News

The woodland near the village of Yandi, Achkhoy-Martan District of Chechnya, was shelled after on April 3 an infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) was blown up in the area, according to local residents. Chechen militants have claimed responsibility for the blast, but investigators believe that the mine that exploded under the vehicle could be planted long ago.

Resignation of Sergey Bozhenov, Governor of Volgograd Region; conviction in Krasnodar of Mikhail Savva, Director of Grant Programmes of SRRC; verdict of Armenia's CC about the unconstitutionality of the mandatory component of the new pension system; adoption in KBR of elections of republic's head by members of parliament; regular change of the head of capital of Dagestan; over a hundred patients with food poisoning in Stavropol Territory, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of March 31-April 6, 2014, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

The Scientific and Production Association (SPA) "Mostovik" from the city of Omsk, one of the Olympic contractors, has filed a claim to the arbitration asking to recognize it bankrupt. The company has a complex financial situation in connection with losses on several projects, including the "Olimpstroy".

During the week from March 31 to April 6, 2014, the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus affected at least 18 people; of them, seven people were killed and 11 others wounded. These are the results of the calculations run by the "Caucasian Knot" based on its own materials and information from other open sources.

Magomed Aliev, suspected of committing a robbery, who is kept in Makhachkala SIZO (pre-trial prison), sent an appeal to the Investigating Department (ID) for Dagestan of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF), said his advocate Sapiyat Magomedova.

Robert Menendez, the Chairman of the Senate Committee for Foreign Affairs, and Senator Mark Kirk have submitted to the US Congress a draft resolution calling on the President to promote the recognition of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire. The authors believe that the USA should recognize the Armenian Genocide.

In Azerbaijan, the former Public Health Minister Ali Insanov has been transferred from the SIZO (pre-trial prison) to Colony No. 13. His defence has stated that the custody conditions in the colony are poor; and it is located too far from the convict's home.

The Investigating Department for Ingushetia of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) has started an inquiry into the facts presented in the complaint lodged by relatives of Alikhan Kulbuzhev, who reported that he was tortured and brought to suicide.

In Georgia, a commission has been set up for protection of personal data; it will draft the National Strategy for protecting human rights in connection with electronic surveillance and secret investigating actions.

For seven days, from March 30 to April 5 Azerbaijan violated the ceasefire regime for about 200 times, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of Nagorno-Karabakh has reported.

Despite the decision of the Constitutional Court (CC), the law "On Accumulative Pension" will remain in force until September 30 this year, state bureaucrats and members of the ruling Republican Party assert. In their turn, oppositionists believe that the CC took a too uncertain decision.

The Trade Union of the Volgograd "Khimprom" Factory has appealed to the General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) of Russia asking to examine the activities of the shareholders and managers of the factory starting from 2007, said Nina Kulygina, the chair of the "Roskhimprofsoyuz" Association.

Three residents of the Sunzha district of Ingushetia joined the militants in Syria and are now fighting in the country, the Prosecutor's Office of Ingushetia reports.

Koba Khabazi, the former deputy mayor of Batumi, ex-chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Mayoralty of Tbilisi and co-founder of the NGO "Free Zone", was interrogated by the Investigative Service of the Ministry of Finance of Georgia in connection with the activities of the above Supervisory Board.

On April 4, Sochi hosted a meeting of public and ecological activists with the officials of the Mayoralty in charge of social and environmental development of the resort city. The latter stated that the earlier raised problems had been partially solved; however, NGO activists expressed their dissatisfaction with the pace the city the city problems are addressed at.

Moscow hosted an action of solidarity with Armenians from the Syrian city of Kesab and the people of this country in general. The participants condemned the international terrorism, accused the Turkish authorities of aiding the Syrian opposition and supported the position of Russia and Armenia in the Syrian conflict.

Yerevan hosted a rally in support of the minor son of the leader of the "Tsegakron" Party Shant Arutyunyan, who is suspected of hooliganism. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports that two protesters were brought to the police station.

Members of the organization named "Adygekhem Ya Duney" hold fundraising with the aim to make "memory ribbons", dated to May 21 – the 150th anniversary of the end of the Russian-Caucasian War. For the whole Circassian community, this is a day of memory and sorrow.

The verdict announced on April 2 by the Pervomaiskiy District Court of Krasnodar to Professor Mikhail Savva, appointing three years of conditional imprisonment failed to take into account the time spent by him in custody and under home arrest – the court just missed the point, said the lawyer Marina Dubrovina, Mikhail Savva's advocate.

Today, at consideration of the appeal, the defence of the Rostov journalist Sergey Reznik, convicted for bribery, betrayal and insulting an official, has drawn the court's attention to inconsistencies in the case materials; the defendant himself has stated the fabricated evidence, said Vladislav Ryazantsev, the coordinator of the "Left-Wing Front" in the Rostov Region.