News

South Ossetia should fix humanitarian relations with Georgia, Andrei Epifantsev, the head of the analytical agency "Alte Et Certe", said at an international scientific and practical conference on August 9 in Tskhinvali. However, his opinion was not shared by other participants.

On August 11, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the former leader of Kalmykia, was re-elected as President of the International Chess Federation (FIDE). His main opponent was Garry Kasparov, the 13th World Chess Champion, a Russian opposition politician.

The Council of Europe (CoE) and Azerbaijani authorities have agreed to re-establish a working group to address the release of persons recognized as political prisoners by local human rights defenders. The offer to take part in the re-establishing working group has already been sent to the Azerbaijani human rights defenders.

Rashid Magomedov, a resident of the Kizilyurt District, who is suspected of illegal possession of weapon, was arrested by the Court for one month, reported an official from the Kizilyurt District Court. Sapiyat Magomedova, an advocate of the arrested man, treats the Court's decision as unlawful and the court documents in the case as falsified.

After his meeting in Sochi with the Armenian President, the Azerbaijani President will return to the belligerent rhetoric; however, he will seek a peaceful solution to the Karabakh conflict, the Armenian experts questioned by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent state.

In Abkhazia, voters' lists to be used in the election of President of Abkhazia are in urgent need of re-examination and correction. The lists still contain the names of deceased voters, for many voters their addresses and dates of birth are not indicated; and some voters are mentioned in the lists for twice or more times.

The criminal case on the attack on soldiers, in which one person was killed, and another one was wounded, and the case on the murder of Rustam Azhigov, a resident of the village of Plievo of the Nazran District, have been combined into one case.

The Baku Court of Appeal (BCA) has dismissed the appeal against the arrest of Arif Yunus, a conflictologist and a staff member of the Institute for Peace and Democracy (IPD). The defence intends to file a new motion demanding to change the pre-trial restriction measure in the form of arrest to the home arrest.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have claimed new cases of violations of the ceasefire in the conflict zone. The claims have been made after the meeting of the Presidents of both countries and Vladimir Putin which took place in Sochi.

During the week of August 4-10, 2014, at least 9 persons suffered in the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus. Of them, 5 persons were killed, and 4 others were wounded. These are the results of the calculations run by the "Caucasian Knot" based on its own materials and information from other open sources.

Events to mark six years after the August 2008 warfare in South Ossetia; meeting of presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Sochi; search of IRFS office and arrest of rights defender Intigam Aliev in Baku; fire that burnt down the marketplace in central Cherkessk; murder of deputy head of Makhachkala GIBDD; deadline for registration of candidates for the heads of the Stavropol Territory and Kalmykia, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of August 4-10, 2014, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

The Lefortovo Court of Moscow has extended for two months the arrest of Khasan Edilkhanov, a native of Chechnya, suspected of involvement in illegal armed formations (IAFs), the "Kommersant" reports. The defence treats the charges filed against the student as far-fetched.

In Ingushetia, the Nazran District Court has sentenced a local resident to one year of conditional imprisonment on charges of possessing live ammunition.

In Dagestan, residents of the villagers of Irganai of the Untsukul District demand from the Dagestani authorities to pay compensation for the land flooded during the construction of a hydroelectric power plant (HPP).

In Azerbaijan, the report "List of Political Prisoners in Azerbaijan" compiled due cooperation of activists and institutions of Azerbaijani civil society has been published. On August 8, the list was disseminated, and it included the names of 97 persons.

As stated by the Agstafa District Police Department of Azerbaijan, the 16-year-old Kyamran Imran oglu Tagiev was wounded in the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict zone as a result of a ceasefire violation by the Armenian party. This is the fourth case of an Azerbaijani civilian injury on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border since early August.

In Azerbaijan, the human rights activist Emin Guseinov can be arrested at any time, and he urgently needs protection, the international human rights organization Human Rights House Foundation has reported today. It has urged the international community to "respond to the rapidly deteriorating situation in Azerbaijan."

As reported today by Vladimir Markin, the spokesman of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF), Russian law enforcers have released five Ukrainian military, earlier arrested on suspicion of crimes against civilian population.

Aminat Umarova, a resident of Makhachkala, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent today that policemen demand from her to give a DNA assay. According to the woman, this year, policemen have already visited her home three times. The woman is going to send a complaint to the Prosecutor's Office of Dagestan.

On August 8, the city of Grozny held a roundtable "Chechnya's Experience as Tool to Stop Bloodshed in Ukraine", organized by the "Objective" News Agency jointly with the "United Caucasian Forum" and with the support of the Public Chamber of Chechnya. The event was attended by rights defenders and public figures from Dagestan, Chechnya, Ingushetia and North Ossetia.