Watchdog

Acting Moldovan President Mihai Ghimpu has condemned the arrest of an independent journalist in the country's breakaway Transdniester region and promised to seek international support for his release, RFE/RL's Moldovan Service reports.

Ernest Vardanean, a 33-year-old stringer for the Transdniester news agency Novy Region 2, was arrested on April 7 at his home in Tiraspol, the capital of the self-styled republic.

Moldovan and Russian media say he is accused of spying for Moldova and could receive a 20-year prison term if found guilty.

Moldovan Deputy Prime Minister Victor Osipov, the government's point man for the Transdniester conflict, told RFE/RL that Vardanean's arrest shows the separatists' unwillingness to talk to civil-society representatives or tolerate freedom of speech.

Before his departure today for Brussels and Washington, Osipov said that he will try to mobilize international support to secure Vardanean's release.

BAKU -- The trial of journalist Eynulla Fatullayev on charges of illegal possession of drugs while in prison has begun in a Baku court, RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service reports.

Fatullayev told the judge on April 9 at the start of his trial that he although he is innocent, he is certain he will be found guilty of the charges and sentenced to a fourth prison term.

Fatullayev was first jailed in 2007 for allegedly insulting the victims of the killings in Khojali -- where in 1992 Azeri civilians were killed by Armenian forces -- and subsequently on charges of instigating terrorism and tax evasion.

The consecutive prison terms add up to 8 and 1/2 years.

Fatullayev, who was editor of the independent newspaper "Realny Azerbaijan," claims the drugs were planted in his cell in December to create the pretext for keeping him in prison after the European Court of Human Rights issues a ruling on his appeal against his earlier convictions.

The court in Strasbourg is expected to announce its verdict this month.

Fatullayev demanded that further tests be conducted on blood samples that the prosecution claims prove he was using drugs, and that the experts who carry out those tests be summoned as witnesses together with fellow prisoners with whom he has regular contact.

The court has agreed to those requests.

International human rights organizations say Fatullayev's imprisonment is politically motivated and is "illegal." They have called on the authorities to release him.

Fatullayev was initially charged in 2007, months after he published an article in "Realny Azerbaijan" in which he accused senior Azerbaijani officials of ordering the 2005 killing of fellow journalist Elmar Huseynov.