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On 25 August the influential international organization “Reporters Without Borders” protested after the information minister ordered a three-month closure of the independent weekly Novaya Gazeta Smorgoni in Smarhon, western Republic of Belarus.
(30-AUG-2004)

The authorities didn’t permit to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions to meet with Mikhail Marynich who has been kept in the Investigative Isolator of KGB since April 2004. The meeting was planned on 25 August. Instead of this, they brought one more criminal case and prolonged the term of his preliminary detention for a month. (30-AUG-2004)

Shirin Ebadi will attend a conference in Oslo 13 October hosted by the Human Rights House Foundation. The Nobel Peace Prize Laureate will talk about the importance of networks in strengthening the security of human rights defenders. (30-AUG-04)
 

The Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik attended the official opening of the new Norwegian Human Rights House in Oslo yesterday. In his speech he stressed that co-locating human rights organisations helps strengthen the defense of human dignity. (27-AUG-04)

Shirin Ebadi will attend a conference in Oslo 13 October hosted by the Human Rights House Foundation. The Nobel Peace Prize Laureate will talk about the importance of networks in strengthening the security of human rights defenders. Ebadi will also discuss the possibility of establishing a Human Rights House in Islamic Republic of Iran. (30-AUG-04)
  

In Minsk a number of large shops refused to sell leading non-governmental newspapers, such as “Belorusskiy Rynok”, “Belorusskaya Delovaya Gazeta” (“BDG”), “Belorusskaya Gazeta” and “Narodnaya Volia”. The owners of some shops didn’t even notify the editors while cancelling the distribution agreements. (26-AUG-04)
 

The State Duma is to consider a series of regulations that could restrict or heavily tax funding for Russia´s NGOs. Veronika Marchenko (picture) at the Mother´s Right Foundation fears it will affect bereaved parents and other victims of human rights violations. (30-AUG-04)
 

The State Duma is to consider a series of regulations that could restrict or heavily tax funding for Russia´s NGOs. Veronika Marchenko (picture), the Head of the Mother´s Right Foundation – member organisation of the Russian Research Center for Human Rights,  spends much of her time locked in struggle with the Russian government. (27-AUG-2004)
 

The Upper Garabagh conflict was in the focus of Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov´s meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow last Wednesday. Lavrov said following the meeting that “Russia is interested in a peace settlement of the Upper Garabagh conflict, but the problem will be resolved only if the parties come to terms”. (28 August 2004)