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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 4, No. 244, 00-12-19Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 4, No. 244, 19 December 2000CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] MODEST SHOW OF SUPPORT FOR ARRESTED ARMENIAN BUSINESSMANNo more than a few dozen people attended a 16 December rally in Yerevan to demand the release of arrested businessman Arkadii Vartanian, Noyan Tapan reported. Vartanian was detained on 30 October after leading a spontaneous march by several thousand people to the presidential palace to demand the resignation of President Robert Kocharian (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 31 October 2000). Since then, the Armenian authorities have refused permission to stage mass demonstrations in Yerevan. Meanwhile the number of parliamentary deputies who have signed a petition similarly calling for Vartanian's release from custody has risen to eight, Armenpress reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 11 December 2000). LF[02] OSCE, PACE OFFICIALS DISCUSS ELECTION AFTERMATH IN AZERBAIJANA joint delegation from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights held talks in Baku on 16-17 December with the Azerbaijani leadership and opposition party leaders, Turan and "Zerkalo" reported. PACE representative Andreas Gross lauded Azerbaijani leaders' pledge to ensure that the repeat parliamentary elections in 11 constituencies will be free of the violations that marred the 5 November ballot. The Central Electoral Commission has postponed the second round of voting from 4 to 7 January and extended until 22 December the deadline for opposition candidates to register to contest that ballot. But despite pressure from the PACE/OSCE representatives, opposition leaders declined to commit themselves either to contesting the repeat poll or to participating in the work of the new legislature, which they regard as lacking legitimacy. Following another round of talks on 18 December, however, Ali Kerimov, who leads the reformist wing of the Azerbaijan Popular Front Party, said some candidates from his party will contest those 11 mandates, Turan reported. LF[03] RUSSIA SAYS GEORGIA'S EFFORTS TO CONTAIN CHECHEN MILITANTS INADEQUATERussian agencies on 18 December quoted unnamed Russian military sources as rejecting as inadequate the enhanced security precautions introduced in eastern Georgia to curb criminal activities by Chechens in Georgia's Pankisi gorge (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 6 December 2000). The Russian sources said the new measures fail to strengthen controls on the Georgian-Russian border or on minor roads leading to the gorge. Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze told journalists in Tbilisi the same day that Georgia is "actively cooperating" with Russia to contain the Chechen threat and will not under any circumstances agree that Russian troops be given access to Georgian territory to mount a "mopping-up" operation against Chechen militants currently ensconced in the Pankisi gorge. LF[04] GEORGIA ENVISAGES JOINING NATO BY 2004Summarizing a recent conference in Tbilisi on security in the South Caucasus jointly organized by NATO and the Georgian Foreign Ministry, Shevardnadze told journalists on 18 December he believes Georgia could be admitted to NATO within three or four years, ITAR-TASS reported. He admitted that at present the Georgian armed forces do not meet the alliance's standards and requirements. Also on 18 December, Iranian state radio criticized the Tbilisi conference as another step by NATO to expand its influence in the South Caucasus. LF[05] BELGIUM TO REPATRIATE ASYLUM SEEKERS FROM KAZAKHSTANThe first group of some 100 citizens of Kazakhstan who have been refused asylum in Belgium will be repatriated in January, ITAR-TASS quoted Kazakh International Bureau for Human Rights and Legal Relations Director Yevgenii Zhovtis as telling journalists in Almaty on 18 December. Some 2,500 Kazakhs responded to a travel agency advertisement promising to secure residency status in Belgium (see "RFE/RL Kazakh Report," 1 December 2000). LF[06] KYRGYZ PROTEST LAW ON PRIVATE OWNERSHIP OF LANDSeveral dozen people staged a protest picket in the Kara-Suu district of Osh Oblast, in southern Kyrgyzstan on 18 December, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported. The demonstrators were protesting President Askar Akaev's demand that the parliament lift the moratorium on the sale and purchase of agricultural land. They pointed out that during experimental sales of land plots in Osh earlier this year, 90 percent of that land was bought by ethnic Uzbeks. Uzbeks account for approximately 25 percent of the oblast's population. LF[07] KYRGYZ NGO AGAIN CALLS FOR PENSION INCREASEThe Public Association for the Social Protection of the Population has formally appealed to the upper chamber of the parliament to amend next year's budget in order to increase pensions, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported on 18 December. The association had appealed to lawmakers earlier this month not to adopt the budget in its current form, as it did not provide funds for index-linking pensions as Akaev had promised (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 6 December 2000). The present minimum pension is 120 soms ($2.50). The association has calculated that a pension increase would cost some 700 millions soms. LF[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[08] YUGOSLAV PRESIDENT WANTS TO REVISE KOSOVA AGREEMENTS...Vojislav Kostunica wants to renegotiate the agreements that ended the 1999 Kosova conflict between Serbia and NATO to reduce the size of the demilitarized zone along Serbia's border with Kosova in the Presevo region. Kostunica wants to cut the length of the zone from five to "one or two" kilometers, "The New York Times" reported on 19 December. Kostunica stressed that "we face problems before our domestic public and even before history whether the Albanian terrorists will remain in the..safety zone or not. We cannot let them stay." An unnamed "senior Western official" told the daily that redefining the zone would take time and require "confidence- building measures" aimed at the local ethnic Albanian population. Such measures would include an unspecified aid program and recruitment of Albanians into the local police force. PM[09] ...CHARGES U.S. ROLE IN AIDING GUERRILLASKostunica told the Paris daily "Le Figaro" of 19 December that unspecified "powerful lobbies" in the U.S. are providing "secret aid" to the "Albanian terrorists" in the Presevo valley. He added that "in America, you have non- governmental organizations that have a great deal of influence and also very powerful lobbies working for the independence of Kosovo and against the territorial integrity of Yugoslavia." He did not elaborate. Kostunica warned against granting independence to Kosova, saying that "any change of international borders would eventually lead to others." This was the argument used by the regime of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. Independence is the only political solution acceptable to Kosova's 90 percent Albanian majority (see "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 15 December 2000). In Bujanovac, the Belgrade daily "Politika" quoted unspecified Yugoslav military sources as saying that Western mercenaries are fighting alongside the Albanian guerrillas. PM[10] U.S. ENVOYS HOPEFUL FOR END TO SERBIAN CONFLICTJames Pardew, who is U.S. special envoy for the Balkans, and U.S. Ambassador to Yugoslavia William Montgomery told state-run Serbian Television that they are optimistic about obtaining a peaceful resolution to the conflict. They made the remarks after meeting with Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Nebojsa Covic in Bujanovac on 18 December, Reuters reported. Covic said that Serbia cannot accept any frontier changes or what he called "extremism." He added that KFOR has recently taken measures to prevent the infiltration of guerrillas and supplies from Kosova into the Presevo region. PM[11] SERBIAN LEADER WARNS OF 'NEW BALKAN WAR'Zoran Djindjic, who is a leader of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia and its choice to become the next Serbian prime minister, said in Belgrade on 18 December that "the situation in southern Serbia has the potential to become a new Balkan war." He added, however, that "any attempt [by Serbian forces] to restrain terrorism in the buffer zone carries a big risk of civilian casualties, columns of refugees, and a bad image for Serbia. [Such a conflict would be] the biggest challenge so far" for the new authorities in Belgrade, AP reported. Opposition leader Vladan Batic said that if the UN Security Council does not draft an acceptable "action plan" at its 19 December session, Belgrade will "take things into its own hands and clean out the terrorists from every inch of its territory." PM[12] KOSOVA SERB LEADER SLAMS KFOROliver Ivanovic, who is a leader of the Serbian community in Mitrovica, said on 19 December that Belgian troops killed a Serbian civilian in a recent incident in Leposaviq by shooting him in the back, AFP reported. (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 18 December 2000). KFOR is investigating the incident. PM[13] UN BEGINS TO ISSUE KOSOVA CIVILIAN DOCUMENTSThe UN's civilian administration in Kosova began to issue identification cards on 19 December to the more than 34,000 ethnic Albanians who lack proper documentation in the wake of the 1999 conflict, Reuters reported from Prishtina. PM[14] MONTENEGRIN PRESIDENT: INDEPENDENT STATE WILL BE VIABLEMilo Djukanovic said in Podgorica that he is confident that an independent Montenegro will have sufficient resources to ensure its prosperity, "Vijesti" reported on 19 December. He added that the government will organize a referendum on independence to coincide with early parliamentary elections, but he did not specify a date. Djukanovic stressed that the federal authorities under Kostunica are no better disposed toward Montenegro than were their counterparts under Milosevic. For his part, Kostunica told "Le Figaro" that the strife between Belgrade and Podgorica is of Montenegro's own making. He added that the dispute is the biggest unpleasant surprise he has faced as president. PM[15] CROATIAN PRIME MINISTER INVITES DEL PONTE TO DISCUSS QUESTIONING OF GENERALIvica Racan said in Zagreb on 18 December that he has several unspecified objections to a summons that the Hague-based war crimes tribunal recently sent to General Petar Stipetic, who heads the General Staff. Racan added that he has invited Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte to come to Croatia to discuss his objections, "Jutarnji list" reported. An unnamed government source told Reuters that the authorities want the tribunal to make it clear whether they wish to speak to Stipetic as a witness or as a defendant. PM[16] MAN KILLED IN HUMAN SMUGGLING INCIDENT IN SLOVENIAA Slovenian policeman accidentally shot and killed a man who was attempting to bring an unspecified number of Iranian illegal immigrants from Croatia into eastern Slovenia in a car, dpa reported from Ljubljana on 19 December.PM [17] CLOUDS OVER GERMAN-MACEDONIAN RELATIONSThe German Defense Ministry and the parliament are investigating allegations that some of the German troops stationed in Macedonia have had sex with under-age prostitutes, dpa reported from Berlin on 19 December. "If the accusations turn out to be true, there will be immediate disciplinary measures," Defense Minister Rudolf Scharping said. The investigation began after the recent showing of a documentary film by Germany's public ARD television. Germany maintains a military base at Tetovo as a backup facility for its 22,000 troops in Kosova. Elsewhere, an official of the Environment Ministry told Reuters in Skopje on 18 December that a ministry inspector recently caught German Ambassador Werner Burkart cutting branches from a fir tree in Pelister National Park. The tree belongs to the protected Molika species. It is not clear what charges will be brought against the ambassador, who enjoys diplomatic immunity from prosecution. PM[18] OUTGOING ROMANIAN PREMIER CLASHES WITH SUCCESSORMugur Isarescu on 18 December asked the Prosecutor General's Office to investigate how confidential government documents have come to be in the possession of his likely successor, Adrian Nastase of the Party of Social Democracy in Romania (PDSR). Isarescu also ordered Radu Stroe, the government's secretary general, to launch an investigation into Nastase's claims that official documents are being burned by the outgoing government's staff. Nastase said one day earlier that documents originating from branches of the State Property Fund (FPS) attest to the fraudulent involvement of the central FPS in privatization deals; the PDSR, he claimed, has those documents. Responding to Isarescu's earlier criticism of the PDSR's intention to "politicize" the National Bank, of which he is chairman- on-leave, the PDSR said Isarescu can "hardly be considered politically independent" after agreeing to run for president with the backing of the National Peasant Party Christian Democratic. MS[19] FORMER ROMANIAN PREMIER IS SENATE CHAIRMANFormer Premier Nicolae Vacaroiu has been elected chairman of the Senate, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported on 18 December. One of his deputies is history professor Gheorghe Buzatu of the Greater Romania Party (PRM), who is a prominent Holocaust minimizer and a member of the Marshal Antonescu League. PRM Senator Mihai Ungheanu is Senate Secretary. In 1993, when he was deputy culture minister in the Vacaroiu cabinet, Ungheanu attended the unveiling of the first bust of the marshal in Slobozia. MS[20] CRACKS APPEAR IN GREATER ROMANIA PARTYBucharest Deputy Mayor Ioan Radu announced on 17 December that he is resigning from the PRM, Mediafax reported. Radu said party chairman Corneliu Vadim Tudor had pressed him during the election campaign to produce "so-called evidence" on corruption among Bucharest borough mayors and deputy mayors representing the PDSR. When he refused to do so, Radu said, Tudor accused him of being involved in corruption as well. "I am not ready to be involved in 'Vadim's wars,'" Radu said, adding that "I am neither the PRM's spy [on the city council] nor Vadim's puppet." MS[21] MOLDOVAN CONSTITUTIONAL COURT RULES ON PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONSThe Moldovan Constitutional Court on 18 December ruled that in order for a vote on the presidential elections to be valid, at least 61 deputies must participate in the ballot, Infotag reported. The court was asked by Party of Democratic Forces (PDF) leader Valeriu Matei, whose formation has said it will boycott the next round of elections, to rule on the matter. The PDF has nine deputies in the 101-seat legislature, but eight Popular Party Christian Democratic deputies and two deputies representing the Christian Democratic Women's League have also said they will not participate in the next round of elections. Asked by Matei to rule how the parliament should act in the event that fewer than 61 deputies participate in the next round, the court declined to rule, saying this is a matter for the parliament itself to decide. MS[22] GREEK COMPANY WINS BULGARIAN PHONE TENDERGreece's state telecommunications company, OTE, has won a tender to operate the Global System for Mobile (GSM) telecommunications company in Bulgaria, AP reported. OTE will pay $135 million for the right to operate GSM. MS[C] END NOTE[23] RUSSIA, EASTERN EUROPE LACK EFFECTIVE CYBER CRIME LAWSBy Nikola KrastevIn a new survey, entitled "Cyber Crime and Punishment," the Washington- based consulting firm McConnell International says self-protection, while essential, is not sufficient to make the Internet a secure place to conduct business. Among other things, the survey found that countries with inadequate laws will become increasingly unable to compete in the Internet-based economy. The report analyzes the state of computer law in 52 countries, including Albania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Iran, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, and Yugoslavia. Some big Internet markets are not included in the survey. But Bruce McConnell, the report's principal author and company president, told RFE/RL that the conclusions are nevertheless accurate: "The countries are somewhat self-selected. We sent the survey out to our contacts in 120 countries and these are the ones who responded. So the Russians and the Germans and several other important countries did not respond to this particular survey. So it's not a comprehensive survey by any means, it's more of an anecdotal impression on what's going on. But it is a broad range of countries, so we think it presents an accurate impression." According to the report, there is only one country, the Philippines, with fully updated laws on the 10 most-common computer crimes, and eight others-- including Estonia--that qualify as "substantially" updated on cyber legislation. The Philippines case is due to special circumstances: the country's parliament this year swiftly approved a number of cyber crimes laws after the creator of the highly damaging "Love Bug" computer virus, a Philippines student, could not be prosecuted under Manila's existing laws. "The reason for this is that existing laws may not cover the crimes that are committed in cyber space, either crimes committed by computers or crimes against computers," McConnell said. "So, as the Philippines found out, even though they have laws against destruction of property and breaking and entering and all the normal crimes, [the laws] did not cover the particular activities [of] the 'Love Bug' virus perpetrator. And so, we're just warning that may be the case in other countries as well." Only the Czech Republic and Poland among former Soviet bloc countries belong to the group of states with "partly" updated computer legislation. Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Moldova, Romania, and Yugoslavia (as well as Iran) are described as having no updated legislation in the area. Although Russia and Ukraine were not surveyed by McConnell International, they would belong in the last category. Yevgenii Danilov, the marketing manager of Microsoft Corp. in Moscow, told RFE/RL that in Russia there is often no differentiation between copyright violations--notably software piracy--and computer crimes. "It is a common perception today [in Russia] that software piracy and cyber crimes are all the same," he said. "In reality, they are totally different [types of] crimes and the problem in Russia is that Internet regulation is so far from being perfect that it's hard to talk about the normal enforcement of law. [Computer crimes] laws are either ineffective or non-existent." Even among countries considered to have "substantially" or "partially" updated legislation, the report says crimes are not defined in the same way. In some countries, unauthorized access to a computer is a crime only if there is harmful intent. In others, data theft is a crime only if the data relates specifically to an individual's religion or health, or if the intent is to defraud. Many laws are described as biased in favor of the government. The report says the penalties provided in updated criminal statutes also vary widely. Mauritius, the Philippines, and the U.S. are cited as countries with strong penalties for convictions of computer crime cases. Iran, Kazakhstan, and Latvia are listed in the report among the countries with no updated laws, but in all three, there are indications that progress is being made. For the past six years, the survey says, Iran has examined various aspects of computer law, although no law or regulation in regard to abuses has been implemented. The report says Kazakhstan is now developing a law dealing with computer offenses. Also under study is a special state program on the protection of information resources, including technical and software protection. And in Latvia, amendments to the country's criminal code have been drafted envisioning substantial punishment for computer-related criminal acts. One of the critical issues for the effective enforcement of existing or upcoming computer legislation in all countries is the readiness of law- enforcement officials to cooperate internationally. The very nature of computer crime makes it global, meaning that the point of origin is often irrelevant. The author works for RFE/RL's Bulgarian Service. 19-12-00 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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