RFE/RL CAUCASUS REPORT
24.05.2013
A review of RFE/RL reporting and analysis about the countries of the South Caucasus and Russia's North Caucasus region.WEEKLY QUIZ: IRANIAN LEADERS -- PAST AND PRESENT For more stories on the Caucasus, please visit and bookmark our Caucasus page . |
 Georgian Priests Charged With Antigay Violence Two Georgian Orthodox Church clerics have been charged in connection with antigay violence that broke out last week in Tbilisi. More  Amnesty Report Notes Worldwide Abuses, As Well As Courage Of Activists In a new report, the global rights group Amnesty International documents abuses in 159 countries and territories that it says were "inflicted by those in power on those who stand in the way of their vested interests." More French actor Gerard Depardieu, who recently received Russian citizenship, is shooting a new film, titled "Turquoise," in Chechnya. During a press conference on May 21, Depardieu spoke about Chechen cuisine and about the impact in Chechnya of the recent bombings in Boston, blamed on two ethnic Chechen suspects. (RFE/RL's North Caucasus Service) More  Man Fatally Shot During Boston Marathon Probe The FBI says a man being questioned in the Boston bombings probe was fatally shot when he initiated a violent confrontation. More  Stuck In The Middle: Abkhazia's Ethnic Georgians Feel The Squeeze The Georgian government of Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili is seeking to change the dynamic of Tbilisi's relationship with the breakaway region of Abkhazia. And the mostly ethnic-Georgian population of Abkhazia's Gali district is once again feeling the squeeze. More  Makhachkala Bombing Highlights Daghestani Leader's Herculean Task Ramazan Abdulatipov, whom Russian President Vladimir Putin named acting president of Daghestan in late January, has wasted no time in identifying his priorities. More  Ex-Georgian PM Jailed For 2 Months A former prime minister of Georgia has been ordered to be held in jail for two months until his trial on charges of embezzlement and abuse of office. More  Hurley Hangs With Kadyrov In Grozny For months now, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has been treating his numerous social media followers to a blow-by-blow account of his life. Besides posting posting pictures of mundane activities such as a trip to the dentist, Kadyrov has used the Instagram photo-sharing service to display images of him hanging out in a bathrobe with Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas and chatting with French actor and tax exile Gerard Depardieu. Now he has added another luminary to his collection of pix. More  Claims Of Vote Theft At Eurovision Roil Russia, Azerbaijan Forget U.S. missile defense or Syria. What's really got Russia's foreign minister outraged is an alleged voting scandal at this year's Eurovision Song Contest. More After violent protests forced gay-rights activists to scrap a planned rally in Tbilisi on May 17, RFE/RL's Georgian Service received an amateur video showing the scene as thousands of antigay protesters tried to storm the activists' bus. The video was provided by a source who asked to remain anonymous. The planned gay-rights demonstration in Tbilisi was meant to mark International Day Against Homophobia. More  Saakashvili Allies Arrested In Georgia Authorities in Georgia have arrested former Georgian Prime Minister Ivane Merabishvili and former Health Minister Zurab Chiaberashvili. More  Vanuatu 'No Longer Recognizes' Abkhazia Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili says the tiny Pacific island nation of Vanuatu has withdrawn its recognition of Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia. More Two car bombs have exploded with deadly effect in front of the Court Bailiffs' Directorate in Makhachkala, the capital of Russia's North Caucasus republic of Daghestan. More  Georgia Considers Taking Softer Approach To Marijuana Georgia’s strict laws on marijuana have become the subject of a hot debate in the former Soviet republic as the government considers decriminalizing the use of cannabis. More  Iran Frees Azerbaijani Scholar Azerbaijani scholar Khalida Khalid and her driver have been released following weeks in Iranian custody after their detention at the home of an ethnic Azeri activist. More  Two North Caucasus Republics Set Election Precedent In line with a recent amendment to last year's law reintroducing direct elections for the heads of Russia's 83 federation subjects, the Daghestani and Ingushetian parliaments have voted overwhelmingly for an alternative option. Will others follow suit? More  Azeri Activist Charged With Hooliganism Over Internet Video A court in Baku has charged a young Facebook activist with hooliganism over a controversial "Harlem Shake" video. More Thousands of antigay protesters led by Orthodox Christian clergy on May 17 prevented a gay-rights rally from taking place in Tbilisi. The protesters broke through a police cordon and charged the venue where the rally was to be held, forcing the rights activists to leave on buses under police protection. The gay-pride demonstration was scheduled to mark the International Day Against Homophobia. (Video by Tea Topuria, RFE/RL's Georgian Service) More  After Photo Scandal, No More Instagram For Kadyrov? (UPDATED) Chechnya's maverick leader Ramzan Kadyrov is threatening to close his Instagram account after he was criticized for posting a photo of himself standing with an ethnic Chechen convicted for involvement in the killing of a Russian soccer fan in 2010. More  Antigay Protesters Disrupt Rights Rally In Georgia Thousands of antigay protesters led by Orthodox Christian clergy today prevented a gay-rights rally from taking place in Tbilisi. Thousands of protesters broke through a police cordon and charged the venue where the rally was to be held, forcing the rights activists to leave on buses under police protection. The gay-pride demonstration was scheduled to mark the International Day Against Homophobia. (RFE/RL's Georgian Service) More Georgian Gay-Rights Rally Disrupted At least 17 people have been injured by violence that broke out in Georgia's capital before the start of a rally to mark the International Day Against Homophobia. More |
