Central Asia

Mixed Messages for Independent Journalists

Police ministry says it wants to deal fairly with the independent media, as its officers step up persecution of journalists and activists.

20 Nov 05

Judges and prosecutors are at odds as a struggle for judicial powers is played out.

20 Nov 05

“Counterrevolutionaries” blamed for alleged leaflet campaign advocating ethnic discord.

20 Nov 05

Ashgabat’s hospitals are recommending expensive scans and tests for patients in a bid to collect enough money for staff wages.

20 Nov 05

Students buy their way through university without attending lectures, just to get a diploma.

20 Nov 05

Opposition leader Felix Kulov must pass a Kyrgyz-language exam many believe was originally invented to thwart him.

20 Nov 05

Seizing government buildings has becoming a regular activity for protestors who feel they have no other way of being heard.

20 Nov 05

Questions are asked about how a high-profile figure turned up in detention in Tajikistan when he was last seen as a free man in Russia.

20 Nov 05

A family planning campaign that looks benign is marred by allegations of forced sterilisation on a wide scale.

20 Nov 05

Everyone’s reading it, but only because studying the president’s book is compulsory for pre-school kids and surgeons alike.

20 Nov 05

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