News

Today, Azerbaijan marks the 26th anniversary of the Khojaly tragedy. Throughout the week preceding the anniversary of the tragedy, the events to pay tribute to the memory of the victims of the tragedy took place in Azerbaijan and abroad, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

Today, in Rostov-on-Don, a rally in memory of the politician Boris Nemtsov attracted about 100 persons. The participants demanded to continue the inquiry into the murder of Boris Nemtsov, to find and bring to justice all the customers and organizers.

About fifty people went out to a picket in Krasnodar within the framework of the Fourth All-Russian campaign of zoo-defenders "The law is needed now!"

Russian authorities are responsible for non-preventing the murder of the politician Boris Nemtsov; and the public should know the customer of this murder, the participants of the today's march in Moscow have stated.

Participants in the memorial party for the victims of the Chechens' and Ingushes' deportation held in Saint Petersburg shared their relatives' memories about life in exile.

Alexei Matveev, a resident of the city of Cheboksary, perished in Sochi mountains when riding his snowboard. According to his relatives, Alexei would have been alive if he had been provided with timely medical help.

In Azerbaijan, the police have detained Elgiz Sadygly, a brother of the activist Turad Sadygly, who lives in Europe. Then, the court appointed an administrative arrest for 30 days for Elgiz.

Levan Kutashvili and Ioseb Pavliashvili have left a prison in Tskhinvali, but still stay in South Ossetia, the "Georgia Online" reports with reference to the State Security Service (SSS) of Georgia.

On February 23, local Chechens and residents of nearby villages of Chechnya visited a mourning event in the village of Yaryk-Su in the Novolak District of Dagestan. They have confirmed their intention to pay tribute to the memory of the deportation victims on the historical date, rather than on the date set up by the authorities of Chechnya.

The Ministry for Public Health of Kabardino-Balkaria is willing to help Dina Tamukh, a resident of Syria, with medical treatment in Russia, but she needs to raise money to travel to the Russian Federation, the NGO "Ochag" (Hearth) reported.

The deportation of Chechen and Ingush people was a part of the national policy of Stalinism, states Ingush historian Angela Matieva. People from neighbouring regions were resettled to houses of the repressed people, and thus the ground for future conflicts was built, notes Russian historian Sergey Arutyunov.

The ban on entry to Latvia has also been introduced for a number of law enforcement officials and subordinates of the Chechen leader.

The Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev has issued an order on the development of the legal profession (the Bar Association) in the country. However, the authorities have failed to envisage any mechanisms to protect the independence of lawyers; and the measures stipulated in the document will put the Bar under full government's control, the lawyers interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" believe.

In Istanbul, members of the Chechen Diaspora have arranged an evening to pay tribute to the memory of the people who fell victim to the deportation of Chechen and Ingush people to Central Asia. The audience was showed footage from the film "Ordered to Forget", banned for screening in Russia.

The authorities state about 10,000 participants of celebrations in Sochi. However, townspeople reacted ambiguously to the Fatherland's Defender Day: this is a reminder of those who perished at war, and an occasion to reflect on the country's foreign policy problems.

Persecutions of activists in Azerbaijan, violations of defendants' rights in "Sasna Tsrer" case, and abuses of power by police in Georgia were noted by the human rights organization Amnesty International (AI) in its report on the observance of human rights in the world.

Eric Westestrate, the Dutch charge d'affairs, was summoned to the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) after the Dutch MPs had voted for the resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide.

On February 22, a soldier was wounded in a military unit in the Tavush Region during the shelling by Azerbaijan. This was announced by the Armenian Ministry of Defence (MoD).

Today marks the 74th anniversary of the deportation of Chechen and Ingush people to Kazakhstan and Central Asia. Chechnya holds no official events to mark the anniversary; however, residents of the republic say that they pay tribute to their deceased relatives, despite the authorities' ban.

Archil Tatunashvili, suspected of plotting a diversion act, has died in a Tskhinvali hospital, the South-Ossetian KGB (State Security Committee) reports.