News

The tourists detained for violating the border are to be transferred to the Georgian side on August 30, the Georgian law enforcement bodies reported. According to their information, the detained resident of the Chvrinisi village had already been released. The tourists were detained because of the Russian border guards who moved the line of demarcation, the Georgian authorities believe.

The authorities of Chechnya prepare a gathering in Shali to arrange public condemnation and expel from the republic family members of the teenagers who attacked law enforcers, local residents reported. According to them, the detained relatives of the killed teenagers have not yet been released.

In the Khasavyurt District, an unidentified person wounded policemen after their request to produce his ID, the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) for Dagestan reported.

Makhmud Velitov, an Imam of the Moscow "Yardyam" Mosque, convicted in the case of justifying terrorism, was sent to the hospital at the correctional colony in Astrakhan, said his advocate.

A suspect of preparing a terror act in Northern Azerbaijan was liquidated by law enforcers when rendering armed resistance, the State Security Service (SSS) has reported. Human rights defenders are worried about the increasing number of suspects' deaths without conducting an investigation.

Five tourists were detained during their trip near the delimitation line with South Ossetia, the State Security Service (SSS) of Georgia stated on August 29. In its turn the State Security Committee (know as the KGB) of South Ossetia has stated that these detainees and one more detained person are suspected of violating the border.

Law enforcers' pressure on teenagers in Chechnya causes discontent among local residents and creates conditions for a new wave of armed underground, human rights defenders Ekaterina Sokiryanskaya and Valery Borschov have stated.

Seda Dudurkaeva, a daughter of the former head of the Department for Chechnya of the Federal Migration Service (FMS), arrested in Turkey, is suspected of links with militants; she was put on the international wanted list through the Interpol channels, the spokesman of the Russian General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) has announced today.

Arman Mkrtumyan, a former Chairman of the Court of Cassation, received two gunshot wounds, but did not want to stay in hospital, doctors said.

In Chechnya, there are no restrictions for members of human rights organizations, the Chechen authorities announce. The Chechen Press Minister has explained that while speaking of rights defenders, Ramzan Kadyrov meant "notorious journalists."

A resident of Ingushetia left for Syria, where he joined a terrorist organization, reports today the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF).

Three men in masks entered the territory of the house belonging to Arman Mkrtumyan, the former chairman of the Armenian Court of Cassation, and opened random fire from machine guns. One attacker has been detained, reports today Sona Truzyan, the advisor to the chief of the Investigating Committee of Armenia.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has awarded the compensation of 20,000 euros to family members of Amirkhan Alikhanov, a resident of Dagestan, kidnapped in December 2004.

On August 28-29, the Armenian armed forces used large-calibre machine guns during the shelling, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for Azerbaijan reported.

An image of the enemy, got by Russian citizens during the wars in Chechnya, fades away, and the propaganda has redirected xenophobia from Caucasians to Ukrainians, believe sociologists from the "Levada Centre".

According to law enforcers, about five thousand people took part in the first beer festival in the history of Nagorno-Karabakh. The residents of the city, interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot", would like to see such topical festivals in Stepanakert more often.

Putin must condemn the statements of Chechen leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, with threats against human rights defenders and promises to collectively punish families of alleged members of the armed underground, the human rights organizations Human Rights Watch (HRW), the Amnesty International (AI) and the Front Line Defenders (FLD) have stated.

Delegations from Russia, Transnistria, Nagorno-Karabakh, Syria, Nauru and self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics have attended the festivities on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of Russia's recognition of independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

This evening, two underground tremors were fixed in the Lerik District of Azerbaijan. No victims have been reported; however, cracks appeared on some houses.

The President of Azerbaijan has dismissed Elmar Veliev from the post of the Mayor of Ganja, the second largest city of the country, where protests against the Mayor led to clashes with the police and human casualties.