Kyrgyzstan to hold referendum this Sunday.

BISHKEK, June 27 (Itar-Tass) -- A referendum will be held in
Kyrgyzstan this Sunday to decide on whether to endorse interim government
head Rosa Otunbayeva as president for the transitional period till
December 31, 2011, abolish the Constitutional Court and on amendments to
the main law.
In case of approval, Kyrgyzstan will become the first Central Asian
republic with the parliamentary system of government.
Central Election Commission members told Itar-Tass that 2,281 polling
stations would open in the republic and 38 abroad, mainly in Russia, where
traditionally 300,000-400,000 Kyrgyz nationals temporarily work.
A total of 2,752,000 ballots, 0.5 percent in reserve, are printed and
distributed to the polling stations, the election commission said.
According to its information, 189 observers from 31 countries will monitor
the poll. Among them are representatives from international organizations,
including the OSCE, the SCO and the CIS, and the Russian Central Election
Commission.
About a hundred foreign reporters are accredited for referendum
coverage.
The referendum will be held in an unusual situation. The state of
emergency and the curfew were lifted the day before in the two largest
southern regions of Osh and Jalal-Abad, where mass disorders and violent
Kyrgyz-Uzbek ethnic clashes took place recently. According to the official
data, the conflict resulted in 275 deaths, and over 2,200 were injured.
More than 1,300 houses were burned up or robbed,
The wave of violence caused an outflow of thousands of refugees from
the southern regions to neighbouring Uzbekistan. According to various
data, they number over 100,000. Thrice as many left the conflict zone and
found shelter in safer regions of Kyrgyzstan.
In this connection, the country's authorities had to allow people who
lost identity documents in the disorders to vote without identity cards,
but if at least two local commission members recognize them. Displaced
people in the republic can vote with absence ballots.
Interim government members rule out possibilities of vote rigging.
Fingers of voters will be covered with special paint. It rules out voting
more than once, interim vice-premier Omurbek Tekebayev assures.
The election commission even suggested organizing the vote in camps of
refugees in Uzbekistan, but abandoned the idea later. Almost all the
refugees have returned back, acting defence minister Islmail Isakov said.
It was not clear till the last day what participation rate would be
considered sufficient for the vote to be valid. The commission finally
determined it only by Saturday night. The referendum will be valid with
any turnout.
Security measures are tightened up in the tense situation and in
connection with rumours about serious provocations expected from relatives
of Kurmanbek Bakiyev who was removed from power in April this year.
All the polling stations are guarded by reinforced police units and
squads of volunteers. A total of about 8,000 policemen and 7,500
volunteers will ensure order during the vote day. Police are on alert,
particularly in the southern regions where mass disorders took place. All
the strategic facilities are guarded.
The draft new constitution submitted to the referendum was worked out
by members of a constitutional council consisting of representatives of
all the political forces and public and human rights organizations. The
main changes were made on the initiative of the interim government.
The referendum is the main exam of population confidence for the
government.
Opposition leaders who came into power in April, despite long
disagreements, managed to unite around Otunbayeva and still remain a
united team. By their first decree they dismissed the parliament and
removed the prime minister from the position and Bakiyev from the
presidency. There is no legally-elected person in the country, except the
self-appointed prime minister, vice-premiers, ministers and governors --
former opposition members. The poll is expected to legalize the government
at least partly.
Considerable funds were used to organize the referendum.
In case the changes are not approved, the opposition members who have
came into power will have to resign, and there will be no power in the
country at all.
According to the new constitution, head of government will have the
levers of rule, and the role of president will be limited to
representative functions.





.President Medvedev one of authors of new university textbook.




ST. PETERSBURG, June 26 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian President Dmitry
Medvedev, who graduated from St. Petersburg State University's law
department, is one of the authors of the new civil law textbook presented
at the university on Saturday.
Medvedev was a co-author of the previously published textbook, on
which he worked together with his academic adviser professor Mikhail
Petrov.
The Russian president participates in the work on a conception to
improve the civil legislation in the county, Academician Yuri Tolstoi
noted.
The presented book is believed to be the most popular one in the
field, University Rector Nikolai Kropachev said.
The textbook is intended for students and teachers of Russia's law
institutions of higher learning and lawyers who work at courts, offices of
prosecutors and other organizations.





.Caravaggio painting stolen from Odessa museum found in Germany.



ODESSA, June 26 (Itar-Tass) -- Caravaggio's painting "Taking of Christ
under Guard" (the Kiss of Judas) is found in Germany, Odessa media and
regional police reported on Saturday.
According to the police information, the stolen masterpiece was seized
from three Ukrainian citizens who were detained in Germany on Friday.
Their extradition and return of the painting will be decided through the
Interpol.
The great artist's only painting kept in a museum in Ukraine was
stolen on July 31, 2008. Experts value the masterpiece at 100 million
dollars.
Michelangelo Meresi da Caravaggio was one of the most prominent
Italian artists in the 17th century. Among his patrons were cardinals,
bankers and the Mattei Roman family. "The Taking of Christ under Guard"
was painted for one of the Mattei. A Russian ambassador to France bought
the painting in Paris and in 1870 presented it to Grand Duke Vladimir (the
third son of Emperor Alexander II).
In the late 19th century, the painting was handed over to an art
school in Odessa and then to the museum. In the mid-1950s, Moscow art
expert Ksenia Malitskaya proved it was a work of Caravaggio.
-0-pan


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