News

While being transported from Krasnodar to Rostov-on-Don, Pavel Grib, accused of terrorism, was subjected to beating. At the Rostov SIZO (pre-trial prison), he is being mistreated, and he complains about deterioration of his health state, his advocate reports today.

In a case on the events of March 1, 2008, investigators intend to question former Armenian President Robert Kocharyan as a witness.

Authors of an appeal to Vladimir Putin have demanded to prevent the cancellation of compulsory studies of native languages at schools. Residents of Southern Russia also left their signatures under the petition.

For two decades, in Ingushetia, water supply to small towns and villages ceases when hot weather comes, and people are deprived of water for the whole summer. This summer has not been an exception, and there is no water supply to a number of towns and villages for two weeks already, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed by residents of the villages of Plievo, Troitskaya, and Nasyr-Kort, and the towns of Sunzha and Karabulak.

Elmar Veliev, the head of the Azerbaijani city of Ganja, was exposed to an armed attack. He and his bodyguard Gasym Ashbazov were hospitalized with wounds. The attacker was detained, law enforcers have reported.

A power outage in the evening on July 3 in Baku caused the metro stop. Passengers were evacuated from the trains stuck in the tunnels. The evacuation was carried out in extreme heat; and 17 persons complained about their poor health status; five of them were hospitalized.

Kemal Kuscheterov, a lawyer, was beaten up and kidnapped by unidentified people in Cherkessk after his dispute with law enforcers at the scene of investigatory actions, his colleagues have reported.

Zaza Saralidze, father of one of the murdered schoolboys, decided to stop his protest action held near the building of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Georgia. He has made the decision after the today's meeting with MIA heads.

In the city of Izberbash, Dagestan, townspeople have gathered for a rally at the building of city administration with a demand to resume the supply of drinking water. Calls were heard among the protesters to block the federal highway.

After the residents of the village of Novokorsunskoye blocked the Timashevsk-Korenovsk highway, the territorial authorities have increased the amount of compensations due to them for the houses damaged by hail.

A preliminary hearing in the case against Pavel Grib will be held behind closed doors. A father of the Ukrainian citizen, accused in terrorism, reported that his son felt bad.

On July 5, the Supreme Court (SC) of Chechnya will consider a motion filed by the defence of Oyub Titiev, the head of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" office in Grozny, to transfer the consideration of the case to another region.

Zarema Bagavutdinova, a staff member of the Dagestani organization "Pravozaschita" (Advocacy), was released from the penal colony, where she had completely served five years of her imprisonment, with a delay of six hours.

Colonel General Mikael Harutyunyan, who in March 2008 held the position of the Armenian Defence Minister, was accused of overthrowing the constitutional order in connection with the dispersal of protest actions, investigators report today.

The parliamentary investigating commission has issued a recommendation to start the criminal proceedings against one of the main witnesses in the case on the murder of teenagers in Tbilisi. Zaza Saralidze, a father of one of the murdered schoolboys is seeking such a decision from the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA).

In Stepanavan, according to investigators, four officials registered benefits in favour of local residents without their knowledge and embezzled the money, the Armenian police reports today.

Today, the preliminary court hearing on the case against Oyub Titiev, the head of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" office in Grozny has been postponed because of the advocates' request to hold a trial in another region.

Investigators have officially charged Aslan Gagiev, a native of the Ossetian village of Bolkvi, with organizing a criminal community and killing entrepreneurs, the "Kommersant" has reported today.

It was decided to hold the second stage of the Russian championship in drag racing, scheduled for early August, in the capital of Chechnya, as the racing ground in Nalchik is not yet ready for the competition, the race organizers have stated.

Prison No. 7 in Gulua Street in Tbilisi has been closed at the demand of rights defenders. For twenty years of its existence, the prison failed to create normal custody conditions, Gela Nikoleishvili, a rights defender, has stated.