Kosovo Privatization Chief Killed, Georgian Tycoon Rejects Court Fine

Plus, Turkmenistan pushes print and top Kazakh official resigns over border killings.

by S. Adam Cardais and Joshua Boissevain 15 June 2012

1. Kosovo police seek killer of Privatization Agency head

 

Law enforcement officials are hunting for the killer of Dino Asanaj, the head of the Privatization Agency of Kosovo who was attacked in his Pristina office 14 June, Balkan Insight reports. Asanaj succumbed to stab wounds to his neck and chest after being rushed to the hospital in the early afternoon in critical condition.

 

Radio Free Europe reports that Asanaj was attacked at home. The report notes that Kosovo media had implicated him in several corruption investigations.

 

Pristina called the "cowardly act" an assault on rule of law in Kosovo, Balkan Insight reports.

 

Asanaj, 55, had planned to retire this year after leading the Privatization Agency since 2009.  He held U.S. citizenship, according to Bloomberg, and had previously worked for some 20 years in the United States in various roles, including as a representative of the Kosovo government during and after the 1998-99 conflict.

 

2. Romanian ex-premier resigns as party head after poll defeat

 

Former Prime Minister Emil Boc stepped down as head of the center-right Democrat Liberal Party (PDL) following the party’s major defeat in the country’s 10 June local elections, according to Reuters. Several other top party members have also resigned, leaving the PDL without leadership with parliamentary elections slated for the fall.

 

Following a six-hour meeting 14 June, Boc told reporters that he and other party leaders held themselves responsible for the damage to the party over the past six months. Boc stepped down from as prime minister in February amid nationwide protests in response to the government’s proposed austerity measures.

 

During the elections, Boc barely regained his seat as mayor in the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca. The win was one of the few for the Liberal Democrats. Boc held the post from 2004 until he stepped down in 2009 after being named prime minister.

 

3. Wealthy Georgian opposition leader refuses to pay massive fine

 

Bidzina Ivanishvili, the Georgian billionaire and opposition parliamentary candidate, says a roughly $90 million fine issued this week by a Tbilisi court against him is absurd, Radio Free Europe reports. His lawyer, who described the sanction as "lawlessness," is appealing the decision.

 

Ivanishvili's Georgian Dream coalition is preparing for parliamentary elections in October. The court fined him 11 June for violations of electoral and political funding laws, according to RFE.

 

Ivanishvili is a vocal critic of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, a maverick whom many say has pursued aggressive reforms at the expense of democratic ideals. He has said he plans to run for president once Saakashvili's second term ends, in 2013.

 

4. Turkmenistan forces state employees to buy newspapers to boost sales

 

While newspapers worldwide are looking for ways to combat low circulation and revenues, Turkmenistan has come up with an innovative solution. It's forcing government workers to buy subscriptions, EurasiaNet’s Sifting the Karakum blog reports.

 

Starting in the second half of this year, for instance, educators must commit to buying at least four newspapers and one magazine. Postal workers are also being forced to buy subscriptions to publications, EurasiaNet reports.

 

Turkmenistan has no independent media. The state newspapers and magazines are a mouthpiece for President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, which, EurasiaNet notes wryly, might explain their unpopularity.

 

State employees must also attend events such as concerts to celebrate national holidays.

 

5. Kazakh border chief resigns over outpost massacre

 

The head of Kazakhstan's Border Service has resigned following a gruesome massacre last month at a remote outpost on the border with China, RIA Novosti reports. The Kazakh president signed the resignation letter of Nurzhan Myrzaliyev 13 June.

 

A first deputy of the Border Service will succeed Myrzaliyev as acting head, according to RIA Novosti.

 

Fourteen border guards and a forest ranger were found dead 30 May at the outpost in the Tien Shan Mountains in southwestern Kazakhstan. The sole survivor, 19-year-old Private Vladislav Chelakh, confessed to the killings last week, saying he shot the men 28 May before burning the border station.

 

Under interrogation, Chelakh blamed "internal conflicts" and "unexplained insanity." Though some doubt the confession, Kazakh authorities released a video this week of Chelakh admitting to murdering his fellow soldiers, RIA Novosti reports.