News

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.

The new accumulative pension system in Armenia has its flaws, but it is a must; otherwise the country will have to raise taxes or increase the retirement age, Akop Akopyan, an MP from the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), told the Constitutional Court, which considers the claim asking to treat the new pension system as unconstitutional.

On March 28, in Tbilisi, about 100 people took part in the action held in front of the house, where the press-centre of the RIA "Novosti" is located, under the slogan "Putin, don't touch me!" The action was aimed to disrupt the TV Bridge Tbilisi-Moscow.

In Yerevan, on March 28, a rally was held of the oppositional "Heritage" Party, where the official Armenian's position on the territorial integrity of Ukraine was criticized.

At the trial in Baku of activists of the "Nida" Movement, Shakheen Novruzlu, one of the defendants, said that in the first days after detention he was subjected to physical and psychological pressure in the Ministry of National Security (MNS). Another defendant – Bakhtiyar Guliev also spoke about beatings at the police.

On Friday, March 28, in Yerevan, opponents of the mandatory accumulative pension system held an action blindfolded near the building of the Constitutional Court.

The court in Ingushetia has found Yunadi Shakhtamirov, a Chechen resident, guilty of an attempted murder of Ruslan Dakhkilgov, the head of the "Rosselkhoznadzor" (Russian Federal Agriculture Supervising Agency) for Ingushetia, and murder of his driver, says the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF).

In today's world, the appearance of a Muslim may not always correspond to those trends of Islam that he/she professes; while close control over appearance of parishioners is a specific practice for Northern Caucasus – this is the comment of Islam scientists on the new instruction of the Kadi of Grozny, who obliged Chechen Imams to present weekly report on the appearance of their parishioners.

The positions of the countries of Southern Caucasus on the legitimacy of the Crimea's accession to Russia after the March 16 referendum were different. During the voting at the session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Azerbaijan and Georgia supported the territorial integrity of Ukraine, while Armenia voted against the resolution on recognizing the Crimean referendum illegal.

The Dagestani Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) has put the woman, a native of North Ossetia, who was earlier searched in Sochi as a potential suicide bomber, on the wanted list. She is suspected of committing a number of terrorist crimes, the local MIA reports. Her orientation data was spread on the Internet since the summer of 2013.

Alikhan Kubuzov, a resident of the village of Dolakovo in the Republic of Ingushetia, was kidnapped on Friday morning by unidentified armed men, his wife Satsita Arselgova has reported.

The Prosecutor's Office of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR) has accused Aslan Ansokov, Director General of the LLC "AnKar", of embezzling 10 million roubles, transferred to him under the contract by the Ministry of Defence (MoD). Instead of shipping potatoes to the MoD, the businessman spent the money on personal needs.

In the Azerbaijan-European Union (EU) relations, the year 2013 was somewhat decisive, which is confirmed by the agreements on visa facilitation and mobile partnership, and the progress in other areas of cooperation. However, in the field of democracy, Azerbaijan's progress was insignificant, says the annual EU report, prepared under the European Neighbourhood Policy.

According to members of the Sochi Ecological Council, the sitting on the status of the ecology in the post-Olympic Sochi was fruitless – the officials who spoke at the sitting gave not a single substantive answer. Ecologists intend to voice the issue out again to the authorities at the next meeting scheduled for March 28, hoping to receive more specific answers.

The Moscow City Court has continued to consider the evidence presented by the defence of the defendants accused of the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, an observer of the newspaper "Novaya Gazeta". The advocates have questioned two witnesses, the first of whom was Ilman Khasmagomadov transferred to the court.

The consideration of the case for the lawsuit filed by the Karabulak administration to evict families of internally displaced persons (IDPs) from the temporary accommodation centre (TAC) "Promzhilbaza", has been postponed for indefinite period.

The women, who died under an avalanche at the ski resort "Roza Khutor" in Sochi, were skiing along the avalanche-prone route section, said Igor Oder, the head of the Southern Regional Centre of the Russia's Ministry for Emergencies (MfE).