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During the 13-14 October raids, armed people seized hostages and occupied the administrative buildings of the police, local department of the FSB, local department of internal affairs and other places within the city. The average age of the insurgents was 18-20 years. The exact number of injured and killed people is still being counted. The resonance of the events in Nalchik has divided Russian society (18-OCT-2005)
 

The only independent daily in the Republic of Belarus, which represents 65 per cent of the non-governmental print media circulation in the country, went out of business on Monday, 3 October. The two state distributors and the publishing house had all at the same time decided to cancel their contracts, citing different reasons. (18-OCT-05)
 

Among the most common strategies of harassment of human rights defenders, both as individuals and at the organisational level, are accusations of formal, bureaucratic wrongdoings, such as tax evasion. Below is a story of this happening to the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society. Read the organisation´s own press release on the issue, signed by Stanislav Dmitrievsky (right) and Oksana Chelysheva (left). (15-OCT-05)
   

The anniversary of the 1915 events in Armenia has generated more public debate on both sides of  the issue than ever before. The impassioned disagreement over the semantics of the matter has assumed what to many seem absurd proportions. The Turkish authorities are ready to settle for the term ‘massacre’; the Armenian diaspora insists on the use of ‘genocide´. Index on Censorship reports (18-OCT-05)
 

As previously reported on this site, Rebyia Kadeer (right), the foremost spokesperson of the Uighurs of the Xinjiang province in the People´s Republic of China, and last year´s Rafto Prize laureate, was released in March 2005. She had then been imprisoned since 1999. Yesterday, she visited the Human Rights House in Oslo. -I will not let my horror silence me. Indeed, my horror pushes me to speak out, she said. Read her full speech below. (18-OCT-05)
 

The anniversary of the 1915 events in the Republic of Armenia has generated more public debate on both sides of the issue than ever before. The disagreement over the semantics of the matter has assumed what to many seem absurd proportions. The Turkish authorities are ready to settle for the term ‘massacre’; the Armenian diaspora insists on the use of ‘genocide’. Index on Censorship reports. (18-OCT-05)
 

Today, the visit of the leader of Republic of Azerbaijan Democratic Party Rasul Guliyev (right) has been expected to Baku after 9 years of emigration. Guliyev held the highest positions in the Republic of Azerbaijan authority during the beginning of presidency of former president Heydar Aliyev. His latest position was the speaker of the National Parliament since 1997 the ADP has been the opposition party and now ADP is a member of the Azadlig Bloc oppositional coalition and Guliyev is a registered candidate for Parliament. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and the general prosecutor´s Office declared several times that Guliyev would be arrested immediately if he planned to arrive Republic of Azerbaijan (17-OCT-2005).
 

Rasul Guliyev, Chairman of the opposition Republic of Azerbaijan Democratic Party (ADP),  was detained in the Ukraine on Monday, on his way back to Republic of Azerbaijan to run for the forthcoming elections.  Both the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the General Prosecutor´s Office had declared several times that Guliyev would be arrested immediately after arrival. Hundreds of Guliyev supporters were arrested in Baku. All human rights defenders were refused to enter the airport territory (17-OCT-05).
 

12 October 2005 a district officer of Blagoveshchensk (Republic of Bachkiria, Russian Federation), Vasiliy Jukov was put on probation for 3 years. He was the second policeman who was condemned for exceeding his authority by covering up the mass beatings on 12-14 December 2004 in Blagoveshchensk, when OMON and police had beaten citizens of Blagoveshchensk and its suburbs. Read more (16-OCT-2005)
 

Being the first Croatian journalist ever to appear in front of the Hague Tribunal, Josip Jovic pleaded not guilty to charges for contempt of the Court. The indictment against Jovic was filed on August 29th 2005 for publishing transcripts of the prosecution´s protected witness testimony at the Blaskic trial. (15-OCT-05)
 

The United Nations Security Council should urgently consider the human rights and political situation in Burma in order to address widespread and systematic abuse of human rights by the military government, Human Rights Watch said today. -So say we, adds Marte Graff Jensen (right), Informaton Officer at the Norwegian Burma Committee. (15-OCT-05)
 

Being the first Croatian journalist ever to appear in front of the Hague Tribunal, Josip Jovic (right) pleaded not guilty to charges for contempt of the Court. The indictment against Jovic was filed on August 29th 2005 for publishing transcripts of the prosecution´s protected witness testimony at the Blaskic trial. (15-OCT-05)