RFE/RL CENTRAL ASIA REPORT
1/23/2012 6:48:14 PM
A review of RFE/RL reporting and analysis about the five countries of Central Asia.For more stories on Central Asia, please visit and bookmark our Central Asia page . |
 Tajik Officials Charged With Drug Smuggling Tajikistan has arrested several high-ranking antidrug officials for their alleged involvement in narcotics trafficking. More  Kyrgyz Inmates To Be Force-Fed RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports that State Penitentiary Service officials announced that the "forced feeding" means a transfusion of glucose solution via an intravenous system to protesting inmates whose health is in immediate danger. More  Tajik Problem With Underage Brides Tajik lawmaker Saodat Amirshoeva told RFE/RL's Tajik Service that some parents forge the documents of their daughters in order to make it appear that the girls are 18 years old and eligible for marriage. More  Kazakh Police Raid Party Office Kazakh security services have searched the Almaty office of the unregistered Algha (Forward) party, as well as the homes of the opposition party's leader and several activists. More  Tajiks 'Ready To Help' Atovulloev Probe Tajik Interior Minister Ramazon Rakhimov says Tajik investigators would assist Russian officials in investigating an attack against a well-known Tajik dissident in Moscow. More  The Byzantine 'Ethics' Of Uzbek Bathroom Breaks, Handshakes, YouTube Posts Uzbekistan's Ministry of Higher Education has issued some strange "ethical rules" that it's making the nation's university students sign. More  Wolf Attacks Increase In SE Tajikistan At least six people have been attacked by wolves in southeastern Tajikistan in the last several weeks. More  Kazakhs Open New-Look Parliament Independent Kazakhstan's new multiparty parliament holds its first session, hailed by long-standing President Nursultan Nazarbaev as a new phase in his Central Asian state's development. More  Kyrgyz Inmates Start Mass Hunger Strike Inmates in 13 Kyrgyz jails have started a mass hunger strike to support inmates in detention center No. 1 in Bishkek, where security troops violently quelled a prisoner riot on January 16. More  Kazakh Opposition Leaders Fined The leaders of the Kazakh opposition Social Democratic Azat (Freedom) party have been fined for holding an unsanctioned public gathering. More  Wounded Kazakh Oil Worker Describes Being Shot During Protests In an interview with RFE/RL's Kazakh Service, a former oil worker in troubled western Kazakhstan, Nurlybek Nurgalyev, talks about being wounded after police and security forces fired on striking oil workers in the city of Zhanaozen. More  Kyrgyz Ombudsman: Inmate Abused Kyrgyz Ombudsman Tursunbek Akun said in parliament on January 18 that the body of an inmate who died in a Bishkek detention center shows signs of violence. More  Arab Spring Said To Inspire Oppressed U.S.-based pro-democracy group Freedom House calls popular uprisings that have swept the Arab world the greatest challenge to authoritarian rule since the collapse of Soviet communism. More  Kazakh Envoy: No OSCE Monitor Ban Kazakhstan's U.S. ambassador says that despite disagreeing with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's negative assessment of the country's parliamentary elections, observers from the body will be invited to return in the future. More  Kyrgyz Journalist's Killers Appeal Hearings have begun in Almaty in the appeal filed by three men convicted of killing Kyrgyz journalist Gennady Pavlyuk. More Tajiks To Lease Land To Chinese Farmers Tajik officials say they will allow Chinese farmers to rent hundreds of hectares of land in southern Tajikistan. More One inmate died and dozens were injured following a riot at the main detention center in the Kyrgyz capital. The riot followed a wave of hunger strikes in Kyrgyz prisons prompted by poor living conditions. More Some 200 opposition activists and supporters have rallied in the Kazakh city of Almaty to protest the results of the January 15 parliamentary elections. More  Suit Claims Kazakh Security Lapse Hearings have begun in Kazakhstan for a lawsuit seeking compensation for a victim of the first-ever suicide bombing against the National Security Committee. More Media reports say special security forces raided a detention facility in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, today after unrest broke out at the prison. More  OSCE Blasts Kazakh Vote Three parties have won seats in parliament following Kazakhstan's elections, putting an end to the oil-rich state's much-criticized one-party rule. But no opposition party got in, and most were blocked from even running, election monitors say. More |
