News

Sergey Tsapok, convicted for organizing a massacre in the village of Kuschevskaya, was found dead in a cell of the SIZO (pre-trial prison) of Krasnodar, the territorial ID of the ICRF has reported today. No traces of violent death were found on his body; and the preliminary reason thereof is a heart failure, said the FSIN (Russia's Federal Penitentiary Service).

The consideration of the petition lodged by Deputy Public Prosecutor of the Krasnodar Territory demanding to cancel the decision of the Tuapse District Court to place the ecologist Evgeny Vitishko for three years into a colony-settlement was scheduled by the Krasnodar Territorial Court for July 16, Alexander Popkov, Vitishko's advocate, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The screening of the film "Ordered to Forget" can not incite any interethnic or inter-confessional enmity – this is the conclusion of Professor Evgeny Tarasov, the Department Head at the Linguistics Institute of the RussianAcademy of Sciences, who made a linguistic examination of the film banned for screening by the Ministry of Culture.

Call of the leader of "Imarat Kavkaz" to militants to refuse from terror acts against civilians; suspension because of shelling of operation of checkpoint in Russian-Ukrainian border in the Rostov Region; CTO and detentions of parishioners in Dagestan mosques, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of June 29-July 6, 2014, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

By July 6, the Southern Federal District (SFD) had deployed 80 stationary and five field temporary accommodation centres (TACs), which received 6917 refugees from the Donetsk and Lugansk Regions of Ukraine, said the press service of the Southern Regional Centre of the Russia's Ministry for Emergencies (MfE).

Slovakia has rendered to Russia Anzor Chentiev, a native of Chechnya, who is suspected of killing two OMON (riot police) agents in Grozny in 2001 and a number of other crimes.

During the week of June 30-July 6, 2014, six persons were killed and at least three other persons were wounded in the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus. These are the results of calculations made by the "Caucasian Knot" based on its own materials and information from other open sources.

Today, in Azerbaijan, the creation of new opposition "Free Democrats" Party has been announced. Sulkhaddin Akper has been elected its Chairman.

In Karachaevsk, Magomed Bidjiev, a detainee kept at the local IVS (temporary detention facility), has cut his veins because of psychological pressure put upon him by investigators and policemen. This was stated by Bela Gappoeva, an advocate from the Karachay-Cherkessian National Advocates' Chamber.

In Sochi, officials ignore the demands of mothers of large families, persons with disabilities, and ecologists. This was stated by participants of the anti-corruption rally held in Sochi. The protestors have also noted indifference of Sochi residents.

In his phone conversation with members of the "Ecological Watch for Northern Caucasus" (EcoWatch), ecologist Evgeny Vitishko has complaint about being subjected to pressure by the administration of the penal colony-settlement No. 2 of the Department for the Tambov Region of the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service (known as FSIN).

On July 5, in Georgia, the Tbilisi City Court pronounced the decision to impose an administrative penalty in the form of a fine of 100 laris (about 59 US dollars) on each of the eight protestors detained near the courthouse. The detainees attended the protest action held after the arrest of Gigi Ugulava, former Mayor of Tbilisi. They were found guilty of disorderly conduct near the courthouse.

The Azerbaijani police are investigating an incident that happened in the city of Sabirabad, in the south-west of the country, where a believer was forcibly deprived of his beard. Theologians have condemned the violent form of religious dissent.

About 100 people gathered in Sochi on Saturday for a rally against corruption in power bodies and officials' abuse of power in the sphere of land relations.

The Supreme Court (SC) of Azerbaijan has dismissed the appeal complaint lodged by Araz Guliev, the editor-in-chief of the religious website "Xeber44.com", who was detained at believers' protest action and sentenced to 8 years of imprisonment.

As reported by Gela Vasadze, the leader of the NGO "Free Zone", in Tbilisi, Lasha Rukhaya, an activist of the NGO, hospitalized with brain concussion during clashes with the police in front of the City Court on July 4, was forced out of hospital, despite his relatives' objections.

The Supreme Court of North Ossetia, which is trying Islam Kubachiev, 19, a resident of the village of Kizlyar, Mozdok District, accused of banditry and illegal circulation of firearms, ammunitions and explosives, has questioned the defendant, who refused to plead guilty and claimed that he had been forced by investigators to incriminate himself.

The verdict of the Supreme Court (SC) of Chechnya against three local residents convicted of kidnapping in 1999 of Galas Taimaskhanov, currently the Minister of Industry and Energy of Chechnya, has been left unchanged by the Supreme Court of Russia.

The border crossing points "Gukovo" and "Donetsk" have resumed normal operation, said Vasily Malaev, the spokesman for the Border Guard Department of the FSB for the Rostov Region.

The order given by the head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov to his law enforcement bodies to hold a talk with the relatives of the alleged killers of policeman in Grozny is in fact a hint to a possibility of applying violence to the relatives, said the human rights activist Lev Levinson.