Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

RFE/RL Caucasus Report 28.09.2012 A review of RFE/RL reporting and analysis about the countries of the South Caucasus and Russia's North Caucasus region. For more stories on Afghanistan, please visit and bookmark our Afghanistan page .

 

Stakes Could Not be Higher In Georgian Parliamentary Elections More than any national election since 1990, the Georgian parliamentary election to be held on October 1 is a potential major turning point in the country’s history. More   Hunger-Striking Parents In Daghestan Issue Desperate Appeal To Militant Son A couple in Daghestan has launched a hunger strike in a desperate bid to persuade their only son to renounce the insurgency, lay down his arms, and return home. About a dozen local boys in the Khasavyurt area have come home from the hills in recent months. The Alibekovs hope their son will be next. More   Georgians Protest Prison Violence After Abuse Scandal Weeks after the country was rocked by a prison abuse scandal, Georgian protesters, led by groupings of students and athletes, took part in a nonpartisan rally in Tbilisi on September 26 against jailhouse violence. More   Azeri Parliament Bribe Claim Probed Azerbaijan's prosecutor-general is investigating allegations lawmaker Gular Ahmedova requested a bribe in exchange for securing a seat in parliament for academic Elsad Abdullayev. More   Chechnya, Ingushetia Prepare For Border Talks The heads of the two commissions tasked with delimiting the border between Chechnya and Ingushetia, Chechen parliament speaker Dukvakha Abdurakhmanov and Republic of Ingushetia Prime Minister Musa Chiliyev met in Magas last week for preliminary talks on how to set about doing so. More   Saakashvili: Georgia Better Than Russia Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili says his government's response to a prison-abuse scandal shows it is more democratic than Russia. More   Georgia Protests Over Prison Abuse Scandal Enter Sixth Day Hundreds of demonstrators rallied in Tbilisi for a sixth day on September 24 to protest prison abuse under the rule of President Mikheil Saakashvili. More   Protesters Rally At French Embassy Over Prophet Cartoons Some 50 protesters have rallied outside the French Embassy in Baku to protest against caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad published last week in a French periodical More   Georgia, South Ossetia Both Claim Preparations For New Hostilities Meeting earlier this week with the co-chairmen of the ongoing Geneva talks on the security and human rights repercussions of the August 2008 war, two senior South Ossetian politicians accused Georgia of engaging in a new military buildup that they fear presages a new attack on their breakaway region. More   UNHCR Decries Georgia Jail Scenes The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has condemned the torture and ill treatment of inmates at a prison and juvenile detention facility in Georgia. More   Protests Go On Over Georgia Jail Abuse Protests are continuing for a third straight day in Georgia, with thousands of demonstrators demanding the prosecution of top officials implicated in a prison abuse scandal. More