By Valerie Hopkins

This may not be the year of “sexy” for Eurovision between the , Ireland’s Siamese duo Jedward, and Montenegro’s .  Off-screen, the chances of sex appeal won’t be any higher due to allegations that Azerbaijan’s hotels have installed hidden cameras to the sexual activity of guests.

A local human rights group, Azad Genclik Teskilati (Free Youth), says that “hidden cameras are installed on the premises of all...hotels without exception,” warning that incriminating footage could be “later be used against tourists for blackmail.”  It remains to be seen if these allegations are substantiated, but .

Valerie Hopkins

Two major European events are occurring this year outside the continent’s traditional confines.  Ukraine is anticipating the biggest influx of tourists since it separated from the Soviet Union 20 years ago for the upcoming Euro Cup games and  Azerbaijan will greet hordes eager for Eurovision spectacle.

Sadly, the efforts to prepare for those events  have hardly observed the traditional European standards of transparency and professionalism.

We’ll tackle Azerbaijan tomorrow on the eve of the Eurovision final.  Today, let’s focus on Ukraine.  The country is curently suffering from a bad public image what with its ailing former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko behind bars and the , is taking security and crowd control seriously. Officials are deploying surface to air missiles and will have fighter jets on standby as an anti-terrorism measure. No such show of force has been announced against corruption and prostitution?

Valerie Hopkins

This is not a good week for the bad guys, but it isn’t great for the good guys, either.

An 18 year old Ukrainian girl who was gang raped and set ablaze by three men, two of whom were sons of local politicians, .

An Albanian reporter is facing charges for simply doing her job covering a dispute between high level officials. The Prime Minister’s office filed charges against journalist Lindita Cela for her coverage of politicians accusing one another of being part of the repressive communist regime that ruled the country until 1992.  

By Valerie Hopkins

As the United States mulls normalizing trade relations with Russia, Russia’s president is pushing for a law that would mandate that , company shares and cars, President Medvedev announced on Tuesday at a meeting of the Kremlin anti-corruption council.

 Now, as he prepares to hand the reins back to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, he has urged that the proposal be finalized next week.  If passed, all officials will have to disclose asset purchases if “the amount of money spent by an official or his family member in a single deal exceeds the total three-year official incomes of his family members.”

Developments in Albania and Kosovo

One week after a former deputy prime minister of Albania was , human rights watchers and citizens are expressing their discontent about the verdict.

An investigation has finally begun into the circumstances surrounding the deaths of four Albanians in peaceful demonstrations last year outside Prime Minister Sali Berisha’s office. Three government officials have been arrested in connection with the deaths, including the .

Albania has agreed to sign an agreement with the European Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) to comply with investigations into organ trafficking. Berisha said he agreed with chief investigator John Clint Williamson to “institutionalize cooperation between the two authorities.” Williamson is in charge of determining whether or not members of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) harvested the organs of Serb prisoners during the 1999 war in Kosovo.

A in Kosovo will be a key witness in the trial against seven men, including a Turkish doctor and an Israeli citizen for organ trafficking. The Canadian, Raul Fain, paid US$127,000 to buy a kidney from Pristina’s Medicus Clinic, which is at the center of the investigation.

On the eve of Kosovo’s fourth anniversary as an independent state, by the state anti-corruption agency for failing to declare assets.

Four years after the largest ever European Union Police Mission was dispatched, not a single Kosovan has been indicted for organized crime, raising concern in Brussels and elsewhere, .