Hundreds of people have attended an opposition-organized anticorruption rally in Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku.

The protest Saturday was organized by the National Council of Democratic Forces (NCDF) — an umbrella group of Azerbaijani opposition forces, under the slogan “No To Robbery.”

Activists from the Popular Front Party, People’s Democratic Party, National Statehood Party, Musavat Party youth organization, Muslim Union, and NIDA movement attended the rally.

The rally held in the Mehsul stadium in Baku’s Yasamal district was approved by the city authorities. Police said the protest was attended by an estimated 1,000 people, although opposition activists say the number was higher.

Protesters chanted slogans like “End to corruption” and “Freedom for political prisoners!”

Police cordoned off the area around the stadium as part of increased security measures.

No incidents were reported, and the rally ended peacefully, police said.

The opposition, as well as Western governments and international human rights groups, have criticized Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s government for persistently persecuting independent media outlets, journalists, and opposition politicians and activists.

Aliyev, who has ruled the oil-rich South Caucasus country of nearly 10 million people since shortly before his father’s death in 2003, has shrugged off the criticism, and the authorities deny that there are political prisoners in the country.

Recent international corruption investigations have also found that Aliyev’s family makes frequent use of offshore companies to hide its wealth and mask the ways it gains shares in Azerbaijan’s most lucrative businesses.

During the rally, Ali Karimli, the leader of the Popular Front Party, which is part of the NCDF, denounced government corruption. He said the government doesn’t use oil revenues effeciently, and high-level corruption deprives Azerbaijanis from benefiting from oil billions.

Human rights activist Oktay Gulaliyev told the rally that freedom of speech was under threat in the country.

“Access to independent, critical Internet sites has been blocked,” Gulaliyev said. “There are more than 160 [political] prisoners in the country, and up to 20 of them are journalists and bloggers.”

The rally came after the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) earlier this month voiced concerns over Azerbaijan’s “unprecedented crackdown on human rights” as well as checks and balances, and the functioning of justice in the country.

PACE on October 11 passed a resolution blasting “the reported prosecution and detention of leaders of NGOs, human rights defenders, political activists, journalists, and bloggers,” although some of them were released last year.

PACE cited cases of “torture and inhuman or degrading treatment during arrest, in police custody, and in prisons, and the lack of effective investigations, violations of the right to a fair trial, and violations of the right to freedom of expression, association, and assembly.”

The resolution also called on Azerbaijani authorities to “begin real and meaningful reforms” to remove the obstacles to the work of journalists and rights defenders.
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The long-serving mayor of the Turkish capital, Ankara, has resigned after pressure from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In the last few weeks, Erdogan has forced out of office six mayors belonging to his ruling AKP party as part of efforts to revitalize the party ahead of looming elections.

Ankara Mayor Melih Gokcek’s resignation followed weeks of intense pressure by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, culminating in the president publicly warning the mayor of severe consequences if he did not quit. In his resignation speech, Gokcek made clear he was not leaving willingly after 23 years in office.

He said, “I’m quitting not because I’m unsuccessful. I’m quitting because Erdogan asked me to do so. I’m complying with Erdogan’s orders and leaving my post.”

Gokcek is the sixth mayor of Erdogan’s ruling AKP Party to be forced out by the president in the past few weeks. Included among the resignations are mayors of some of Turkey’s largest cities, including Istanbul. The purge is part of Erdogan’s effort to revitalize the party after its sluggish performance in this year’s referendum to extend the country’s presidential powers.

The referendum narrowly passed, and it was rejected in many of Turkey’s largest cities, including Ankara and Istanbul, traditional strongholds of the president. While opinion polls continue to give Erdogan’s AKP a commanding lead, the same polls indicate a growing number of undecided voters and a softening among his supporters.

Political analyst Atilla Yesilada of Global Source Partners says with presidential and general elections due by 2019, Erdogan knows he has to act.

“That AKP lost of support is very obvious,” said Yesilada. “So Mr. Erdogan thinks by changing unpopular mayors and local administrations, which in his view have lost their desire to serve the public, he could turn the tide.”

The ongoing ouster of mayors already has resulted in unprecedented challenges to Erdogan’s authority. Several resignations came only after repeated threats by the president, who analysts say is accustomed to his demands being immediately obeyed.

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With Turkey under emergency rule since last year’s failed coup, Erdogan has sweeping powers to remove elected mayors from their office. It’s a power he has used on more than 80 occasions against mayors belonging to the pro-Kurdish HDP party. Erdogan’s ousting of his top mayors also is being accompanied by a similar ongoing nationwide purge of party and local elected officials.

Analyst Yesilada warns, though, that Erdogan’s strategy may be mistaken.

“What antagonizes the voter is probably not the local administrations or mayors, but it is Mr. Erdogan’s policies or cabinet polices,” said Yesilada. “But he does not seem to understand that. And this cleanup in the rank and file is leading to a lot of objections, as these people, they don’t understand why they are being let go.”

There are increasing reports of growing discord within the ruling AKP, though few members dare to openly speak out. But analysts warn Erdogan’s gamble on revitalizing his party by sacrificing his mayors could backfire given that voters are more likely to be concerned with Turkey’s rising double-digit inflation and unemployment, along with a sinking currency.
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Catalonia’s deposed President Carles Puigdemont vowed on Saturday to keep fighting for independence after the Spanish central government ordered him to accept his cabinet’s dismissal.

The Spanish region of Catalonia, which once enjoyed a considerable amount of autonomy, is now under the direct control of Madrid.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy dissolved Catalonia’s parliament, just hours after the regional body voted Friday in favor of independence from Spain.

WATCH: Spanish official discusses December elections

In addition to dismissing the regional parliament, Rajoy has called for snap Catalan elections on December 21 and has stripped Catalonia’s most senior police officials of their powers.

In a pre-recorded statement, Puigdemont said he would continue working to build a free country and that only the regional parliament has the authority to dismiss the Catalan government.

“Our will is to continue working to fulfill the democratic mandates and at the same time seek the maximum stability and tranquility,” he said.

Íñigo Méndez de Vigo, a spokesman for the Spanish government, said Puigdemont and all other Catalonian leaders will be eligible to run in the December election.

“We are giving the voice to the Catalans in a legal and free elections, not so-called referendum which is outside the law,” he said. “So, this is the way of telling the Catalans, if you want to vote, you have the right to vote, do it under the conditions of the law and freely.”

WATCH: Spanish official: ‘Giving the voice to the Catalans’

The Catalan regional parliament voted for independence from Spain Friday, in a move that was accompanied by applause and embraces between lawmakers present, who sang the Catalan anthem.

The resolution to secede from Spain was drafted and presented by the more radical separatist factions of the regional coalition headed by Puigdemont, and it passed with 70 votes in favor, 10 against and 2 blank votes.

Friday’s resolution by the Catalan regional parliament ends a period of uncertainty over Catalan independence that has prevailed since an October 1 referendum on independence that won 90 percent of the vote in a 50 percent voter turnout.

Puigdemont could face a 25-year prison sentence for sedition. The central government already has jailed two separatist leaders and is prosecuting other officials accused of using public resources to support the independence bid.

Immediately following the Spanish senate vote to impose direct rule on Catalonia, the government issued an official bulletin announcing that Puigdemont and his Vice President Oriol Junqueras had ceased to be the heads of the Catalonian regional government.

Spain’s Senate responded to Catalonia’s independence move by approving the application of constitutional article 155, which officially authorizes the central government to suspend Catalan authorities and take over the region’s administration.

“The turn of events …has left us with no recourse but the application of constitutional prerogatives to reinstitute the legal order in Catalonia,” said Spain’s senate president.

Rajoy appealed for national “calm” and called together a special cabinet meeting for later Friday.

“The government will take whatever measures are necessary. We will not allow a group of people to liquidate the country,” he told reporters.

Puigdemont, accompanied by other members of the Catalan regional government, lawmakers and hundreds of mayors, crowded onto the steps of the parliament building to address thousands of supporters gathering outside, shouting “liberty.”

In a short speech, he said, “We ourselves must now form our own structures and our own society.”

Socialist opposition leader Pedro Sanchez reacted to the Catalan independence move Friday by pledging “my party’s progressive flag will never join those seeking to take our country over the abyss.”

Even regional authorities in the traditionally nationalistic Basque region have been reluctant to support the Catalan cause, despite growing relations between radical separatists in both regions.

World reaction

De Vigo said Europeans “do not want any new nationalism,” and he pointed out that no foreign nations had yet recognized an independent Catalonia.

“We know what in history nationalism has meant to Europe. So, I think it is a very positive reaction,” he said.

The United Nations spokesperson urged all sides “to seek solutions within the framework of the Spanish constitution and through established political and legal channels.”

The European Union Council President Donald Tusk, who has supported Madrid’s approach to the crisis, said on Twitter he hoped “the Spanish government favors force of argument, not argument of force.”

European Union President Jean-Claude Juncker echoed the sentiment, saying “there isn’t room in Europe for other fractures or other cracks. We’ve had enough of those.”

NATO, of which Spain is a member, said in a statement, “The Catalonia issue is a domestic matter which should be resolved within Spain’s constitutional order.”

Madrid’s efforts to keep the country united also have the continued support of the U.S. government. U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement, “… the United States supports the Spanish government’s constitutional measures to keep Spain strong and united.”

Russian involvement

Some international support for Catalan independence, however, seems to be coming from Russia, which is giving some recognition to Catalan separatists as reciprocal action for past U.S. and European backing to breakaway former Soviet republics and the controversial independence of Kosovo.

“By backing the independence of Kosovo, formed and prosperous countries such as Spain put at risk their own fragile stability,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week at an international forum in Sochi.

“It’s undeniable that Putin is interested in the destabilization and balkanization of Spain,” a senior Spanish diplomat told VOA, asking that his name not be used.

The de facto foreign minister of the Russian supported breakaway state of South Osetia, Dimitri Medoev, who is reported to be close to the Kremlin, visited Catalonia this week to set up an “interests office” in Barcelona to promote “bilateral relations in humanitarian and cultural issues.”

South Osetia pledged support for the “sovereignty of Catalonia” following the October 1 referendum.

Rogue states such as Venezuela and North Korea also have expressed support for Catalonian secessionism.

Martin Arostegui in Barcelona contributed to this report.
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Italian prosecutors will not accept as evidence a DNA test that could exonerate an Eritrean man accused of smuggling thousands of Africans to Italy.

It’s the latest setback for Medhanie Tesfamariam Berhe, whose trial has continued for more than a year, despite mounting evidence that Italian authorities are prosecuting the wrong person.

Berhe’s lawyer, Michele Calantropo, argued during a 45-minute hearing Wednesday that his client is the victim of mistaken identity in a case that has gained worldwide attention.

Berhe’s mother, Meaza Zerai Weldai, 59, flew this week from Asmara, Eritrea, to complete a DNA test to prove her maternity and establish Berhe’s identity.

Calantropo contends that the actual person suspected of trafficking migrants shares Berhe’s first name. He believes Berhe was wrongfully identified in 2016 when he was arrested in Sudan and extradited to Italy.

​Mistaken identity

Soon after the extradition, doubts emerged about the identity of the person Italian and British authorities had captured.

Prosecutors released photos of a man who looked nothing like the person they had taken into custody. Instead, the person in the photos resembled Medhanie Yehdego Mered, whom many believe to be the real trafficker.

Other discrepancies include:

Numerous documents vouch for Berhe’s whereabouts in Eritrea at times prosecutors say he was trafficking people in Libya.
Vocal analysis did not produce a match between Berhe and a conversation that authorities wiretapped with the suspected smuggler in 2014.
Individuals smuggled by Mered say Berhe is not the same person.
Even Mered’s wife, Lidya Tesfu, who lives in Sweden, says authorities have the wrong man. Tesfu did not immediately respond to a request for comment from VOA.
In July, The New Yorker reported that it had talked by phone to Mered, who confirmed his involvement with trafficking and expressed amazement at the incompetence of European authorities. “These European governments, their technology is so good, but they know nothing,” he told the magazine.

Prosecutors block evidence

The Italian investigators prosecuting the case would not accept the new DNA test as evidence in Berhe’s trial, blocking its admission. In Italy, both the prosecution and defense must agree to admit evidence that emerges outside of an investigation.

“We are basing our legal proceedings on other data, not on DNA,” Prosecutor Annamaria Picozzi said in court this week, according to The Guardian.

Lead prosecutor Calogero Ferrara did not respond to VOA’s email or phone requests for an interview.

The sister of the man being held in custody, Hiwet Tesfamariam Berhe, believes this is a miscarriage of justice.

“I don’t understand it. In a country where there is democracy, where there is justice, they violated my brother’s rights. And they kept him for more than a year for something he has no knowledge of and to say that we have human rights, puffing out their chest and claim that there is human rights? I don’t know where human rights are,” she told VOA by telephone from Norway, speaking in Tigrigna.

The next hearing is scheduled for Nov. 9, a year and a half after authorities extradited Berhe. Despite failing to produce evidence linking Berhe to the crimes he is accused of committing, prosecutors show no signs of giving up the case.

“Instead of playing with one poor, innocent kid’s life and time, why don’t they really find the people who are really committing these things. They are using us as a way to buy time because they know the truth,” Berhe’s sister said.
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The once-bipartisan Senate Judiciary Committee investigation into Russian influence in the 2016 election has broken along partisan lines, with the committee’s top Democrat contacting witnesses independently and asking for a broad swath of new information.

After months of negotiations with Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley stalled, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein sent five letters of her own on Friday to witnesses and companies involved in the probe. The letters were sent to the White House, Facebook, Twitter and President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen. There is also a letter to Cambridge Analytica, a data firm working for Trump’s campaign during the 2016 election.

The inquiries are designed to get more information about whether the Russian meddling was in any way connected with Trump’s campaign. Feinstein indicated this week that negotiations had broken down with Grassley, who has also sought to investigate issues surrounding Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

The two senators have been talking since the summer about how to handle several witnesses, including whether to subpoena Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, and whether to call Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. for a public hearing.

Both men were involved in a June 2016 campaign meeting with Russians. Trump Jr. spoke to committee staff behind closed doors in September.

As a member of the minority party, Feinstein could have a hard time getting responses. But she is trying anyway, asking the social media companies in particular for a wide range of information, some of which they have already declined to turn over because of privacy concerns. Facebook and Twitter, along with Google, will testify before a panel subcommittee on Tuesday about the Russian meddling.

In the White House letter, Feinstein asks White House counsel Don McGahn for a range of documents related to fired FBI Director James Comey. Going beyond a May request for documents she made with Grassley, which was not answered, Feinstein is asking for several other letters and memos surrounding his firing and about other figures key to the panel’s probe.

A release from Feinstein’s office said the letters were the “first tranche” and that “additional requests are expected to be sent in the coming weeks.”

Grassley has been sending his own letters in the Russia probe, including to Russians and people connected to Trump who were in the June 2016 meeting. Unlike letters sent earlier in the year, they were from Grassley alone and not Feinstein.

Feinstein has also been working on legislation with Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, another Democrat on the committee. The bill hasn’t yet been finalized but would “potentially would make crystal clear that working with America’s enemies to undermine American elections is a crime,” according to Blumenthal.

Blumenthal said Friday that he believes the investigation will continue, and “my hope is that we will all eventually come together.”

Also Friday, the House intelligence committee announced that it will hold a hearing Nov. 2 with Carter Page, a foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign. The hearing is listed as “open in a closed space,” which a committee spokeswoman said means that it will be closed to press, but a transcript will eventually be released.

 
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