Watchdog

DUSHANBE -- A Tajik newspaper editor who was attacked on his way to an end of Ramadan celebration says that he has met and forgiven his assailants, RFE/RL's Tajik Service reports.

Khurshed Atovullo, editor of the independent weekly "Farazh," said he was driving to a friend's home in Dushanbe on August 31 when a car blocked the road and forced him to stop.

Three people armed with clubs then attacked Atovullo, his brother, and his brother-in-law, who were with him.

Atovullo said he saw the license-plate number of the assailants' car and police immediately tracked them down.

Avatullo said he met with them and their parents after police on September 2 invited him to the police station.

He said his attackers are teenagers and that their parents asked him to forgive them.

He said on September 5 he accepted their apologies, adding that the assault was not related to his work.

Read more in Tajik here

BISHKEK -- Dozens of Kyrgyz activists have picketed the Belarusian Embassy in Bishkek to demand the release of a prominent Belarusian rights activist jailed in Minsk last month, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports.

Ales Byalyatski, the head of the Vyasna (Spring) human rights organization, was arrested on August 4 and later charged with tax evasion in a case that drew international condemnation.

The protest in the Kyrgyz capital was organized by Bishkek-based human rights organizations Citizens against Corruption and The Voice of Liberty.

RFE/RL's correspondent reported that the picketers held placards saying "Liberty for Ales!" A representative of the Belarusian Embassy came out to meet the protesters and took their written demands.

Byalyatski's colleagues and supporters say the case against him is politically motivated.

Byalyatski had been circulating via online social networks reports on the Belarusian authorities' crackdown on peaceful protests.

His arrest also caused embarrassment to European Union members Lithuania and Poland, when it emerged both had helped the case against Byalyatski by giving financial information on him to the Belarusian authorities.

Read more in Kyrgyz here