News

On April 5, the Armenian capital hosted a protest action, during which activists were symbolically raising funds for the Serzh Sargsyan's retirement. The police forbade the participants of the action to approach the president's residence.

A petition was lodged to the Azerbaijani Ministry of Justice asking for a medical examination of the convicted journalist Afghan Mukhtarly, who complains of severe pains in the heart and lungs, his advocate has stated.

The Georgian authorities announced April 6 to be the mourning day for those who perished in the Mindeli Mine in Tkibuli. Employees of several mines and enterprises are ready to go on strike, said the head of the trade union of the mining, metallurgical and chemical industries' workers.

A tourist from Belgium perished and another one was injured during their descent from Kazbek Mount.

A resident of Khasavyurt, detained on suspicion of a brutal murder of a young woman, may become a target of blood feud. This opinion was voiced by Ekaterina Sokiryanskaya, Director at the Conflict Analysis and Prevention Centre. An ancient tradition remains relevant, since people consider a punishment for a murder to be inadequate, believes Shamil Beno, a Chechen political analyst.

During the past day, the armed forces of Armenia have violated the ceasefire regime 75 times using large-calibre machine guns, reported the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for Azerbaijan.

Six persons were killed and other three were wounded as a result of a collapse at the Mindeli mine in Tkibuli, the Georgia's Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) reports.

Residents of Derbent, who profess different religions, maintain friendly relations. This has been told to the "Caucasian Knot" by members of the Jewish community of the city. Throughout Northern Caucasus, Jews do not face any manifestations of anti-Semitism, said Levi Shabaev, Chief Rabbi for the Southern Federal District (SFD).

On April 4, the "Dmanisi Salvation Fund", set up by activists of the Georgian opposition and NGOs, announced the completion of raising money to buy out a 300-year-old eucalyptus after winning the tender.

A former Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has criticized the socio-economic situation in the country and announced his intention to return to Georgia. However, political analysts believe that he will not be able to return there in the near future, while his supporters from the "United National Movement" (UNM) Party have the resources to repeat the "Revolution of Roses".

The court sentenced a 37-year-old resident of Grozny, found guilty for an assassination attempt on Ingush Imam Isa Tsechoev, to ten years of imprisonment.

The HALO Trust expects permission from Georgia to clear mines in a seven-kilometre section of its border, where, according to the organization, the mines were laid by Azerbaijani soldiers during the war with Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan puts pressure on Georgia and prevents demining, experts believe.

On April 2, a three-year-old boy from Baksan was attacked by a pack of stray dogs, one of the townspeople has reported.

Today, the court in Grozny agreed not to consider the complaint against investigators' actions after the investigator cancelled his previous refusal to initiate a case on the marijuana planted on Titiev. This was reported by the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial".

A court in Khasavyurt has acquitted the policeman Imambek Taisonov, accused of abuse of power and extortion, admitting that investigators failed to check the policeman's complaints about torture. Taisonov himself confirmed that he had been tortured and demanded to confess to committing a crime.

The Russians, hospitalized after the explosion in the Burger King Cafe in Yerevan, have left for their homeland. This was reported by the Yerevan St Gregory the Illuminator Medical Centre.

On April 3, Ingush leader Yunus-Bek Evkurov awarded fighter of a military police battalion who returned from the Middle East.

Chechnya has announced the month of voluntary cleaning works on Saturdays (subbotniks) starting from March. Organizations and institutions are obliged at their own expense to clean and put in order the territories assigned to them. Those people who refuse to participate in subbotniks will face big problems, residents of Grozny report.

In Volgograd, at the Jewish community centre, about 80 people celebrated the beginning of Pesach, one of the main holidays for the Jews. The authorities of Volgograd ignore the anti-Semitic attacks of local political and public figures, claim members of the Jewish community interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot".

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg court has sent questions to Azerbaijani authorities concerning battles near the border village of Chinari, where one Azerbaijani and three Armenian soldiers perished.