Musavat party leader Isa Qambar and Azerbaijan National Independence Party Chairman Etibar Mammedov both announced in Baku on 22 July that they will not attend an international forum in Boston on 25-29 July to which they were invited by the U.S. National Democratic Institute. Qambar said that he considers it inexpedient to leave the country in the current \"difficult\" political situation. He noted that hundreds of oppositionists were arrested and tortured in the wake of the 15 October presidential ballot (in which he was defeated by Ilham Aliyev), and seven of them are still on trial. Mammedov explained that while he accepts the need for the United States to toughen entry requirements as part of the war on international terrorism, he considers it an unnecessary humiliation that he personally should be required to have his fingerprints taken in order to apply for a U.S. visa. (Turan)