MINELRES: Fwd: RFE/RL: Georgians in Azerbaijan; Armenians in Georgia

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Tue Jun 10 21:59:41 2003


Original sender: Multiethnic list <[email protected]>


LABOR LEADER URGES SUPPORT FOR GEORGIAN MINORITY IN AZERBAIJAN. Speaking
at a press conference in Tbilisi on 30 May, Labor Party leader Shalva
Natelashvili deplored the harassment of the Georgian minority living in
the Zakatala, Belokany, and Kakhi districts of neighboring Azerbaijan,
Caucasus Press reported. He said those Georgians are pressured into
converting to Islam and adopting Azerbaijani surnames, and that Georgian
schools in those districts are being closed. Natelashvili said local
officials are ignoring orders by Azerbaijan's President Aliev to improve
conditions for the oppressed Georgian minority. LF

RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 7, No. 102, Part I, 2 June 2003


GEORGIAN CONSTITUTIONAL COURT DENIES DISMISSING ARMENIAN JUDGES. In an
e-mail to RFE/RL's Georgian Service, a Georgian Constitutional Court
official denied on 30 May that the court has dismissed three ethnic
Armenian judges. He said the court is not empowered to make such
decisions. On 28 May, Caucasus Press reported that the three judges were
dismissed because of their inadequate knowledge of the Georgian language
(see "RFE/RL Newsline," 29 May 2003). Meanwhile, the Georgian Supreme
Court on 30 May alerted parliament to the fact that although legislation
was passed two years ago under which, as of 1 June 2003, only those
barristers who have successfully passed a qualifying examination may
continue to practice law, no such examinations have ever been held,
Caucasus Press reported. Also on 30 May, that news agency quoted a
representative of the Young Barristers of Georgia as saying her
organization might appeal that incipient ban on its professional
activities to the European Court of Human Rights. LF

RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 7, No. 102, Part I, 2 June 2003

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