers as serious, fewer than half of the officers convicted are sentenced to real imprisonment.”

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Ireland gives refuge to 2 Guantanamo Bay detainees from Uzbekistan

The two Guantánamo Bay detainees being given refuge in Ireland are Uzbek nationals. One, 31-year-old Oybek Jabbarov, has been the focus of several months’ campaigning by Irish human rights groups seeking to bring him to Ireland.

Justice Minister Dermot Ahern, speaking after he met American Ambassador to Ireland Dan Rooney to confirm Ireland would take in the former inmates, said the Government had consistently called for the jail to be shut down.

“In making this decision, I am conscious of the intention of the United States to close the centre at Guantánamo Bay, in part by transferring detainees, no longer regarded as posing a threat to security but who cannot return to their own countries, to other countries willing to accept them,” he said.

Mr Ahern said the two men belong to a group of about 50 inmates who are “no longer regarded as posing a threat to security but who cannot return to their own countries”.

He declined to identify them, but other officials confirmed that both are from Uzbekistan and were seized in neighbouring Afghanistan in bitterly disputed circumstances. He said the men would receive permanent residency rights and would not be treated as refugees. They are expected to be transferred in the coming months.

Jabbarov’s case is widely cited as an example of how innocent people were branded terrorists by Afghan militiamen following the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, when US forces were offering lucrative cash bounties for the handover of alleged Taliban fighters.

Jabbarov says he, his wife and child were living as refugees near the Afghan-Uzbek border in October 2001 when heaccepted a lift in a car from soldiers of the National Alliance, a military faction long at war with the Taliban. He says the soldiers kidnapped him and delivered him to US troops to collect an easy bounty.

He was transferred to Guantánamo in 2002 and cleared for release in February 2007. He has been cleared for release from Guantánamo, but cannot return to Uzbekistan for fear of torture and persecution.

US President Barack Obama pledged to close Guantánamo Bay by January and his officials have been liaising with authorities around the world to persuade them to accept prisoners who cannot return home.

Uzbek journalist jailed for 12 years

An opposition journalist Dilmurod Sayid was sentenced in Toylok district court in SamarkandUzbekistan  to 12 years in prison on blackmailing and forgery charges.

Abdurahmon Tashanov, a leader of the Ezgulik rights group said:”The sentencing of  province occurred today without the notification of his relatives and defense lawyer. The court official justified the closed session with security concerns.”

Earlier Sayid described the case against him as retaliation by local authorities and law-enforcement agencies, whose activity he had been criticizing for several years in local and online media outlets.

Sayid was arrested on Feb. 22 on suspicion of extorting money from an employee of an agricultural machinery firm in Samarkand region of Uzbekistan.Later the authorities added the additional charges of blackmailing the head of a collective farm and falsifying documents, according to Tashanov, who has been monitoring the trial.

Sayyid had been defending the interests of local farmers during the restructuring of the Uzbek agricultural sector and had a history of disputes with the authorities.

The journalist had been tried several times and had already served two previous jail sentences, totaling two-and-a-half years.He caused a stir in 2005 by publishing an article in the weekly newspaper Advokat that challenged official claims on the standard of living of Uzbekistan’s population.

After publication of the article, titled “Essay on Nonexistent Things,” Sayid was sacked from his position and the newspaper was closed.

“Uzbekistan is the leading jailer of journalists in Eurasia. The Government of Islam Karimov has shown an unrelenting hostility toward any independent reporting and illustrated it once again by these most recent arrests.”

Peace Mission-2010 to focus on exercises combating “Eastern Turkestan” forces

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) “Peace Mission-2010” military drill will be held in Kazakhstan next year, according to reports.

In response, Russian military commentator Vladimir Muhin pointed out that the separatism issue that emerged in Xinjiang also exists in Kazakhstan to some extent. The Kazakh government has cracked down on several separatist organizations set up by “Eastern Turkestan” activists. Some “Eastern Turkestan” armed terrorists have also appeared in Chechnya, Afghanistan and other Central Asian nations.

Therefore, it is not hard to understand why the “Peace Mission-2010” military drill, in which all SCO members will participate, is to be held in the Otar range near the border of China and Kazakhstan, reported Xinhua.

Рябинина: антиэкстремистские законы поощряют бесправие на Северном Кавказе

Антиэкстремистское законодательство РФ используется для подавления любых проявлений гражданской активности, в том числе и на Северном Кавказе. Об этом говорится в докладе “Российское общество под контролем (злоупотребления в ходе борьбы с экстремизмом и терроризмом)” международной миссии FIDH и комитета “Гражданское содействие”.

Доклад был представлен московским журналистам 23 июля этого года. Одним из аспектов документа является то, что на Северном Кавказе совершено множество нарушений прав человека в ходе антитеррористических операций или действий под предлогом антитеррористических мер.

“Суть доклада в том, что антитеррористическое, антиэкстремистское законодательство в том виде, в котором оно сейчас существует и действует, далеко от совершенства. Оно позволяет себе расширительное толкование. Этот закон можно использовать для подавления любых проявлений гражданской активности. Практика применения этого закона подтверждает эту мысль”.

OSCE: Moldova elections in line with international standards

Snap parliamentary elections in Moldova complied with international standards, the head of OSCE observers said at a news conference on Thursday.”The parliamentary elections were well organized and pluralistic, and in our opinion, they complied with international standards,” Petros Efthymiou said.

With 98% of the vote counted in Wednesday’s election, the ruling Communist Party received 45.1% of the vote (48 seats in parliament), the Liberal-Democratic Party of Moldova – 16.4% (17 seats), the Liberal Party – 14.4% (15 seats), the Democratic Party – 12.6% (13 seats) and the Our Moldova Alliance – 7.4% (eight seats).

Parliament will now have to elect a president, requiring a minimum 61 votes in the 101-seat chamber.