By empty (4/16/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Some 1,000 people attended a demonstration in Yerevan on 15 April to protest the police brutality against and arrests of protesters on 13 April, RFE/RL\'s Armenian Service reported. At the same time, participants stressed that their protest should not be construed as an endorsement of the opposition campaign to force the president\'s resignation. At least 115 people were arrested on 13 April, including three parliament deputies who were subsequently released.

By empty (4/16/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)

President Vladimir Putin hosted talks in Moscow on 15 April with Uzbek President Islam Karimov, during which they discussed efforts to combat terrorism in the context of the violence in Uzbekistan late last month, RTR and ORT reported. Karimov told Putin that terrorist groups are regrouping faster than the international antiterrorism coalition can react, finding weak points in the coalition\'s defenses and striking there. Putin told Karimov that \"in your struggle against these acts, you can count on Russia\'s full and unconditional support.

By empty (4/16/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Tajik security forces have arrested a man alleged to have led an extremist religious movement in northern Tajikistan. Tajik officials said that Hodi Fattoyev, former senior imam at a mosque, headed the Bay\'at movement, an extremist group that allegedly engaged in arson and murder. An Interior Ministry source said that Bay\'at was headquartered in the town of Chorkuh in the Isfara District of Tajikistan\'s northern Sughd Oblast.