RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 3, No. 231, 99-11-30

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From: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>

RFE/RL NEWSLINE

Vol. 3, No. 231, 30 November 1999

CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ARMENIAN CENTRAL BANK WARNS OF INCREASE IN COUNTERFEITING

[02] GEORGIAN PRESIDENT LAYS CLAIM TO RUSSIAN MILITARY HARDWARE...

[03] ...RULES OUT JOINT PATROLS OF GEORGIAN-CHECHEN BORDER

[04] NO AMNESTY YET FOR IMPRISONED GEORGIAN WARLORD

[05] GEORGIAN PARLIAMENT REJECTS OPPOSITION CANDIDATE FOR DEPUTY

[06] KAZAKHSTAN SEEKS TO STEM INFLUX OF CHECHEN REFUGEES

[07] PROTEST DEMONSTRATIONS IN FORMER KAZAKH CAPITAL

[08] TAJIK ELECTION LAW TALKS SUSPENDED

[09] UZBEK OFFICIALS WIPE OUT TERRORIST GROUP

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[10] PRO-GOVERNMENT MEDIA SAY TUDJMAN'S DEATH NEAR

[11] BISHOPS URGE CROATS TO VOTE

[12] KOSOVA'S SERBIAN NATIONAL COUNCIL CONDEMNS VIOLENCE

[13] SERBIAN MAYORS WANT CONCRETE HELP

[14] INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY SACKS 22 BOSNIAN OFFICIALS

[15] BOSNIAN SERB SENTENCED FOR WAR CRIMES

[16] MACEDONIAN ALBANIANS PROTEST COURT DECISION ON ELECTION

[17] ROMANIAN OPPOSITION PARTY WANTS AMNESTY FOR 1989

[18] ROMANIAN GOVERNMENT PROMOTES LAW ON CIVIL SERVICE

[19] MOLDOVAN COMMUNISTS WANT PREMIERSHIP

[20] BULGARIA, EU AGREE ON ACCESSION TALKS 'WITHOUT PRE-

[21] FORMER BULGARIAN DEPUTY PREMIER CHARGED WITH OIL SMUGGLING TO

[C] END NOTE

[22] IMMUNITY FOR DEPUTIES BECOMES ELECTION ISSUE IN RUSSIA

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ARMENIAN CENTRAL BANK WARNS OF INCREASE IN COUNTERFEITING

in Yerevan on 25 November that an "unprecedented" 250 percent

increase in forged banknotes has been registered since the

beginning of November, Noyan Tapan and RFE/RL's Yerevan

bureau reported. Tumanian was unable to specify whether the

forged notes are produced in Armenia or abroad, but he said

they are easy to detect. He added the state will not

compensate people who have sustained losses through the

receipt of forged banknotes. New 500-dram ($1) and 5,000 dram

banknotes that are less easy to forge are to be introduced

into circulation next year. LF

[02] GEORGIAN PRESIDENT LAYS CLAIM TO RUSSIAN MILITARY HARDWARE...

Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze said that talks with

Russia on the closure of two of the four Russian military

bases in Georgia should begin without delay, Reuters and AP

reported. Agreement on the closure was reached during the

OSCE Istanbul summit (see "RFE/RL Caucasus Report," Vol. 2,

No. 47, 25 November 1999). Shevardnadze said that the

armaments currently deployed at those facilities can be

regarded as Georgian property and should be left behind when

the Russian troops withdraw. He added that Georgia would

consider unspecified compromises to avoid a deterioration of

relations with Russia if the Russian military leadership

objects to the Georgian demand. LF

[03] ...RULES OUT JOINT PATROLS OF GEORGIAN-CHECHEN BORDER

border with Chechnya, nor to Russian border troops transiting

Georgian territory in order to monitor the Russian side of

that border, President Shevardnadze told journalists in

Tbilisi on 29 November. He said that the latter course of

action would inevitably draw Georgia into the Russian-Chechen

conflict. But Shevardnadze nonetheless said he would agree to

the stationing on the Georgian side of the border of Russian

military observers and that he would welcome the deployment

of Russian border guards on the Chechen side of the Georgian-

Russian frontier. The Russian government representative to

Chechnya, Nikolai Koshman, said two days earlier that Russian

border guards will seal the Chechen-Georgian border on the

Russian side in December. LF

[04] NO AMNESTY YET FOR IMPRISONED GEORGIAN WARLORD

told journalists in Tbilisi on 29 November that the

possibility of a pardon for convicted former Mkhedrioni

leader Djaba Ioseliani has not been raised, Caucasus Press

reported. Georgian media reported last week that Shevardnadze

planned to amnesty Ioseliani after the presidential elections

in April 2000 (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 24 November 1999). But

"Rezonansi" on 29 November quoted Elene Tevdoradze,

chairwoman of the parliamentary commission for human rights,

as saying that the committee on pardons approached

Shevardnadze to request that Ioseliani be pardoned on grounds

of his failing health. Ioseliani himself has said he will not

request clemency as he believes his 11-year sentence for

terrorism and planning to assassinate Shevardnadze in 1995

was based on fabricated evidence. LF

[05] GEORGIAN PARLIAMENT REJECTS OPPOSITION CANDIDATE FOR DEPUTY

The newly elected Georgian parliament on 25 November

elected four deputy speakers but rejected the fifth

candidacy, Caucasus Press reported. Vakhtang Kolbaya was re-

elected to represent Abkhazia, Rostom Djaparidze was elected

to represent Adjaria, and Eldar Shengelaia and Eduard

Surmanidze regained their positions as representatives of the

majority Union of Citizens of Georgia (SMK). But Vakhtang

Rcheulishvili, who was proposed by the opposition, was not

reconfirmed as the fifth deputy speaker. Adjar Supreme

Council speaker Aslan Abashidze, who heads the opposition

Union for Democratic Revival, told journalists in Batumi on

29 November that the party will insist on Rcheulishvili's

candidacy rather than propose an alternative, as suggested by

the SMK. LF

[06] KAZAKHSTAN SEEKS TO STEM INFLUX OF CHECHEN REFUGEES

Caspian ferry service between the Kazakh port of Aktau and

Baku is to be suspended temporarily to prevent Chechen

refugees from entering Kazakhstan, ITAR-TASS reported on 29

November, citing Kazakhstan's state-run Khabar TV. Regional

border service head Aleskandr Sarsembekov said that Chechens

who have acquired Azerbaijani passports are seeking to enter

Kazakhstan via that route. Two senior Kazakh officials said

last week that additional screening procedures would be

introduced to preclude the entry of "Chechen terrorists" into

Kazakhstan (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 24 November 1999). LF

[07] PROTEST DEMONSTRATIONS IN FORMER KAZAKH CAPITAL

hundred residents of the Shanyraq-2 district of Almaty took

to the streets on 29 November to demand that the city

authorities restore heating and electricity supplies to the

district, RFE/RL's Almaty correspondent reported. Those

supplies were discontinued in October. Local schools and

hospitals have been closed for even longer. The following

day, pensioners gathered outside the city mayor's office to

demand the prompt payment of their pensions. They also

protested the recent rise in utility rates imposed by the

Kazakh-Belgian energy company that controls electricity

supplies to all of Almaty Oblast. LF

[08] TAJIK ELECTION LAW TALKS SUSPENDED

representatives on the Commission for National Reconciliation

have halted their attempt to resolve the disagreement over

the number of deputies to be elected to each chamber of the

new parliament, Asia Plus-Blitz reported on 30 November (see

"RFE/RL Newsline," 22 and 29 November 1999). The talks will

resume after a meeting between the commission's chairman,

United Tajik Opposition leader Said Abdullo Nuri and his

deputies, and President Imomali Rakhmonov. LF

[09] UZBEK OFFICIALS WIPE OUT TERRORIST GROUP

Interior Ministry troops on 29 November surrounded a group of

14 militants who they claim were responsible for two shooting

incidents in the town of Yangiabad last month, Russian

agencies reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 17 November 1999).

All the militants were reportedly killed outright during the

ensuing shootout. Three Interior Ministry troops also died in

the fighting. The militants had trained in Chechnya and

participated in the hostage-taking in southern Kyrgyzstan in

August-September, Interfax quoted Uzbek Interior Ministry

officials as saying. LF

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[10] PRO-GOVERNMENT MEDIA SAY TUDJMAN'S DEATH NEAR

circulation "Vecernji list," which is close to the governing

Croatian Democratic Community (HDZ), reported on 30 November

that President Franjo Tudjman's "vital functions--heart,

lungs, kidney, and liver--are no longer responding to the

highly professional intensive treatment carried out by top-

level doctors." The newspaper added that Tudjman is in an

"exceptionally serious, perhaps critical condition, which

cannot last more than a few days." Observers note this is the

first time that a pro-government daily has offered such a

pessimistic assessment of the president's condition.

Independent dailies have been more outspoken and have

published opinion polls on the presidential succession. PM

[11] BISHOPS URGE CROATS TO VOTE

Conference said in a statement issued in Zagreb on 29

November that they hope the government's decision to hold

parliamentary elections on 3 January will not lead to a

"disturbance" of Christmas celebrations (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 29 November 1999). The bishops appealed to Roman

Catholics to vote for candidates who represent "Christian

values" and will work for the common good. The bishops called

for "secret, fair, and democratic" elections, RFE/RL's South

Slavic Service reported. Observers note that the Church is

not closely identified with any one political party. It has

opposed attempts by the HDZ to use it for political purposes

and is mistrustful of the many former Communists in the HDZ

and several other parties. PM

[12] KOSOVA'S SERBIAN NATIONAL COUNCIL CONDEMNS VIOLENCE

Gracanica monastery on 29 November and condemned recent

violence by ethnic Albanians against innocent Serbian

civilians. They urged better protection for Serbs. The

members of the Serbian National Council, which is headed by

Momcilo Trajkovic, said they will "try to improve the

security situation, together with the international

community, because Serbs are still being kidnapped and

killed" in the province. In Prizren, a spokesman for the

Serbian Orthodox Church told the private Beta news agency

that "Albanian extremists" there burned a 200-year-old

Serbian church to the ground. PM

[13] SERBIAN MAYORS WANT CONCRETE HELP

only got applause." This is how the Frankfurt-based Serbian

daily "Vijesti" on 30 November described the experience of

Mayor Velimir Ilic of Cacak and his colleague from Kraljevo,

Zvonko Obradovic, at a major international conference in

Paris on the Balkans. Ilic appealed to the international

community to help opposition-run Serbian municipalities

"solve practical problems." Obradovic stressed that Kraljevo

had serious difficulties even before the recent conflict,

"with 21,000 pensioners and 12,000 unemployed. And the

situation gets worse every day." He argued that his

government faces additional difficulties because of the

obstructionist policies of Yugoslav President Slobodan

Milosevic toward opposition-run municipalities. Obradovic

concluded that "we cannot solve our problems by ourselves."

PM

[14] INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY SACKS 22 BOSNIAN OFFICIALS

international community's Wolfgang Petritsch and the OSCE's

Robert Berry said in Sarajevo on 29 November that they have

fired 22 officials for obstructing implementation of the 1995

Dayton peace agreement. Those sacked include Serbs, Croats,

and Muslims. Petritsch said the decision to fire the

officials came only as a last resort. His spokeswoman added

that the hard-line views of several ousted officials deterred

outside investors from investing in the areas where those

officials held office. Berry said that the appropriate

government bodies must find replacements for the 22

officials. One of those sacked, namely Banja Luka Mayor

Djordje Umicevic, told a press conference that he does not

accept his ouster. PM

[15] BOSNIAN SERB SENTENCED FOR WAR CRIMES

Duesseldorf, Germany, has sentenced Maksim Sokolovic to nine

year in jail for his role in war crimes during the 1992-1995

Bosnian war. The court found him guilty of five counts of

assault and 56 counts of deprivation of liberty while he was

stationed at a detention camp in northern Bosnia in 1992.

Sokolovic belonged to a Serbian paramilitary formation during

the conflict. PM

[16] MACEDONIAN ALBANIANS PROTEST COURT DECISION ON ELECTION

minority said on 29 November that the Supreme Court was wrong

to call for the presidential election to be held again in

many districts in western Macedonia (see "RFE/RL Newsline,"

29 November 1999). Arben Xhaferi, whose Democratic Party of

Albanians belongs to the governing coalition, said that "the

Supreme Court decision scorns the Albanians because it

singles them out as the main culprits for the irregularity of

the elections," AP reported. Xhaferi appealed to Albanians to

cast their votes for Boris Trajkovski of the Internal

Macedonian Revolutionary Organization, which heads the

coalition. Trajkovski swept the ethnic Albanian regions in

the 14 November presidential vote. Social Democrat Tito

Petkovski alienated many ethnic Albanians by his statements

on Kosova, Albanian-language education, and other issues. PM

[17] ROMANIAN OPPOSITION PARTY WANTS AMNESTY FOR 1989

opposition Party of Social Democracy in Romania (PDSR) said

on 29 November that it will ask the government to urgently

introduce in the parliament a law granting amnesty to those

who broke laws and military regulations valid at the time of

the 1989 uprising against the communist regime, RFE/RL's

Bucharest bureau reported. The PDSR says it is "keenly

interested" in learning the truth about the 1989 events but

rejects the use of the investigation into those events for

"political and politicking purposes." On 24 November, the

chief military prosecutor, Dan Voinea, told journalists that

military prosecutors investigating those events have

concluded that no "so-called terrorists" were involved and

that the shooting of more than 1,000 people between 22 and 25

December was the result of a "diversion." MS

[18] ROMANIAN GOVERNMENT PROMOTES LAW ON CIVIL SERVICE

Radu Vasile on 29 November submitted to the parliament a law

on the civil service, which is one of the EU's membership

conditions. The law stipulates that civil servants cannot be

dismissed or promoted as a result of changes in the

leadership of institutions and that promotion is dependent

solely on competence. In order to facilitate quick passage,

the cabinet used a procedure whereby the law is considered to

have been passed if a no-confidence motion is not moved

within three days. The Party of Romanian National Unity has

said it will move such a motion, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau

reported. MS

[19] MOLDOVAN COMMUNISTS WANT PREMIERSHIP

of the Party of Moldovan Communists (PCM) has proposed to

President Petru Lucinschi that its leader, Vladimir Voronin,

be appointed to the post of prime minister, RFE/RL's Chisinau

bureau reported on 29 November. Andrei Neguta, PCM second

secretary, said support for Voronin's candidacy is still

three votes short of the required 51-vote majority, but he

added that negotiations are under way to secure the necessary

backing. Deputy Alexei Tulbure of the For a Democratic and

Prosperous Moldova Bloc told RFE/RL's Chisinau bureau the

same day that parliamentary chairman Dumitru Diacov has

proposed that Lucinschi re-appoint Ion Sturza as premier.

However, the president rejected that proposal, he added. MS

[20] BULGARIA, EU AGREE ON ACCESSION TALKS 'WITHOUT PRE-

Visiting European Commissioner in charge of

enlargement Guenter Verheugen and Foreign Minister Nadezhda

Mihailova signed in Sofia on 29 November a memorandum of

understanding removing earlier conditions that the EU had set

for beginning accession talks with Sofia, BTA reported.

Mihailova said that the sides agreed on a "mutually

acceptable timing for the closure of the first four reactors

at the Kozloduy nuclear power plant" and that Verheugen

"accepts Bulgaria's commitment to [develop] a market

economy." Reuters reported that Sofia agreed to close two

reactors in 2003, instead of in 2005-2006 as was earlier

envisaged, and that a final decision on the other two

reactors will be reached after more negotiations. The

agreement followed talks earlier that day between Verheugen

and Prime Minister Ivan Kostov. MS

[21] FORMER BULGARIAN DEPUTY PREMIER CHARGED WITH OIL SMUGGLING TO

Neitcho Neev, who from 1992-1993 was deputy premier

in the Socialist cabinet of Lyuben Berov, has been arrested

and charged with smuggling oil into Yugoslavia in violation

of the UN sanctions imposed during the Bosnian war, BTA

reported on 29 November. If convicted, he faces up to six

years in prison. A number of other former officials have also

been charged as a result of the same investigation. MS

[C] END NOTE

[22] IMMUNITY FOR DEPUTIES BECOMES ELECTION ISSUE IN RUSSIA

More and more candidates for the State Duma have found a

way not only to look good in the eyes of the electorate but

also to corroborate the widespread perception that the Duma

is a refuge for law breakers. With several dubious candidates

trying to get elected to the lower house, blocs across the

political spectrum say they want to change Russia's generous

immunity laws.

Under current legislation, anyone elected to the Duma is

immune from prosecution for any crime, even those allegedly

committed before the election. The law is intended to protect

government members from having to defend themselves against

spurious, politically motivated charges. Many Western

countries have similar laws to guard against political

pressure on lawmakers.

But critics say the lure of immunity from prosecution

has drawn many criminals into the Duma race.

The logic of the new, populist wave of criticism of

immunity is that if deputies were not protected, the Duma

would be less corrupt. Moscow Mayor Yurii Luzhkov says

immunity is a "moral shield for breaking the law." And former

Prime Minister Sergei Kirienko's Union of Right Forces is

campaigning for a referendum on the issue.

According to Russian law, parliamentary immunity can be

lifted by a Duma vote at the request of the Prosecutor-

General's Office when the latter wishes to indict a deputy

for a crime unrelated to political activity. The Duma has

lifted immunity only rarely, however, and a parliamentary

seat is still seen as effective protection from prosecution.

Nikolai Petrov, a political analyst with the Carnegie

Fund in Moscow, told RFE/RL that politicians are

oversimplifying the issue to appeal to voters.

"[It's] similar to the question of [reducing]

privileges," he commented. "It's a sure way to the heart of

many [voters]. [The politicians] are displaying pure

populism. It is clear that for them, it would not be

beneficial to explain to voters that immunity is very much

needed and very useful in today's Russia. But another bad

thing is that in each concrete case of even murder, the Duma

[hardly] handed one deputy over to law-enforcement agencies."

The Constitutional Court has ruled that parliamentary

immunity does not protect members from prosecution for

offenses unconnected with parliamentary activities. But

Petrov says the Duma has not applied the law on immunity

properly since it has failed to permit the prosecution even

of deputies against whom credible charges of non-political

crimes have been brought.

The first big scandal over immunity occurred in 1995,

when Sergei Mavrodi, who had masterminded a financial pyramid

scheme (MMM) that ruined thousands the year before, was

elected. Although his immunity was lifted by a majority vote,

the incident was the first of several to erode the house's

reputation.

Vladimir Zhirinovskii's Liberal Democratic Party of

Russia (LDPR) added several scandals to the list. A few years

ago, one of the party's members was about to be charged with

double murder when he was shot in an apparent contract

killing. Last year, an LDPR member in Saint Petersburg was

shot. Some Duma deputies, including several former LDPR

members, allege that Zhirinovsky sells spots on his party

list to criminals. The LDPR's reputation is such that some

suspect it of being a Kremlin plot to discredit the Duma.

In the current race, many candidates are widely

suspected to be seeking office only to avoid prison. Among

them is Saint Petersburg politician Yurii Shutov. Charged

with arranging the murders of several businessmen, he was

freed on bail earlier this month only to be re-arrested in

the courtroom minutes later.

Another candidate under a cloud is wealthy tycoon Boris

Berezovskii. Political observers say the only reason such an

influential man would want to represent the North Caucasian

republic of Karachaevo-Cherkessia is to avoid future

prosecution. Some of his business dealings are currently

under investigation. For his part, Berezovskii says he is so

rich that he is the only candidate who cannot be bought.

Yet while politicians speak publicly about lifting

deputies' immunity, some admit in private that the issue is

in fact about curbing abuse of that privilege. Reformist

Grigorii Yavlinskii's Yabloko party, which presents itself as

a "clean hands" advocate, has said the question of immunity

should be considered very carefully. Yabloko spokeswoman

Tatyana Morozova told RFE/RL that the high number of alleged

crooks running for the Duma shows that there is a problem. At

the same time, she says, any tinkering with the immunity laws

would open up the legislature to political pressure.

Boris Nadezhdin is a candidate for the Union of Right

Forces and is organizing the bloc's proposed referendum. He

says the idea is not to revoke immunity but to lift some of

the restrictions on criminal investigations against deputies.

Nikolai Shevshenko, a specialist in constitutional law,

says the law on immunity fills a need in an atmosphere of

political amorality. "It is clear that if immunity were even

slightly lessened, simple political warfare would turn into

political warfare through criminal prosecutions," he argued.

A leading figure in the Communist Party, Anatolii

Lukyanov, told RFE/RL that his understanding of immunity is

the same as that of the Russian Constitutional Court. He

noted that if the laws were properly applied, they would

protect deputies from political pressure without providing

cover for criminals.

The author is an RFE/RL correspondent based in Moscow.

30-11-99

Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
URL: http://www.rferl.org

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