News

Today, Yerevan held a protest against the law "On Mandatory Accumulative Pension System". The action, organized by the initiative groups DEM.AM and "Against 5-percent compulsory payments", was attended by dozens of people dressed as Santa Clauses and waving flags with the inscription "Against!"

A delegation of Meskhetian Turks from the USA has visited the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR) and met the Diaspora members willing to move to other countries, said Bektas Ampashulin, the leader of the "Vatan" national cultural centre of Meskhetian Turks in the KBR.

As stated by Anahit Gyulazyan, the head of the Mayoralty office of the city of Spitak, today, 25 years after the devastating earthquake in Northern Armenia, the city is still facing the unsolved problems of unemployment and temporary housing.

The "Sledge" Centre in Sochi, which will host the Olympic competitions in sledge, bobsleigh and skeleton, is completely ready for the races, said Ivo Ferriani, the president of the International Federation of Bobsleigh and Toboggan.

The December 13 detentions of activists and leaders of Circassian public organizations are associated with the forthcoming Olympic Games in Sochi, said Ibragim Yaganov, the chairman of the Public Movement "Khase".

Builders have destroyed the access ways to the Sochi Township named Esto-Sadok by their heavy trucks, having spoiled Beryozovaya Street, locals assert. According to residents, they endure hardships since Sochi was announced to be the Olympic capital.

This year has marked an increased number of HIV/AIDS cases among residents of the Chechen Republic in comparison with 2012, says the local Ministry of Public Health.

In the case of recognizing the Union "Women of the Don" as a foreign agent, Judge Natalia Kalashnikova from the Novocherkassk City Court has appointed examination of documents and announced a break until January 12, 2014, said Elena Pershakova, one of the advocates at the trial and the head of the legal division of the "Public Verdict".

On the outcome of his December 12 visit to Armenia, Ahmet Davutoglu, the Turkish Foreign Minister, has confessed that the deportation of Armenians in 1915 was an inhuman act.

The parents of Gamzat Aliev, a resident of the Kizlyar District of Dagestan, who was detained on suspicion of aiding militants, have appealed to the head of the republic with a complaint against the actions of the local policemen, who, according to their version, had beaten the suspect after detention.

The Board of the Chechen Parliament has held an extraordinary sitting and decided to send a special appeal to the Chairman of the State Duma Sergey Naryshkin demanding to dismiss Vladimir Zhirinovsky of his parliamentary activities, the press service of the Chechen Parliament has reported.

The Sabail District Court of Baku has considered a complaint of the journalist and human rights defender Parviz Gashimli about the conditions of his custody at the SIZO (pre-trial prison) of the Ministry of National Security (MNS) and his request to move him into the SIZO of the country's Penitentiary Service. The court has denied Gashimli's motion.

On the eve of the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, prayer premises of five world religions – Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism and Christianity – have been prepared, said Vsevolod Chaplin, the head of the Synodal Department for Church and Society Relations of the Russian Orthodox Church.

A magistrate of the Nizhny Novgorod District of Moscow sentenced a resident of Dagestan to a fine of 60,000 roubles for involvement in the banned terrorist organization "Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami". This was reported by the Moscow Prosecutor's Office.

Last night, in the Akhvakh District of Dagestan, armed men initiated a shootout with policemen. Criminals took hostage from local residents; however, the hostages managed to escape during the shootout. This was reported by the investigating agencies.

On December 11, North Ossetia opened a travelling museum-and-exhibition project "Legends of the Caucasus". The project presents unique historical, archaeological and ethnographic artefacts from the National Museum of North Ossetia. Today, the exhibition project will leave North Ossetia and begin the journey to the neighbouring regions.

Dali Dobrieva, a resident of Ingushetia, who disappeared on November 25, is in Germany. This was told to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by Svetlana Gannushkina, a member of the board of the international "Memorial", and Chair of the Committee "Civil Assistance".

Azerbaijan faces serious legal and practical problems concerning the investigation into complaints concerning elections. This was stated by Khafiz Gasanov, the leader of the NGO "Law and Development", at the presentation of the final report on the results of monitoring the protection of electoral rights and consideration of complaints about violations of the law during the presidential election.

On December 12, the Magaramkent District Court in Dagestan has sentenced to arrest 16 detained participants of a protest action against the construction of water intake station on the Samur River.

It is planned to use Moscow as the venue of the all-Russian rally against Caucasophobia; however, its date has not been defined yet, said Abakar Abakarov, a member of the Supreme Council of the Russian Congress of Caucasian Nations. According to his story, the detentions conducted on December 9 in Makhachkala were directly connected with the plans to hold the rally in Moscow.