News

With regard to the three students from Syria, detained on February 7 in Nalchik, near the place of the action against the Olympics in Sochi, a decision was made to deport them from Russia, said one of the students. The public organization "Peryt" is preparing to appeal against the deportation.

Maxim Katz, a Deputy of the Municipal Assembly of the town of Schukino and a member of the staff of Alexei Navalny at the election of Moscow Mayor, was denied a fan's passport for the Sochi Olympics by the decision of the Organizing Committee (OC).

The advocates of Evgeny Vitishko, an activist of the "Ecological Watch for Northern Caucasus", are gathering materials for lodging a supervisory complaint against the decision of Court of Appeal, which has upheld the decision of the Tuapse Court to replace the ecologist's conditional term by the real deprivation of freedom in a settlement-colony.

As reported by the republic's ministry of labour and social development, Adygea has allotted a total of 3.5 million roubles from the budget for acquisition of housing for rehabilitated persons and for the persons recognized as victims of political repressions.

The journalist Anna Politkovskaya systematically received threats, and her murder was linked to her professional activities, Dmitry Muratov, the editor-in-chief of the "Novaya Gazeta", said at a session of the Moscow City Court (MCC).

A native of Chechen Sheikh-Akhmed Baisuev, who was killed in Dagestan on February 11, was known to power agents as "Amir" of the city of Gudermes, said a law enforcement source. Earlier, his family earlier was subjected to pressure from power agents, human rights defenders assert.

The Committee to Protect the Freedom of Expression, the Yerevan Press Club, the Institute of Diverse Information and the Helsinki Committee of Armenia have issued a statement condemning the actions of law enforcement officers who violate the rights of journalists and hindering their professional activities, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

The Police of Armenia have opened a criminal case on hooliganism against the ANC activists who were disseminating leaflets on February 12 in Mashtots Avenue with information about the rally upcoming on March 1. Earlier, the police refuted the information about a criminal case against the activists.

Catherine Ashton, the EU High Commissioner for Foreign Policy, and Štefan Füle, the EU Commissioner for Enlargement, have expressed their concern about the adoption in Azerbaijan of amendments to the legislation restricting the activities of NGOs.

Relatives of the natives of Dagestan Shamsudin and Oka Magomedov, detainees on February 12, have addressed the Dagestani Regional Public Organization (DRPO) "Pravizaschita" (Advocacy) asking to help in stopping the harassment by law enforcement bodies. Their advocate said that he could not meet them. The Dagestani MIA denies the detention of the Magomedovs.

The explosion occurred on Thursday at a fuel station in the capital of Azerbaijan. One person was killed and another one wounded, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed by the on duty officer of the Khatai District Police Department.

The refusal of the Krasnodar Territorial Court to satisfy the complaint lodged by Evgeny Vitishko, an activist of the "Ecological Watch for Northern Caucasus", who asked to cancel the replacement of his conditional imprisonment with a real deprivation of freedom in the case of the so-called "Governor Tkachov's summer cottage", has caused concern of the European Union (EU) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

In the next three years, the support of the Sochi Olympic infrastructure will cost 7 billion US dollars, said the Bloomberg referring to two Russian officials. The costs are caused by the uncertain future of Olympic facilities.

The problem with queues for tickets formed by fans who want to get to the events of the Winter Olympics in Sochi has been resolved, said Alexandra Kosterina, the vice-president of the Organizing Committee (OC) "Sochi-2014". She promised that the operation to buy a ticket would take no more than 20 minutes.

On February 12, Magomedrasul Magomedov, a brother of the lawyer Sapiyat Magomedova was detained in Khasavyurt. According to Sapiyat, her brother is suspected of raping a local woman. She treats his detention as a provocation and associates it with the pressure on her.

The Armenian police spokesman said that no criminal case was opened against the activists of the "Armenian National Congress" (ANC), detained for distributing leaflets on February 12; their actions are studied within the framework of the preliminary investigation.

Today is the 10th day of the hunger strike held by parents with many children and parents of disabled children in Volgograd. The protesters reports that their personal problems began being solved; however, they want to hold negotiations with the top officials of the region to address all the raised issues.

The Winter Sochi Olympic Games had been planned not as a sporting, but as a commercial project; its goal being to capture the expensive land of the Black Sea shore, the activists of the "Ecological Watch for Northern Caucasus" ("EcoWatch" or EWNC) at the presentation of their report "Sochi-2014: Ten Years without Right to the Law: How They Built Better World".

In the last five years, Azerbaijan has seen a steadily increasing number of suicides, about 80 percent of which are caused by social problems, bureaucratic arbitrariness and human rights violations.

According to a source from the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Dagestan, a power agent received a fragmental wound during the special operation conducted in the village of Bammatyurt, the Khasavyurt District; there is no threat to his life.