News

Four Georgian sailors who stay onboard a ship in the Turkish port of Iskenderun have addressed for help to Georgian authorities. According to their version, the owner of the ship fails to pay their salaries; and they have problems with foodstuffs.

The Magas District Court of Ingushetia has sentenced Aslan Dobriev, the former head of the Nazran District, to four years in prison on charges of a fraud with payments to Chernobyl accident liquidators, the spokesman of the FSB Department for Ingushetia said today.

According to Inessa Petrosyan, an advocate of Shant Arutyunyan, the leader of the "Tsegakron" Party, her client and 13 other participants of the "Million Mask March", detained on November 5, 2013, saw a change of the charge – from rendering resistance to authorities into hooliganism.

The press service of the administration of the city of Anapa reports that as a result of illegal construction of a cafe on the beach area of the Utrish Reserve dozens of relict trees listed in the Red Book were damaged. The Prosecutor's Office has begun searching for the customer.

As reported by activists from the courtroom, on April 2, the Pervomaisky District Court of Krasnodar plans to announce the verdict to Professor Mikhail Savva, the Director of Grant Programmes of the Southern Regional Resource Centre.

In Chechnya, relatives of Alvi Abdurakhmanov report his disappearance after detention by law enforcers. Earlier the jury acquitted him on charges of robbery and attack on power officials. However, the head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov stated the illegality of the acquittal.

In Georgia, politicians, including the oppositionists, declare their readiness to support the proposal announced by Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili to constitutionally secure the definition of a family as a union of a man and a woman. Members of the State Commission of Georgia have already prepared an appropriate statement to change the Constitution Article on equality of spouses in marriage.

Four residents of Bashkiria, who are, according to prosecutors, members of the "Imarat Kavkaz", have been sentenced to three years of imprisonment on charges of illicit trafficking in weapons, ammunitions and explosives. This was reported on March 31 by the local Prosecutor's Office.

Geneva Debates on Security and Stability in Transcaucasia; skirmishes in Karabakh conflict zone and meeting of Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan in the Hague; announcement of court verdict in resonant case on scuffle near "Harsnaqar" Restaurant, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of March 24-30, 2014, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

During the week of March 24-30, 2014, at least 14 persons suffered in the armed conflict in North Caucasus. Of them, 11 persons were killed and 3 wounded. These are the results of calculations made by the "Caucasian Knot" based on its own materials and information from other open sources.

Investigation in the case on the murder of Dakhir Djankezov unreasonably rejects all defence motions. This was reported by Evgeny Kuzyur, an advocate from the Stavropol Regional Advocates' Chamber. Evgeny Kuzyur represents the interests of defendant Ruslan Rakhaev, the former deputy head of the Cherkessk GOVD (City Interior Division).

The Azerbaijani opposition appreciates the official Baku's position to support the UN General Assembly resolution on Ukraine's territorial integrity. This was stated by Ali Kerimli, the leader of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), who on March 29 spoke at the session of the National Council of Democratic Forces (NCDF).

Georgia should seek to Eurasian integration. However, the conflict around Abkhazia and South Ossetia significantly hinders that tendency. This was stated by Georgian experts at the videoconference "Eurasian Choice of 2014".

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, a defendant in the case on the terror act committed during the marathon in Boston, acted under pressure of his elder brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev. This was stated by advocates of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

During the period from January to March 2014, 27 persons who served in the armed forces of Azerbaijan perished. This was stated by the report prepared by the "Doctrine" Journalists' Military Research Centre.

Events in Ukraine have little impact on relations between Russia and Georgia, which remain quite complicated, said the experts who participated in the roundtable on the topic "Russian-Georgian Relations in Context of Ukrainian Crisis".

On Saturday, March 29, Moscow hosted mourning ceremonies in commemoration of the casualties of the terror acts committed in Moscow metro in 2010.

Alikhan Kulbuzhev, a resident of the village of Dolakovo, Nazran District of Ingushetia, whose kidnapping on March 28 was reported by his wife, tried to commit suicide after being questioned by the police, and is now in the intensive care unit, his brother told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Forensic experts have revealed bodily injuries, qualified as moderate, in Andzor Akhokhov, the organizer of the dispersed February protest held in Nalchik against the Sochi Olympics. According to forensic experts, the harm could have been caused to Akhokhov on February 7-8.

The situation with observance of women's rights in Russia and Armenia remains very difficult; while women-rights defenders, who raise this issue, lack support from the state and media. This was stated by the participants of the debates "Ways to strengthen and protect women-rights defenders" held on March 27 in Yerevan.