The wife of an independent Kazakh journalist says her husband was taken away from his hospital room today by a group of state security officers.

Raushan Esergepova told RFE/RL's Kazakh Service that her husband, Ramazan Esergepov, editor in chief of the independent Almaty weekly "Alma-Ata Info," was detained by masked officers with machine guns.

Esergepov has been treated for heart problems since early December, after Kazakh National Security Committee (KNB) officers tried to force him to go to the southern city of Taraz for questioning regarding a November article concerning corruption allegations that officials say revealed state secrets.

The KNB officially confirmed Esergepov's arrest and said he is now in Taraz, where they say his status in the case has been changed from witness to suspect.

Before his hospitalization, Esergepov had sought asylum at a U.S. Embassy representative office in Almaty. He agreed to leave the U.S. Embassy office after Kazakh authorities assured him and U.S. officials that he would be treated in accordance with Kazakh law.

Posted At: 06 January 12:17   0 comments

Authorities in Azerbaijan have threatened to commit a 72-year-old man, Ismayil Huseynov, and his wife, Khanimzar, to a psychiatric hospital after protesting what they say was police violence, their son has told RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani Service.

The couple was objecting to police treatment of their son, Elvin, and other teenagers on December 26 after they were detained on suspicion of cutting the electricity to a facility where a government-organized holiday party was taking place.

Police released the teenagers the same day after reportedly beating them and shaving their heads.

On December 27, parents in Nakhchivan said they would renounce their Azerbaijani citizenship if the scare tactics continued.

The Huseynovs and other parents have since been taken to the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Nakhchivan, where they have been interrogated and told to stop talking to the media. Police threatened to send them to a psychiatric hospital after they refused, Elvin Huseynov said.

Elvin was detained again today at a post office in the exclave as he was trying to send a telegram about police violence to the speaker of Nakhchivan's parliament. Huseynov says police did not allow him to send the message.

Nakhchivan's Ministry of Internal Affairs has refused to comment on the issue.

Political analyst Ilgar Mammadov told RFE/RL that the case reminds him of the Soviet practice of forced "treatment" in psychiatric hospitals, which was widely used as a mean of silencing opponents.

"The reincarnation of Soviet psychiatry is one more example of where the country is going now," he said.

A similar incident happened in Nakhchivan in 2007, when 71-year-old opposition activist Alasgar Ismayilov was committed after he sent a letter to President Ilham Aliyev about rights violations.

(by Malahat Nasibova of RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service)

Posted At: 06 January 12:04   0 comments

A correspondent working for RFE/RL's Turkmen Service has been interrogated and threatened by state security officers.

Dovletmurat Yazguliev says he and his wife were summoned to a local administrative office where secret service officers and local government officials questioned them in late December. He says he was asked to stop working for RFE/RL.

He says security officers told him that his life would become very difficult and that his relatives might lose their jobs if he did not sever his relationship with RFE/RL.

In 2006, another Turkmen correspondent for RFE/RL, Ogulsapar Muradova, died under mysterious circumstances while in prison in Turkmenistan.

Reporters Without Borders said Muradova died "from blows she received in prison while serving a six-year sentence for helping a French TV journalist to prepare a report."

Yazguliev believes he could be imprisoned if he continues to work for RFE/RL.

"I will do my utmost to continue working for democracy, for my people. I am not afraid of them," Yazguliev told RFE/RL. "I am just concerned about the method they could use against my family members. I informed [the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe] about increased surveillance of my movements a month ago; however, I haven't heard from this organization yet."

Yazguliev sends news stories and reports on social issues from Turkmenistan's eastern Akhal Province. He says local authorities have been unhappy with some of his reports.

Posted At: 05 January 13:41   0 comments

Human rights defenders in Kyrgyzstan say they are planning to hold a mass protest action this summer.

Aziza Abdyrasulova, chairwoman of the Kylym Shamy human rights center in Bishkek, told RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service that Kyrgyz human rights activists are concerned about restrictions of freedom of speech in the country.

The current Kyrgyz leadership is "turning the nation into a speechless and obedient society," she said.

It is necessary, Abdyrasulova said, to be more active to unite all the human rights organizations in Kyrgyzstan.

Posted At: 05 January 12:02   0 comments

“They shut you down, but it's too late. I already know what liberty is, and that liberty is possible. Thank you for that.”

That's what one listener wrote to Radio Azadliq [Liberty], the Azerbaijani service of RFE/RL, after the government ordered the closure of all foreign broadcasters in the country: BBC, Voice of America, and Radio Azadliq.

Rauf Mirkadirov, an analyst who writes for the newspaper "Zerkalo," echoed the listener's comments. “Radio Azadliq’s error is obvious. It makes people think," Mirkadirov writes. "If people think, they suffer, because they understand that the truth is not what the pro-government media shows: [a picture of] a country with economic growth and stability. They understand how bad the situation really is.”

Radio Azadliq started receiving messages of support on October 31 when Nushiravan Maharramli, the head of the National Television and Radio Council, announced the plan to stop foreign broadcasts on national frequencies.

The messages are still arriving. Radio Azadliq’s offices in Baku and Prague received thousands of phone calls, mobile text messages, and emails, while independent and opposition newspapers published commentaries regretting the government’s decision.

“I don’t understand this decision, and I don’t want to understand it,” wrote Vagif Samedoglu, a prominent writer and member of parliament. "They should not forget that these radio stations helped us, made our voices heard in the world in our bad days.... Especially Radio Azadliq.”

“Everyone would listen to Azadliq, from taxi drivers to housewives. This was enough to shut down the station. Where else you would hear alternative voices?” Mammad Suleymanov wrote in an opinion piece in "Bizim Yol."

Alternative voices are still being heard through Radio Azadliq -- but fewer people are able to hear them. Azadliq is still able to broadcast on shortwave frequencies, and shopkeepers say the demand for radios that receive shortwave has skyrocketed in past days. Others tune in on Azadliq's website, where they can hear not only current broadcasts but also older ones from the archive.

Most listeners, however, express grave concern not only about the fate of their favorite radio station, but about what the development means for Azerbaijan.

“Radio Azadliq would always inform us about different views. Now alternative information will be available only at funerals and mosques -- from the mullahs. These are only places where you don’t get arrested for listening to something other than the government’s propaganda,” said Elshan Poladli. Poladli is an activist of the Dalga youth movement, and has been arrested several times for organizing public protests against corruption, oil pollution, and restrictions on freedom of expression.

In his commentary, Suleymanov writes that “the restrictions placed on Azadliq will end up with bringing freedom to the people, because their unexpressed anger will build up and explode."

(by Khadija Ismayilova of RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service)

Posted At: 02 January 15:38   0 comments

Leading activists from Belarus's unregistered Young Front organization have been officially warned that they might be drafted into the armed services.

Zmitr Hvedaruk and Paul Kuriyanovich tell RFE/RL's Belarus Service that on December 30 and December 31 they were forcibly brought by Minsk city police to the Military Commission Center, where they were issued the draft warning.

Both activists are university students.

Belarusian law allows young people to finish their studies before beginning mandatory military service.

Hvedaruk and Kuriyanovich say the warning is politically motivated and an effort to intimidate them into stopping their opposition activities.

Posted At: 02 January 13:44   0 comments

The Kremlin said late on December 31 that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has signed a bill into law that scraps the right to a jury trial for defendants in cases involving terrorism, insurrection, or other public unrest, AP reported.

Those accused in such cases -- which in addition to terrorism and treason would include armed revolt, sabotage, and rioting -- will instead be tried by a three-judge panel.

Critics say the measure, which won legislative approval in mid-December, marks a clear retreat from democratic reform and a return to Soviet practice as an implicit social contract breaks down.

It comes amid growing fear of civil unrest (also here and here) in Russia as economic woes mount and an effort by lawmakers to expand the legal definition of treason.

Posted At: 01 January 12:55   1 comment