MORE AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITION FORMATIONS DECIDE TO PARTICIPATE IN REPEAT ELECTIONS

Meeting in Baku on 30 January, leading members of the Yeni Siyaset (New Politics, aka YeS) election bloc decided to field candidates in the 13 May elections in 10 constituencies where the results of the 6 November parliamentary elections were annulled, zerkalo.az reported on 31 January. YeS co-founder Eldar Namazov said that the bloc will cooperate with international organizations to monitor stringently the conduct of the vote. On 31 January, day.az quoted Ayaz Rustamov, the acting chairman of the wing of the Azerbaijan National Independence Party that remains loyal to party founder Etibar Mammadov, as saying that his party will adopt a formal decision on participating in the 13 May vote. The opposition Musavat party, one of three members of the main opposition election bloc Azadliq, is to decide at a meeting of its leadership on 5 February whether or not to participate. Hasan Kerimov, deputy chairman of the Azerbaijan Popular Front Party (AXCP) progressive wing, which is also a member of Azadliq, told day.az that Musavat will be expelled from the bloc if it decides to participate in the repeat vote, which the AXCP has pledged to boycott (see "RFE/RL Caucasus Report," 13 January 2006). LF

DETAINED AZERBAIJANI EX-MINISTER'S HEALTH AGAIN DETERIORATES

The health of former Economic Development Minister Farhad Aliyev, who was arrested three months ago on charges of plotting with exiled former parliament speaker Rasul Quliyev to overthrow the Azerbaijani leadership, has again deteriorated, day.az reported on 31 January quoting the committee established to protect the rights of Aliyev and his brother Rafiq, who was also detained on similar charges. Farhad Aliyev has suffered severe fluctuations in blood pressure on at least two previous occasions (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 27 and 29 December 2005 and 4, 11 and 23 January 2006). LF

GEORGIAN PRESIDENT PRAISES GOVERNMENT'S HANDLING OF ENERGY CRISIS

In a live address on Georgian television on 30 January, Mikheil Saakashvili praised the government's response to the 22 January explosions that deprived Georgia for days on end of gas and electricity supplies from Russia, Caucasus Press reported. He claimed the government's timely response prevented the total breakdown of the Georgian energy system that those persons responsible for the explosions had hoped to precipitate. Saakashvili said the crisis has highlighted the need for Georgia to secure alternative supplies of gas and electricity, and he hailed as "historic" the 27 January agreement to import gas from Iran (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 30 January 2006). Georgian International Gas Corporation head David Ingorokva told journalists that Georgia will continue importing gas from Iran and Azerbaijan "until we are absolutely certain" that regular supplies of Russian gas have been resumed, Caucasus Press reported on 31 January. Russian gas supplies to both Georgia and Armenia resumed late on 30 January. LF

RUSSIA WITHDRAWS SUPPORT FOR UN DRAFT ABKHAZ PEACE PLAN

Russia no longer considers the "Basic Principles for the Distribution of Competencies between Tbilisi and Sukhumi" drafted four years ago by UN envoy Dieter Boden an appropriate basis for talks on resolving the Abkhaz conflict, the "Financial Times" reported on 31 January quoting an unnamed Russian diplomat. Sergei Bagapsh, president of the unrecognized Republic of Abkhazia, argued in a 20 January letter to the UN Security Council that the so-called "Boden document" is unrealistic and unworkable (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 23 January 2006). Addressing a Security Council session on 27 January that focused on Abkhazia, Irakli Alasania, who is President Saakashvili's special envoy for the conflict, argued that Russia's withdrawal of support for the "Basic Principles" is tantamount to support for secessionism and ethnic cleansing, Caucasus Press reported on 28 January. LF

NGOS ACCUSE GEORGIAN OFFICIAL OF TRIGGERING PRISON-CAMP RIOT

Georgian human rights NGOs have blamed Bacho Akhalaya, head of the agency that oversees the country's prisons, for the protest that flared up early on 30 January in the Rustavi penal colony, Caucasus Press reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 30 January 2006). They claim that Akhalaya arrived, drunk and accompanied by several women, at the colony early on 30 January and demanded that an unspecified number of prisoners strip naked and run around in the open air in sub-zero temperatures. When they protested, Akhalaya called in special forces troops. Georgian human rights ombudsman Sozar Subar said later on 30 January that the troops fired rubber bullets to restore order. LF
 

ARMENIAN OFFICIAL'S DEATH CATEGORIZED AS SUICIDE

Prosecutor-General's Office spokesman Gurgen Ambarian confirmed on 30 January initial reports that the death of Arshak Karakhanian, deputy prosecutor of Yerevan's Malatia-Sebastia district, was suicide, RFE/RL's Armenian Service reported. At the same time, Ambarian said that a criminal investigation has been opened into the possibility that Karakhanian, whose body was found in his office on 27 January, may have been driven to kill himself under pressure. He did not elaborate. Karakhanian, who reportedly left two brief notes, died from a single gunshot from his own pistol. That weapon's previous owner, senior prosecutor Aram Karapetian, killed himself in 1998 after murdering then Prosecutor-General Henrik Khachatrian (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 7 August 1998 and 4 September 2001). LF