News Digest
TAJIK COURT SENTENCES 20 HIZB UT-TAHRIR ACTIVISTS
By empty (11/10/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
A court in Sughd Province on 9 November sentenced 20 individuals to prison terms ranging from three to eight years for criminal activities on behalf of the banned extremist organization Hizb ut-Tahrir, RFE/RL\'s Tajik Service reported. The defendants, who included one ethnic Russian and a former National Security Committee officer, were found guilty of inciting strife along national and religious lines and calling for the overthrow of the state. The group was arrested in Khujand in early 2004.TURKMEN AMNESTY FREES 9,000
By empty (11/10/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The Turkmen Prosecutor-General\'s Office announced on 9 November that 9,000 prisoners have been released under an amnesty in honor of the Muslim holiday of Laylat al-Qadr. Among the freed prisoners are 150 foreign citizens. A full list of prisoners covered by the amnesty was published in national newspapers on 24 October.US ENVOY OPPOSES KIDNAPPER TALKS
By empty (11/10/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
A top US envoy visiting Afghanistan has said there should be no negotiations with kidnappers of three UN workers. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said the US believed talks would only \"encourage more\" abductions. Annetta Flanigan from Northern Ireland, Shqipe Habibi from Kosovo and Filipino Angelito Nayan were abducted in Kabul on 28 October.FOUR GEORGIAN POLITICAL PARTIES BARRED FROM FUTURE ELECTIONS
By empty (11/9/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Acting Central Election Commission (CEC) Chairman Zurab Nonikashvili said on 9 November that four political parties that failed to comply with a legal requirement to submit to the CEC details of their expenditures during the 28 March parliamentary election campaign have been stripped of the right to contest future elections. The four parties are the Democratic Revival Union (headed by Aslan Abashidze, ousted former leader of the Adjaran Autonomous Republic), National Revival, the All-Georgian People\'s Alliance (formed in late 2003), and the National Democratic Party-Union of Traditionalists alliance. (Caucasus Press).Visit also
Staff Publications
Silk Road Paper S. Frederick Starr, Greater Central Asia as A Component of U.S. Global Strategy, October 2024.
Analysis Laura Linderman, "Rising Stakes in Tbilisi as Elections Approach," Civil Georgia, September 7, 2024.
Analysis Mamuka Tsereteli, "U.S. Black Sea Strategy: The Georgian Connection", CEPA, February 9, 2024.
Silk Road Paper Svante E. Cornell, ed., Türkiye's Return to Central Asia and the Caucasus, July 2024.
Book Svante E. Cornell, ed., "The Changing Geopolitics of Central Asia and the Caucasus" AFPC Press/Armin LEar, 2023.
Silk Road Paper Svante E. Cornell and S. Frederick Starr, Stepping up to the “Agency Challenge”: Central Asian Diplomacy in a Time of Troubles, July 2023.
Silk Road Paper S. Frederick Starr, U.S. Policy in Central Asia through Central Asian Eyes, May 2023.