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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 5, No. 181, 01-09-24
RFE/RL NEWSLINE
Vol. 5, No. 181, 24 September 2001
CONTENTS
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] WORLD CHRISTIAN LEADERS CONGREGATE FOR ARMENIAN ANNIVERSARY
[02] TWO AZERBAIJANI JOURNALISTS SENTENCED
[03] AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITION PARTY THREATENED WITH EVICTION FROM ITS
HEADQUARTERS
[04] GEORGIA PROTESTS RUSSIAN TV'S ALLEGATIONS...
[05] ...REJECTS CHIEF OF STAFF'S PREDICTION
[06] JAPANESE JOURNALIST MISSING AFTER LEAVING GEORGIA FOR CHECHNYA
[07] CASPIAN DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTERS POSTPONE WORK ON DRAFT AGREEMENT
[08] POPE VISITS KAZAKHSTAN
[09] KAZAKH SPECIAL BATTALION TO UNDERGO TRAINING IN TURKEY
[10] RUSSIAN SECURITY COUNCIL SECRETARY MEETS WITH TURKMEN, KYRGYZ
PRESIDENTS
[11] HAVE U.S. TROOPS ALREADY LANDED IN TAJIKISTAN, UZBEKISTAN?
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[12] GERMANY TO LEAD NEW NATO MISSION IN MACEDONIA?
[13] MACEDONIAN PARLIAMENTARY DISCUSSION DRAGS ON...
[14] ...AS UNCERTAINTIES LOOM
[15] UKRAINE CONFIRMS TANK SHIPMENT TO MACEDONIA
[16] SERBIAN VOTER REGISTRATION IN KOSOVA ENDS
[17] BOSNIAN MUSLIM EX-GENERAL TO TURN SELF IN TO HAGUE
[18] EXHUMATIONS CONTINUE AT BOSNIAN MASS GRAVES
[19] CROATIAN PARLIAMENT APPROVES SOCIAL CUTS
[20] MONTENEGRIN, SERBIAN WAR OF WORDS CONTINUES
[21] ROMANIAN PREMIER CRITICIZES 'INDOCTRINATION' IN HUNGARIAN-LANGUAGE
MEDIA
[22] ROMANIA, HUNGARY ENGAGE IN 'DIALOGUE OF DEAF'...
[23] ...AND BUCHAREST ACCUSES BUDAPEST OF FINANCING 'REVISIONIST CD'
[24] ROMANIAN EXTREMIST LEADER 'SUSPENDS' PARLIAMENTARY ACTIVITY...
[25] ...WHILE PRESIDENT SINGLES OUT OTHER 'TENDENTIOUS' ALLEGATIONS ON
TERRORISM
[26] RESITA WORKERS STOP LABOR SANCTIONS
[27] RUSSIA WANTS MOLDOVA TO BE 'MORE ACTIVE' IN CIS ANTITERRORISM CENTER
[28] FORMER MOLDOVAN PRESIDENT REMINISCES
[29] MOLDOVAN PARTIES POSTPONE MERGER
[30] LIBYA POSTPONES VERDICT IN TRIAL OF BULGARIANS
[C] END NOTE
[31] There is no End Note today.
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] WORLD CHRISTIAN LEADERS CONGREGATE FOR ARMENIAN ANNIVERSARY
Representatives of the world's Christian churches conducted a joint
ecumenical service at Echmiadzin on 22 September as part of the
celebrations marking the 1,700th anniversary of Armenia's adoption of
Christianity as its state religion, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. Among
those attending were Patriarch Aleksii II of Moscow and All Russia, the
Archbishop of Canterbury, and Romanian Orthodox Patriarch Teoctist. Aleksii
also met on 22 September with Armenian President Robert Kocharian and with
Armenian Catholicos Garegin II, who affirmed that "there is no closer
friendship than that between the Russian Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic
churches," according to ITAR-TASS. Aleksii also attended the consecration
of a new cathedral in Yerevan on 23 September. LF
[02] TWO AZERBAIJANI JOURNALISTS SENTENCED
A Baku district court on 21 September sentenced Elmar Huseinov, founder of
the now defunct newspaper "Bakinskii bulvard," to six months in a prison
camp on charges of insulting the honor and dignity of Baku Mayor Hajibala
Abutalibov, Turan reported. The paper's editor, Bella Zakirova, received a
six-month suspended sentence. The charges were based on an article by a
second journalist with the paper, Irada Huseynova, that accused Abutalibov
of corruption. Huseynova is currently in Warsaw attending an OSCE sponsored
conference and has reportedly asked the German embassy there for political
asylum. In a separate case, the same court had fined Huseinov, Zakirova,
and Huseynova 18 million manats ($17,090) each earlier this month for
insulting Abutalibov and ordered the paper's closure (see "RFE/RL Newsline,
" 5 September 2001). On 22 September, fellow editors met in Baku to found a
committee to defend Huseinov's rights. LF
[03] AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITION PARTY THREATENED WITH EVICTION FROM ITS
HEADQUARTERS
Police demanded on 22 September that the Civic Unity Party, which supports
ousted President Ayaz Mutalibov, vacate the offices it currently occupies
in Baku because the party is not formally registered with the Justice
Ministry, Turan reported. All efforts by party leaders over the past two
years to obtain such registration have failed. The Azerbaijan National
Independence Party was recently evicted from a building in the outskirts of
Baku that it had used for almost a decade (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 30 July
2001). LF
[04] GEORGIA PROTESTS RUSSIAN TV'S ALLEGATIONS...
Georgian Foreign Ministry spokesman Kakha Sikharulidze told journalists in
Tbilisi on 21 September that his ministry would send a protest note to
Moscow later that day expressing "outrage" over "unsubstantiated" and
"libelous" Russian TV broadcasts on 20 September that accused Georgia of
abetting Chechen terrorists, Caucasus Press and Interfax reported. He
denied that Georgia harbors any "terrorists." In his traditional Monday
radio broadcast, President Eduard Shevardnadze on 24 September said the
Russian allegations reflect double standards, Caucasus Press reported. He
specifically condemned the appearance in one of the Russian TV programs of
former Georgian National Security Minister Igor Giorgadze, for whom an
international arrest warrant has been issued in connection with his alleged
role in the August 1995 attempt on Shevardnadze's life. Shevardnadze on 24
September also accused Giorgadze of three other murders, including those of
his close associate Soliko Khabeishvili and opposition National Democratic
Party of Georgia Chairman Gia Chanturia in 1993. Shevardnadze nonetheless
conceded the possibility that some of the Chechens currently in Georgia may
have taken part in fighting against the Russians, but pointed out that it
is extremely difficult to establish which of them have done so. He affirmed
that Russia has "no legal right, nor any grounds" to launch an attack on
Georgian territory. LF
[05] ...REJECTS CHIEF OF STAFF'S PREDICTION
Russian army Chief of Staff General Anatolii Kvashnin's prediction that
Georgia will have to resign itself to the transformation of the Russian
military base in Gudauta, Abkhazia into a logistics and recreation center
for the Russian peacekeeping force deployed under the CIS aegis on the
border between Abkhazia and the rest of Georgia is not a foregone
conclusion, Sikharulidze told journalists in Tbilisi on 21 September,
Caucasus Press reported. Russian officials proposed that option late last
year and have since failed to comply with the 1 July deadline for
withdrawing from the Gudauta base (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 2 July 2001).
Sikharulidze said the decision on the future use of the Gudauta base does
not fall within Kvashnin's competence. LF
[06] JAPANESE JOURNALIST MISSING AFTER LEAVING GEORGIA FOR CHECHNYA
Both the Russian government and the Georgian Interior Ministry said on 21
September that they do not know the whereabouts of Japanese journalist
Kosuke Tsuneoka, who left Georgia in June intending to travel to Chechnya,
Russian media reported. He is said not to have applied for accreditation to
work as a journalist either in Georgia or the North Caucasus. On 22
September, Georgian border guards detained one Sudanese and one Jordanian
citizen trying to enter Georgia illegally from Azerbaijan, Caucasus Press
reported. And on 23 September police rounded up one Indian and five
Pakistani citizens illegally residing in Tbilisi, who may now face
deportation. LF
[07] CASPIAN DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTERS POSTPONE WORK ON DRAFT AGREEMENT
Deputy foreign ministers from the five Caspian littoral states ended a
three-day meeting in Astana on 21 September without initialing a draft
document on the legal status of the Caspian Sea, Interfax and RFE/RL's
Kazakh Service reported. That document was to have been signed by the
presidents of the five states at the Caspian summit most recently scheduled
for November or December 2001. But Kazakh First Deputy Foreign Minister
Nurtai Abyqaev told journalists that the deputy foreign ministers will
probably meet again in December in Moscow to resume work on the draft,
implying that it is unlikely that the summit will take place before then.
LF
[08] POPE VISITS KAZAKHSTAN
Pope John Paul II flew to Kazakhstan on 22 September and celebrated a mass
in Astana the following day on for some 50,000 pilgrims from Kazakhstan's
estimated 350,000 Roman Catholic community. Referring to the 11 September
terrorist attacks in the U.S., the pontiff warned on 23 September against a
"deepening of divisions" between Christians and Muslims, and called on
followers of all faiths to work together "to build a world without violence,
" AP reported. He also met the same day with President Nursultan Nazarbaev,
who again affirmed his country's rejection of international terrorism and
readiness to join a coalition of states to combat it, Reuters reported. LF
[09] KAZAKH SPECIAL BATTALION TO UNDERGO TRAINING IN TURKEY
During talks in Astana on 21 September, visiting Turkish Defense Minister
Sabahattin Cakmakoglu and Kazakh First Deputy Prime Minister Daniyal
Akhmetov agreed that a Kazakh special battalion will urgently undergo
additional training in Turkey, Interfax reported. The two men agreed on the
need to revise and expand earlier agreements on bilateral defense
cooperation. LF
[10] RUSSIAN SECURITY COUNCIL SECRETARY MEETS WITH TURKMEN, KYRGYZ
PRESIDENTS
Russian Security Council Secretary Vladimir Rushailo told journalists in
Ashgabat on 21 September following his talks with Turkmenistan's president,
Saparmurat Niyazov, that the two countries have drawn up a plan for
cooperation in fighting terrorism, Interfax reported. That plan includes
the exchange of information and unspecified prompt joint actions in
response to terrorist acts. Rushailo said Russia and Turkmenistan agree
that any U.S. retaliatory action must be carried out in accordance with
international law and, in Niyazov's opinion, with the sanction of the UN.
Rushailo then flew to Bishkek for talks with Kyrgyz President Askar Akaev
on the situation in Afghanistan and Central Asia, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau
reported. Rushailo was to have met the following day with Kyrgyz security
officials, but left the Kyrgyz capital without doing so. LF
[11] HAVE U.S. TROOPS ALREADY LANDED IN TAJIKISTAN, UZBEKISTAN?
Neither the U.S. Defense Department nor government officials in Dushanbe or
Tashkent have confirmed media reports that the first U.S. military aircraft
and ground forces landed on 21 and 22 September at Tashkent and Dushanbe.
"The Washington Post" reported on 23 September, quoting Interfax, that two
C-130 cargo planes with some 100 U.S. military personnel had landed in
Tashkent. The paper quoted unnamed Defense Department officials as saying
that while the U.S. deployment to Uzbekistan would be publicly acknowledged,
in Tajikistan it would not be. On 22 September, Tajikistan's president,
Imomali Rakhmonov, again affirmed his readiness to cooperate with the U.S.
and the international community in combating terrorism, but failed to
specify what forms that cooperation might take, AP reported. In an internet
interview carried by Asia Plus-Blitz on 24 September, Tajik air force
Commander Colonel Akbar Qayumov denied either that U.S. forces have already
landed at Kulob in southern Tajikistan, or that the possibility of their
doing so has been discussed between the U.S. and Tajik leaderships. LF
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[12] GERMANY TO LEAD NEW NATO MISSION IN MACEDONIA?
NATO's policymaking council of ambassadors was expected to approve on 24
September a new force up to 600-strong to protect unarmed OSCE monitors,
Reuters reported from Brussels (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 20 September 2001).
The previous day, the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung" reported
that cash-strapped Germany is willing to lead the mission, which will
consist primarily of German, French, and Italian forces. PM
[13] MACEDONIAN PARLIAMENTARY DISCUSSION DRAGS ON...
The parliament passed the first three of a package of 15 constitutional
amendments on 21 September with a bare majority of 62 out of 120 possible
votes, AFP reported. Speaker Stojan Andov abruptly adjourned the session
when the fourth amendment, which deals with the legal status of the
Orthodox Church, received only 60 votes. The "debate" over the amendments
has been described as a show or theatrical performance by some observers
(see "RFE/RL Newsline," 19 September 2001). As part of the overall
political settlement, the parliament must pass the entire package, which is
to be followed by a "period of public debate" and then by the formal
passage of all 15 amendments once again by the legislature (see "RFE/RL
Balkan Report," 17 and 21 August 2001). The entire process is overshadowed
by the campaign for the January 2002 elections. PM
[14] ...AS UNCERTAINTIES LOOM
Despite the delaying tactics by Macedonian nationalist deputies in the
legislature, the ethnic Albanian guerrillas of the National Liberation Army
(UCK) are continuing their pledge to disarm on schedule, Reuters reported
from Skopje on 23 September (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 19 September 2001). In
addition to the amendments, however, parliament has yet to pass a planned
amnesty for all UCK fighters except those who committed war crimes. Failure
to pass the amnesty could thwart the entire process. A further uncertainty
is the nature and outcome of the scheduled "public debate" among ethnic
Macedonians, many of whom feel that the amendments threaten their country's
and people's identity. Nor has much of the commentary in the press been
conducive to confidence building and reconciliation. Meanwhile in the night
of 22-23 September, one of the capital's frequent and mysterious explosions
marred a peace concert featuring musicians from Albania, Serbia, and
Macedonia, AFP reported. PM
[15] UKRAINE CONFIRMS TANK SHIPMENT TO MACEDONIA
Interfax reported from Kyiv on 21 September that Foreign Minister Anatoliy
Zlenko told reporters that Ukraine has delivered 31 T-72 tanks to
Macedonia. He said: "We, as a party to a treaty with Macedonia, have made
certain commitments and, as a predictable and reliable partner, must meet
them and are meeting them." He stressed that shipping tanks to the cash-
strapped Balkan country does "not run against anybody's interests" (see
"RFE/RL Newsline," 4 September 2001). Zlenko added that his government had
"held the necessary consultations with NATO and the American side about
these shipments." U.S. officials have previously urged Ukraine not to sell
weapons to Skopje, which tries to fight its domestic insurgency primarily
by shelling villages with tanks and artillery. PM
[16] SERBIAN VOTER REGISTRATION IN KOSOVA ENDS
Registration of voters for the 17 November election in Kosova ended across
Serbia on 22 September, with a total of 150,000 persons, mostly ethnic
Serbs, having signed up, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported (see
"RFE/RL Newsline," 14 and 20 September 2001). It is not clear which Serbian
leaders in Belgrade will encourage Serbs to vote. A spokeswoman for the
OSCE, which is supervising the elections, said in Prishtina on 22 September
that four Serbian parties agreed to form an electoral coalition but did not
specify which ones, AP reported. PM
[17] BOSNIAN MUSLIM EX-GENERAL TO TURN SELF IN TO HAGUE
Sefer Halilovic, a Muslim military commander in the 1992-1995 war, will
soon surrender voluntarily to The Hague-based war crimes tribunal, Justice
Minister Zvonko Mijan said in Sarajevo on 24 September, AP reported. Mijan
added that the matter is linked to Halilovic's responsibility as a
commander for the actions of his subordinates. Halilovic is believed to be
on a secret list of indicted Croatian and Muslim commanders who committed
atrocities against each other's people. Halilovic, who was the first
commander of the Bosnian army in 1992, was minister for refugees in the
current Bosnian non-nationalist government until he was voted out of that
post during a government meeting on 24 September. PM
[18] EXHUMATIONS CONTINUE AT BOSNIAN MASS GRAVES
The State Commission for Missing Persons said in a statement in Sarajevo on
22 September that more than 200 bodies were exhumed from several sites
during the previous 10-day period, dpa reported. The largest group was 162
Muslim civilians from Srebrenica, whose remains were found in a mass grave
near Zvornik, which experts believe may contain up to 200 victims. Some 75
bodies were exhumed from the former Ljubija mining pit in western Bosnia.
These are believed to be the remains of victims killed at Serbian
concentration camps in the area. PM
[19] CROATIAN PARLIAMENT APPROVES SOCIAL CUTS
The legislature voted on 21 September to approve the state budget and a
package of measures aimed at cutting back expenditures on social programs
(see "RFE/RL Newsline," 20 September 2001). The social legislation will
take effect in October. PM
[20] MONTENEGRIN, SERBIAN WAR OF WORDS CONTINUES
Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica said in Belgrade on 21 September that
any independence referendum in Montenegro will have to be approved by at
least 60 percent of the citizens of that republic to be valid, RFE/RL's
South Slavic Service reported. He stressed that such an important issue as
the future of a state cannot be left to "a handful of votes." Meanwhile in
Podgorica, the governing Democratic Party of Socialists said that Kostunica
is trying to manipulate political life in Serbia through intrigues, moral
self-righteousness, anti-Western campaigns, and cooperation with
"clericalist and nationalist" forces. PM
[21] ROMANIAN PREMIER CRITICIZES 'INDOCTRINATION' IN HUNGARIAN-LANGUAGE
MEDIA
Adrian Nastase on 21 September said he is "dissatisfied" with the
"distorted reports" in the Hungarian-language media in Transylvania on his
visit last week to schools in Harghita and Covasna counties, RFE/RL's
Bucharest bureau reported. Nastase said the media in the language of that
minority indulges in "indoctrination," and that "the time has come" for the
cabinet to address the population there "without mitigation" and to "break
the cartel" of that media. Nastase also said that schools teaching in
languages of the national minorities must use only textbooks produced in
Romania and that this is "particularly important for history and geography"
in order to avoid inculcating "other visions" to students. He said
principals of schools that use textbooks produced abroad will be dismissed.
The leadership of the Hungarian Democratic Federation of Romania said that
it is "worried" by the premier's "insulting" statements. MS
[22] ROMANIA, HUNGARY ENGAGE IN 'DIALOGUE OF DEAF'...
The Romanian Foreign Ministry on 21 September said it was "surprised" by
the summoning of Romanian Ambassador to Budapest Petru Cordos one day
earlier, and by the statement of Hungarian Foreign Ministry spokesman Gabor
Horvath, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. Horvath said Romanian
President Ion Iliescu's statement that Hungary has become "somewhat
arrogant" following its NATO membership (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 19
September 2001) is in contradiction with Hungary's support of Romania's
quest to gain NATO membership. Horvath also said Hungary expects a
"clarification" from Romania, and added that such a clarification should
come via diplomatic channels and "not through statements to the media." The
Romanian Foreign Ministry replied that Budapest relies on media reports and
"deliberately ignores President Iliescu's actual message." Presidential
spokeswoman Corina Cretu said on 21 September that Iliescu had only
reiterated his position that "it would have been more productive" for
regional stability if NATO had accepted both Hungary and Romania among its
members in 1997. MS
[23] ...AND BUCHAREST ACCUSES BUDAPEST OF FINANCING 'REVISIONIST CD'
Public Information Minister Vasile Dancu on 23 September said a Hungarian
parliamentary commission financed the production of a CD with "revisionist
music," Mediafax reported on 23 September. The CD was produced by the Young
Hungarians Association and financed by the Hungarian parliament's
Commission on Nongovernmental Organizations, Dancu said. The move was
criticized by the opposition Socialist Party, but commission members said
that financial assistance went to the association and not for the
production of the disc. Elod Attila Novak, chairman of the association,
said the CD is aimed at "breaking the wall of silence" around the 1921
Trianon Treaty. Mediafax cited commission head Laszlo Bognar of the
extremist Justice and Life Party as saying his party welcomes the
production of the CD and intends to back similar actions in the future.
Dancu said the Hungarian authorities "must act more resolutely to stop
irredentist postures and the reawakening of collective memories
contradicting European and international standards." MS
[24] ROMANIAN EXTREMIST LEADER 'SUSPENDS' PARLIAMENTARY ACTIVITY...
Greater Romania Party (PRM) leader Corneliu Vadim Tudor on 21 September
announced he is "suspending" for 30 days his parliamentary activity,
RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. Tudor said he will not attend Senate
sessions and will forego his parliamentary wages in protest against
disciplinary sanctions imposed on radio journalist Paul Grigoriu for having
allowed Tudor to make allegations on the air about Romania's alleged
training of Hamas members (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 19 September 2001). The
same day, presidential spokeswoman Cretu said the president's office is
considering a lawsuit against Tudor for making the allegations. MS
[25] ...WHILE PRESIDENT SINGLES OUT OTHER 'TENDENTIOUS' ALLEGATIONS ON
TERRORISM
Cretu also said other reports in the media on alleged terrorist activities
in Romania are "just as tendentious" as those published in the PRM weekly
"Romania mare." She singled out an article in the daily "Romania libera" on
20 September, in which Marius Oprea wrote that Romania provides a "fiscal
paradise" for terrorist organizations. Oprea was a presidential adviser in
former President Emil Constantinescu's administration and Cretu said he had
"illegally used classified information" to which he had access in the past.
She said the Prosecutor-General's Office should consider opening an
investigation against Oprea. MS
[26] RESITA WORKERS STOP LABOR SANCTIONS
The Resita trade union of the local CSR steel-producer on 21 September
voted to accept the package offered by the government and end
demonstrations and hunger strikes, Romanian radio reported (see "RFE/RL
Newsline, 21 September 2001). The union said it will not oppose the laying
off of workers if the government provides an 18 billion lei ($600,000)
emergency loan, but that sanctions will be resumed if the loan fails to
materialize. MS
[27] RUSSIA WANTS MOLDOVA TO BE 'MORE ACTIVE' IN CIS ANTITERRORISM CENTER
A Russian embassy official in Chisinau on 21 September told journalists
that Moldova's membership of the CIS Antiterrorism center is "passive" and
"purely formal." Yurii Shestak said Moldova does not participate in the CIS
Collective Security Treaty either and this had prompted Russian President
Vladimir Putin to refrain from having telephone conversations with
President Vladimir Voronin following the 11 September terrorist attacks in
New York and Washington. MS
[28] FORMER MOLDOVAN PRESIDENT REMINISCES
Former President Mircea Snegur on 21 September said conditions in August
1991, when Moldova proclaimed its independence, were not ripe for
reunification with Romania. In an interview with the Internet journal
"Moldova Azi," Snegur said the Moldovan population was not "ready" at that
time for the reunification and the step might have "triggered serious
consequences for the still-fragile Moldovan democracy." Snegur also said
that separatist leader Igor Smirnov was detained in 1991 in Kyiv by
"collaborators of the Moldovan Interior Ministry." The "pretext" was the
participation of a group from Tiraspol in the putsch attempt against Soviet
President Mikhail Gorbachev. Snegur said Smirnov was later freed because
Russian women and children in Transdniester had protested by blocking rail
links between Tiraspol and Varnita. Moldova, Snegur said, "was about to
have its energy resources cut" just ahead of the winter. As a result, it
was decided that "Smirnov is not worth as much as a whole country" and he
was set free. MS
[29] MOLDOVAN PARTIES POSTPONE MERGER
National Peasant Party Christian Democratic (PNTCD) leader Valeriu
Muravschi on 21 September told Flux that the merger of the PNTCD with other
extraparliamentary formations has been postponed from 23 September to 7
October. The merger was to encompass the six parties that set up in May the
Democratic Forum, namely the PNTCD, the Party of Democratic Forces, the
Civic Dignity Party, the New Moldovan National Party, the National Liberal
Party (PNL), and the Party of Order and Social Justice (PODS). The PNL and
the PODS have since decided to merge separately, and Muravschi said he
hopes that formation will form an alliance with the envisaged unified
party. Also on 21 September, the Democratic Party and the Party of
Progressive Forces announced they will form an electoral bloc for the next
local elections and that they envisage an eventual merger. MS
[30] LIBYA POSTPONES VERDICT IN TRIAL OF BULGARIANS
A Libyan court on 22 September postponed passing verdicts on the six
Bulgarians accused of having willfully infected children with the HIV virus,
AP and Reuters reported. Bulgarian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Elena
Poptodorova said the postponement "gives us reason to be optimistic, as it
would give the court more time to consider the evidence presented by the
defense." She said the verdict is now expected on 22 December.
Parliamentary Chairman Ognyan Gerdzhikov said that the postponement "and
the presence of Western diplomats" at the court's session "could mean a new
chance for our compatriots." MS
[C] END NOTE
[31] There is no End Note today.
24-09-01
Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
URL: http://www.rferl.org
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