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Despite the fact that the Azerbaijan leadership unambiguously deny the presence of political prisoners in the county, the international community, particularly the Council of Europe, view this matter from a diametrically opposite prospective.

As the journalist himself reported, he applied to the Georgian Consulate in Vienna on behalf of the radio station last Friday, December 19, asking to grant him a visa to cover the presidential election in the republic. Consulate officials assured him the procedure was purely formal and the question would be settled soon.

"The West is flirting with Putin and this of course is linked to its need for Russia's energy resources," Akhmed Zakayev said. "This is clearly pragmatism but in this case it is criminal pragmatism, in fact a form of racism. Chechnya is part of Europe but where else in Europe would the West allow such human rights abuses to go on for such a long time?"

In the village of Goy-Chu (former Komsomolskoye), which was completely destroyed during the second Chechen war, 68% of respondents said they had to "share" their compensatory money with functionaries, and 33.5% gave them a half of the sum they received.

Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan are those post-Soviet countries that are given Not Free Country status in the report "Freedom in the World 2003" prepared by the Freedom House human rights organization.

The All-Georgian Association for the Defense of Human Rights is demanding that a criminal case be initiated against former Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze.

The program is carried out by the Czech charitable organization "Man in Trouble".

The first republican meeting of Chechen non-government organizations (NGOs) took place in Grozny on December 10.

A consultation was held at the Government House in Grozny on December 16. President of Chechnya Akhmad Kadyrov, Russia's Minister for Chechnya Stanislav Ilyasov, the representative of the South Federal District Mr. Korobeynikov, and heads of Chechen ministries and departments took part in it.

This act of charity is initiated by the Civilization regional public charitable foundation.

According to the head of the president's public and political office, Azerbaijan has not met only two obligations in the field of information and press undertaken by the country to the Council of Europe. The country is expected to meet them by the end of the current year.

Reports appeared on December 17 that activists of the National Movement's local branch had been beaten in Batumi and its local leader, Giya Masalkin, had left Adjaria from political considerations.

Executive Director of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights Aaron Rhodes made a request to Prosecutor General of Azerbaijan Zakir Garalov, asking to release from custody Ilgar Ibragimoglu, leading coordinator of the Centre for Protection of Conscience and Religious Freedom (DEVAMM) and Secretary General of the Azerbaijan Chapter of the International Religious Liberty Association (IRLA).

Taking into consideration the fact that the occupation of a part of the Azerbaijan territory by Armenia has been already mentioned in some documents of the Council of Europe, head of the Azerbaijan Delegation to the PACE Samed Seidov expressed hope that the first report on the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan would be unbiased.

The parties interested in the resolution of territorial conflicts must come to an agreement with each other, and Russia will be a guarantor for the agreements reached, noted the President.

The killed soldiers' parents state that the Military Prosecutor's Office destroys all evidence and does not allow some witnesses to testify in court.

Since the meeting was held on the initiative of the movement "Akhyatsa", its representative Akhra Bzhaniya offered a subject for discussion. It was titled "Balance of Forces and Measure of Responsibility in the Abkhazian Society".

The pro-government Azat Artsakh newspaper refers to the interview of French Co-Chairman of the Group Henry Jacolin with the Express newspaper published in Baku. Mr. Jacolin told in it he believed it was unreasonable to engage the Karabakh party in negotiations.

Yesterday the European Commission allotted 9.5 million euro to help people suffered as a result of the conflict in Chechnya.

A round table discussion initiated by the Krasnodar city administration was held at the Center of National Cultures in Krasnodar, with leaders of national communities and cultural associations being its participants.