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RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 8, No. 29, Part I, 13 February 2004

KYRGYZ PARLIAMENT ADOPTS LANGUAGE LAW

The Legislative Assembly on 12 February adopted a controversial law on
use of the state language (Kyrgyz) that was originally proposed by State
Secretary Osmonakun Ibraimov, kabar.kg, Interfax and RIA-Novosti
reported. The law requires that all state employees be competent enough
in the Kyrgyz language to be able to use it to conduct daily business.
It also gives Kyrgyz the status of a language of interethnic
communication, a status previously reserved only for Russian.
Parliamentarian Kabai Karabekov promptly announced that the law is
unconstitutional and violates citizens' human rights, and has a clearly
discriminatory character in that it divides the citizens into those who
may rule and those who may not. BB


RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 8, No. 29, Part II, 13 February 2004

CZECH MOSQUE PROJECT STIRS PUBLIC DEBATE
 
Mayor Vladimir Farna said on 11 February that the town hall in the
northern Moravian town of Orlova has received letters from all over the
country opposing a privately funded proposal to build a mosque in the
locality, according to CTK. Farna claimed that most of the letters cite
a fear of terrorism or a threat to the Czech Republic's Christian
character as grounds for opposing the project. The local assembly voted
earlier this month to commission an opinion poll to gauge public support
for the project. On 8 February, the dailies "Mlada fronta Dnes" and
"Pravo" reported that the project was initiated by Muhamed Gutiqi, a
Kosovar Albanian who has lived in the Czech Republic for 13 years. The
200 million-crown ($7.6 million) project would reportedly be financed by
the Islamic Union, and would include a library, a short-term hostel, and
other facilities. Gutiqi said the mosque would serve Muslims visiting
the nearby spas in Karvina and Klimkovice. A spokesman for the Islamic
Foundation, a Czech-registered nongovernmental organization that
financed the construction of a mosque in Brno, is quoted as saying that
he has never heard of the Islamic Union and that the Muslim community in
Orlova is too small to need such a large facility. MS


RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 8, No. 30, Part I, 17 February 2004 

CHECHEN, INGUSH OFFICIALS DENY DISPLACED PERSONS WILL BE FORCIBLY
REPATRIATED. Ingushetia's President Murat Zyazikov denied on 13 February
that camps in Ingushetia for displaced persons who fled Chechnya during
the ongoing hostilities will be shut down and the residents forcibly
repatriated, Interfax reported. He said no deadline for the return of
displaced persons to Chechnya exists, and that any who wish to remain in
Ingushetia may do so. Acting Chechen Prime Minister Eli Isaev similarly
told Interfax that "there are no plans or dates for a forced
repatriation and closure of the camps." He said the 1 March deadline
announced last month "was set for officials," but that the Chechen
authorities should create conditions by that date to enable those
displaced persons who wish to return to Chechnya to do so. In January,
Isaev argued that conditions in the displaced persons' camps were
appalling, while superior accommodation was already available for
displaced persons in Grozny with mains water, electricity, and gas, and
school facilities. On 13 February, Lyudmila Alekseeva of the Moscow
Helsinki Group told Interfax that residents of displaced persons camps
are under increasing pressure to leave the camps and return to Chechnya.
LF

KYRGYZ PARLIAMENTARIANS WALK OUT OF SESSION. Several members of the
Kyrgyz Legislative Assembly walked out of a parliamentary session on
16 February to protest what they called discrimination against the
state language, akipress.org reported. Opposition parliamentarian
Azimbek Beknazarov later told akipress.org that he refused to look at
a draft law submitted by the government in Russian, which in
Kyrgyzstan has the status of "official language," and a number of
other parliamentarians agreed with him. Beknazarov added that he will
not return to the chamber until the government provides its drafts in
Kyrgyz as well as Russian. The Kyrgyz parliament has just spent
several weeks debating a government-drafted law requiring that all
government officials be competent in the use of the state language
(Kyrgyz) (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 13 February 2004). BB


RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 8, No. 31, Part II, 18 February 2004

NEARLY TWO-THIRDS OF LATVIA'S NONCITIZENS WANT CITIZENSHIP. A study
carried out by Latvia's Naturalization Board with funding from the
Finnish government revealed that slightly more than 64 percent of
Latvia's noncitizens want to obtain Latvian citizenship, BNS reported
on 17 February. Only 14 percent did not want citizenship, with the
remainder unsure or undecided. The study, which involved interviews
with 200 specialists and 6,950 noncitizens throughout the country,
indicated that factors most frequently preventing people from
acquiring citizenship are a belief that citizenship should be given
to them automatically and hopes that the naturalization process will
be simplified in the future. It also revealed that 90 percent of
noncitizens support naturalization and regard it as a positive move.
Roughly 45 percent of the children of noncitizens have become
citizens, the survey suggested. In early 2003, Latvia had 504,300
noncitizens, representing 22 percent of the country's population. SG

EUROPEAN COURT REJECTS COMPLAINT BY POLISH SILESIANS. The European
Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg on 17 February rejected a
complaint by individuals seeking to register a Union of People of
Silesian Nationality (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 3 July 2003), PAP
reported. Polish authorities who refused to register the union
objected both to the name of the organization and to some provisions
in the union's charter that characterized Silesians as an ethnic
minority. "[The decision] means that an important international
institution has not confirmed the claims of nationhood that are
nursed by the group of 173,000 people who declared Silesian
nationality in the general census [of 2002]," PAP quoted Krzysztof
Lecki of the University of Silesia in Katowice as saying. "Does this
mean that this nation does not exist? No. There are no final
solutions in processes of nation formation." JM


RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 8, No. 31, Part I, 18 February 2004

CHECHEN REFUGEES IN GEORGIA PROTEST COMPATRIOTS' DISAPPEARANCES.
Refugees from Chechnya who settled in Georgia's Pankisi Gorge staged
a demonstration on 18 February to protest the disappearances of two
Chechen men, Beqkhan Mulkoev and Husein Alkhanov, who were acquitted
by a Tbilisi court on 6 February of having violated border
regulations and entered Georgia illegally, Caucasus Press reported.
The men were among a group of 13 Chechens apprehended in the late
summer of 2002, five of whom were forcibly repatriated to Russia (see
"RFE/RL Newsline," 7, 8, 9, and 10 October 2002). The relatives of
the two men acquitted fear they have been abducted and taken back to
Russia. LF


RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 8, No. 32, Part II, 19 February 2004

ROMANIAN MINORITIES TO FACE TOUGHER PARLIAMENTARY THRESHOLD. The ad
hoc parliamentary commission tasked with drafting legislation for the
2004 elections decided on 18 February to raise the electoral
threshold for organizations representing national minorities to
receive parliamentary representation, Mediafax reported. Such
organizations will be required to garner at least 20 percent of the
meridian vote to elect a deputy. In 2000, the threshold was 5 percent
of that vote. Eighteen national minorities are represented in the
parliament elected in 2000. Under the constitution, national minority
groups are entitled to have one representative in the lower house,
provided they pass a special, lower threshold than that of regular
representation. Only one organization may represent a national
minority under those special conditions. If two or more organizations
compete for the same slot, representation goes to the organization
that receives the most votes. The commission also decided that only
organizations represented on the National Minorities Council can run
under the new conditions. MS


RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 8, No. 33, Part II, 20 February 2004

ESTONIAN GOVERNMENT REJECTS BILL EASING NATURALIZATION. The cabinet
decided on 19 February not to support an opposition Center
Party-proposed bill that would have eased requirements for gaining
Estonian citizenship through naturalization, BNS reported. The bill
would have amended the Citizenship Law by not requiring applicants
for citizenship who were born before 1 January 1939 to pass an
Estonian-language examination and prove familiarity with the Estonian
constitution and citizenship law. Center Party parliament deputy
Mikhail Stalnukhin estimated that the number of such persons is just
over 17,000. Another proposed amendment would have allowed persons
who settled in Estonia before 1 July 1990 to naturalize by passing a
simplified course of study created by the government. Stalnukhin said
the number of such stateless people is a little less than 115,000. A
government spokeswoman said current examinations are a reliable
method of assessing proficiency in Estonian, and that there is no
need to change the system. SG

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE APPROVES REPORT ON
LATVIA. The European parliament's foreign affairs committee on 19
February approved the report on Latvia prepared by
Europarliamentarian Elisabeth Schrodter, BNS reported. According to
the report, Latvia's policies regarding citizenship, language, and
education are in line with international standards. Still, the
committee called on Latvia to ensure the smooth functioning of
bilingual education in its schools. It noted that the flexible
implementation of the education law could promote social and economic
integration of the Russian-speaking minorities and lessen tensions in
society. The report recommends that Latvia grant non-citizens the
right to vote in local elections and ratify the national minorities
convention as soon as possible. It praised the country's efforts in
fighting corruption, but pointed out the need to reduce the time of
pre-trial investigations, solve the issue of overcrowded jails, and
devote more efforts to fighting human trafficking. The European
Parliament is scheduled to vote on the report at its meeting on 10
March. SG

EUROPARLIAMENT COMMITTEE SAYS SLOVAKIA MUST CONTINUE FIGHTING
CORRUPTION, SOLVE ROMANY PROBLEMS. The draft resolution proposed by the
Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament also says Slovakia
should continue fighting corruption and more consistently implement
programs for solving problems faced by its Romany minority, TASR
reported. The committee also says Slovakia has yet to pass a number of
laws to bring legislation in line with EU standards. Dutch
Europarliament rapporteur on Slovakia Jan Marinus Wiersma told TASR that
the draft report, which will be debated by the Europarliament in March,
will not influence the country's 1 May EU accession. However, CTK on the
same day quoted Slovak Deputy Premier Pal Csaky as saying Bratislava
could face sanctions from the European Commission after accession if it
fails to pass the still-missing legislation in a timely fashion. MS


RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 8, No. 33, Part I, 20 February 2004

NATIONALIST EDITOR ACQUITTED OF RACIAL INCITEMENT. A Moscow Municipal
Court jury on 19 February acquitted Andrei Semiletnikov, deputy
editor of the nationalist newspaper "Russkii khozyain," on charges of
organizing racially motivated violence at an outdoor market in
southern Moscow on 21 April 2001, on the occasion of Adolf Hitler's
birthday, and inciting minors to commit a serious crime, RIA-Novosti
reported. The jury convicted three other defendants for participating
in the attack on vendors at the Yasenevo market, while a fifth,
"Russkii khozyain" reporter Elena Lepilina, was acquitted of
participating in the attack. Witnesses had accused Semiletnikov of
greeting youths gathered near his newspaper's office with a Nazi
salute and addressing them prior to the market rampage. In the
attack, some 150 skinheads beat up traders of non-Slavic appearance,
"The Moscow Times" reported on 20 February. In August 2002, a Moscow
Municipal Court granted a Media Ministry request to close down
"Russkii khozyain" (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 8 August 2002). JB