By empty (4/8/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Human rights organisations have issued a joint statement condemning what they say are widespread abuses in the Russian republics of Chechnya and Ingushetia. The groups - including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch - say that despite Moscow\'s claims to have normalised the situation in the north Caucasus, the cycle of violence there continues. The Kremlin says that life in Chechnya is gradually returning to normal, but human rights organisations tell a very different story.

By empty (4/8/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili issued a strongly worded demand on 8 April to the Adjar leadership calling for the immediate release of former Batumi Mayor Tengiz Asanidze. The Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled on 8 April in favor of an appeal by Asanidze and called on the Adjar authorities to release him immediately. Despite receiving a presidential pardon in 1999 and being acquitted by the Georgian Supreme Court in 2001, Asanidze remained imprisoned in an Adjar prison for 10 years.

By empty (4/7/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Azerbaijani Interior Minister Usubov told Turan on 7 April that Ayaz Mutalibov, who has lived in Moscow since fleeing Baku in May 1992 in the wake of an abortive comeback attempt, will be arrested if he returns to Azerbaijan. Usubov said Mutalibov is charged with planning a terrorist act, creating illegal armed formations, treason, and dereliction of duty in connection with the February 1992 killing of several hundred Azerbaijanis in the Karabakh village of Khodjali. (Turan).