News

Armen Gevorgyan was accused of pressure on the judge of the Constitutional Court of Armenia, who considered the complaint about the outcome of the 2008 presidential election, which was reported to be won by Serzh Sargsyan, investigators reported on August 3.

The presidential administration of Azerbaijan has stated that the agency attributed to Ilham Aliev an aggressive phrase directed towards Armenia. Media experts have linked the termination of the work of Internet resources of the APA holding with authorities' fears to disrupt negotiations on the Karabakh conflict.

Employees of private and public organizations specializing in making inquiries have pointed to discrepancies of the data released by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) about traces of torture on journalists' bodies, and about the security of the area where Orkhan Djemal and his colleagues were killed.

The Azerbaijani Centre for the Protection of Political Prisoners (CPPP) has updated the list of political prisoners and reduced it to 151 people. The names of nine new arrested people were added and other 19, released in the past six months, were excluded from the list.

The court released on bail Sergey Kyuregyan and Tigran Manukyan after MPs had vouched for them.

Bekkhan Zubairaev, who was deported from Austria to Russia and accused in homeland of organizing a terror act, was tortured in Grozny, his sister claims. The Committee against Torture decided to provide an advocate for Bekkhan Zubairaev.

The jury of the "Laurel branch" awarded the prize to Rostov resident Alexander Rastorguev, who was killed in the Central African Republic (CAR) together with his colleagues while they were working on a documentary film.

In Sochi, two more bodies were found at the place of the burned building which was constructed without any permit from the authorities. Ten people are reported to be dead. Relatives of four out of the victims, citizens of Armenia, have identified their family members.

In the homemade laboratory, law enforcers found six kilograms of TNT (trotyl) and ready-to-use striking elements, the local department of the FSB has reported.

During the last 24 hours, the Armenian Armed Forces violated the ceasefire regime for 81 times by using large-calibre machine guns, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence (MoD) has stated.

On August 2, Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili signed a decree on pardon, according to which 40 people would leave prisons, and for other 43 prisoners, their sentences would be shortened.

A district police inspector of the Department for Cherkessk of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) is suspected of beating a detainee to obtain a confession and planting a material evidence on him, investigators reported.

The Penitentiary Service has dismissed a request of blogger Mekhman Guseinov's to provide a meeting with his seriously ill mother. Officials motivated their refusal by the fact that the sentenced blogger did not participate in "correctional activities" in the penal colony. Activists consider the decision of the Penitentiary Service to be illegal and inhumane.

Orkhan Djemal and his colleagues failed to observe security requirements by leaving at night for the area controlled by rebels; and they resisted the attackers, said the Media Minister of the Central African Republic (CAR). There are no signs of torture on journalists' bodies, said the spokesperson of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA).

On August 2, the Defence Minister of Abkhazia presented Major-General Vasily Lunyov as a candidate for the post of the Commander of the General Staff to Raul Khajimba, the President of Abkhazia, who expressed hope that the General would quickly join the staff of the country's Ministry of Defence (MoD).

About 1500 people signed an appeal to Senator Suleiman Kerimov and businessman Alisher Usmanov with a request to sponsor the Makhachkala "Anji" FC, which found itself in a difficult situation because of its large debts. The football fans wrote a separate open letter addressed to Vladimir Vasiliev, the acting leader of Dagestan.

Nino Gvenetadze has resigned because of her health problems, the press service for the Supreme Court (SC) of Georgia reports today.

CSTO Secretary General Yuri Khachaturov, charged in the case on the dispersal of protests in Yerevan, may leave Armenia, the spokesperson for the investigating authorities has reported today. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) reproached the Armenian authorities for persecuting political opponents.

On August 1, on the Repatriate's Day, a charity event was organized in Nalchik. The raised funds will be used to support families of needy repatriates.

On August 1, the Tver Court of Moscow extended the arrests of Dagestani entrepreneurs Ziyavudin and Magomed Magomedov. On the same day, the Moscow City Court found lawful the arrests of all assets in the Magomedov brothers' case.