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Under Siege School May Hold as Many as 1500 Hostages
A woman released from the school in North Ossetia where militants are holding hundreds of children hostage for a third day said there could be over 1000 hostages, instead of the officially announced 320. This came as federal authorities resumed talks with the rebels Friday morning. (03-SEP-04)
World Responds to N. Ossetia Hostage Crisis
As the hostage crisis at a school in southern the Russian Federation entered its second day, authorities in North Ossetia revealed that the death toll stands at seven. Offers of help and condemnation of the school seizure have come from around the world. (02-SEP-04)
Gunmen Take Over 200 Hostages in North Ossetia School
A group of about 30 gunmen has seized a school in North Ossetia with up to 400 children, Russia’s internal republic bordering war-torn the Chechen Republic and the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia. (01-SEP-04)
Baku: Radical group members’ sentence stuns public
On Monday the court found the Garabagh Liberation Organization (GLO) chairman Akif Naghi and five members of the organization guilty of violating public order and resisting police. The six GLO activists were arrested on June 22 while protesting against the participation of Armenian officers in a NATO conference held in Baku on June 21-23, Assa-Irada reported. (03-SEP-04)
Russia Wants UN Security Council Session on Terror Attacks
Russian Federation has called for an urgent meeting of the U.N. Security Council over the series of recent terrorist attacks in the Russian Federation. (01-SEP-04)
Russia: Summit with Putin Should Address Human Rights
Amnesty International, one of the biggest human rights protection organization has appealed to the Chancellor of Germany, Gerhard Shreder, before his official visit to the Russian Federation to put a pressure on the President Vladimir Putin. (29-AUG-04)
Radical group members’ sentence stuns public
On Monday the court found the Garabagh Liberation Organization (GLO) chairman Akif Naghi and five members of the organization guilty of violating public order and resisting police. The six GLO activists were arrested on June 22 while protesting against the participation of Armenian officers in a NATO conference held in Baku on June 21-23, Assa-Irada reported. (03-SEP-04)
Peace Boat embarked in Bergen
The International NGO, Peace Boat from Japan, made her visit to Bergen and the Rafto Human Rights House on 26 August 2004. Peace Boat is an educational and networking NGO, working for intercultural understanding, human rights, sustainable development and the environment. Around 950 young peace activists participate on this global voyage itinerary to 97 countries, the 46th cruise since the start in 1983. (30-AUG-2004)
Reporters Without Borders condemns new attacks against the independent press ahead of elections
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)
One More Month of Jail and New Criminal Case to Mikhail Marynich instead of Meeting with UN Represen
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 to Oslo in October
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)
New Norwegian Human Rights House opened by Norwegian Prime Minister
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)