News

A working group of Azerbaijani rights defenders, NGO activists, and lawyers made public an updated list of political prisoners which included 127 names. Cases of other 54 prisoners are being monitored.

The authorities of South Ossetia allowed citizens of Georgia to return home across the border, closed in January because of the outbreak of swine flu. In connection with the quarantine, some residents of South Ossetia could not continue receiving medical treatment in Georgia, and businessmen had to raise the prices of food.

Alibek Mizerkhanov, a native of Dagestan, who disappeared in Moscow on February 20, was detained as a suspected recruiter of Syrian militants, his advocate reported.

The authorities of Chechnya reported cleaning roads from snow in the mountainous regions of Chechnya, but residents of the republic described rural roads as covered with snow and noted the traffic became impossible there.

At the trial in the case against Mustafa Gadjibeili, the editor-in-chief of the website "Bastainfo.com" in Azerbaijan, the court completed listening to witnesses. The court listened to the testimonies of two women, who said they were "alarmed" by articles published on the website, but did not specify what "alarmed" them, a defendant's advocate reported.

Khizri Shikhsaidov, the speaker of the Dagestani parliament, promised to include activists in the commissions to clarify borders with Chechnya. However, it is still unknown when and how his promise will be fulfilled, say members of the Dagestani public commission on border demarcation.

Concerts in honour of the 31st anniversary of the Karabakh liberation movement took place in all regional centres of the unrecognized republic. In Stepanakert, the event was attended by more than 500 people.

Since 2007, Ilham Aliev's son owns a land plot and a house in the Moscow region; and other family members have expensive assets in Russia, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) has found out.

The court will consider the complaint of the General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) of Armenia on the refusal of the first-instance court to arrest Armen Gevorkyan, the former head of Robert Kocharyan's administration, who was accused under the case of dispersing demonstrators on March 1, 2008.

The guilt of the five residents of Ingushetia of plotting a terror act at the French Embassy in Moscow has not been proved, except for their testimonies knocked out under torture, their advocates have stated.

Alexander Sargsyan, a brother of the third president of Armenia, has transferred 18.5 million US dollars to the state after initiating a criminal case against him for frauds. According to Migran Pogosyan, an advocate, the case was initiated on the basis of the sketches of the artist Martiros Saryan found during the search.

After a detained resident of Makhachkala complained about violence, a policeman was suspected of abusing power.

Fuad Abbasov, the head of the Centre for Information Initiatives, has called a Russian citizen of Armenian origin to be the instigator of a mass brawl with shooting in Moscow, and revealed his passport data. However, the owner of this passport has declared himself not involved in the incident.

Alibek Mirzekhanov, the blogger, detained within the case of a brawl in Moscow, was released from detention after removal of all charges; however, he disappeared after that, his brother Mansur Mirzekhanov has informed.

A local resident has tried to enter the building of the Armenian government in order to threaten a public suicide in protest.

Local authorities have rejected two applications for a rally and picket in memory of Boris Nemtsov in a mini-park of Astrakhan, said Mikhail Doliev, the head of the regional branch of the "Parnas" Party.

Activists of the "Volny Aul" (Free Village) failed to receive any response from the republic's authorities to requests for help in allocating land plots to those needy, said Svetlana Alieva, the head of an NGO.

The prosecutor asked the court to recognize Salamkhan Sampiev, Ruslan Esmurziev, Khusen Kitiev, Magomed Amatkhanov and Elbert Kharsiev guilty of preparing terror acts in Ingushetia and Moscow and sentence them to prison terms ranging from 13 to 20 years. Elbert Kharsiev and his defence insist that testimonies were given under torture.

Rovshan Guliev, a member of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), detained in his apartment after a search, was arrested for 30 days on the charge of disobeying the police. The Guliev's case was fabricated, party activists assert.

The positions of the Azerbaijani Army were shelled for 29 times, including those stationed in the villages of the two pre-border districts, the country's Ministry of Defence (MoD) has reported.