News

Late in the evening of September 30, Zaza Davitaya, a journalist of the Georgian newspaper "Asaval-Dasavali", was beaten in the capital of Georgia. The journalist was taken to hospital with serious injuries. According to colleagues of the victim, Zaza Davitaya was attacked by a group of young people of about 10 persons.

The participants of the today's rally in Volgograd "For Fair Elections" have adopted a resolution on the violation of their electoral rights and collected 200 signatures in support of the ex-candidate for the Regional Duma Natalia Latyshevskaya.

Today, the counterterrorist operation (CTO) regime, introduced on September 27 on the border of the Kazbek and Gumbet Districts regions of Dagestan in connection with a search of militants, has been cancelled, the republic's operative headquarters said.

Six convicted activists of the "Nida" Movement have appealed to President Ilham Aliev asking to release them from prison; namely, Rashadat Akhundov, Rashad Gasanov, Uzeyir Mamedli, Zaur Gurbanly, Mamed Azizov and Ilkin Rustamzade write in their appeal that "when at large, they can make for good to their country."

The human rights organization "Amnesty International" (AI) has called on media editions in Russia and other countries to support, on October 7, the international action in memory of Anna Politkovskaya. According to the AI, since Anna Politkovskaya's murder, despite the sentencing in her case, "Russian authorities have done in fact nothing to protect journalists."

In the Krasnodar Territory, Sergey Titarenko, a public activist from the Dinskaya District, a member of the movement "Solidarity", has been detained on suspicion of inciting extremist activity. Like Darya Polyudova, who has been arrested earlier, Sergey Titarenko is being kept at the FSB SIZO (pre-trial prison).

Today, the Krasnodar Regional Court has upheld the verdict against Mikhail Savva, Professor of the Kuban State University, who was sentenced on charge of fraud. The Court has dismissed the appeals filed by the defence and by Mikhail Savva himself. This was told to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by advocate Marina Dubrovina.

Yulia Orlova and Natalia Nesterenko, staff members of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", have launched an independent project "Let's help the Russian-speaking elders in the Caucasus". The project is aimed at providing help to elderly people living alone in Chechnya, most of whom are representatives of minor ethnic group of the republic. The donations collected online will be spent for food, medicines, tickets to visit family members, improvement of welfare, and assistance of psychologists and lawyers.

In the evening of September 29, Alexei Mandrigelya, a public activist, a member of the Public Council for the urban improvement of Krasnodar, was attacked by unidentified persons. Doctors diagnosed a fracture in an activist's rib and bruises on his body. Alexei Mandrigelya told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that he got no serious injuries.

Ecologist Evgeny Vitishko, sentenced in the case of damage to the fence around the "Governor Tkachov's summer cottage", has ensured that in the penal settlement-colony No. 2 of the Tambov Region, prisoners are provided with gloves for agricultural works and telephones in buildings of the penitentiary institution. This was reported by the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" with reference to Valentina Shaisipova, an advocate of ecologist Evgeny Vitishko.

Refugees living in Poti have announced their intention to start a pedestrian march to Tbilisi to protest against the authorities' refusal to provide them with apartments in new buildings.

In Azerbaijan, Nuriya Guseinova, a cellmate of rights defender Leyla Yunus, which is kept at the Baku SIZO No. 1 (pre-trial prison), has filed a claim of a private criminal charge against advocate Alaif Gasanov. The advocate himself believes the claim is unfounded.

On September 29, in Astrakhan, 15 families of a multi-apartment building No. 78 in Menzhinsky Street, which was destroyed by fire, demanded from the municipal authorities to resolve the problem of compensation payments before the winter. Officials from the city administration have promised to conclude in the near future the agreements on redemption prices with the people affected by fire and pay monetary compensations. However, the officials refuse to indicate the exact date when the problem is solved.

At night on September 27, Sakhratula Magomedov, a resident of Kizilyurt, who was reported missing since September 25, was found, a city source told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. However, this information has not yet been officially confirmed.

The decision to suspend the investigation into the murder of the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent Akhmednabi Akhmednabiyev was cancelled by the Kirov District Prosecutor's Office of Makhachkala. As suggested by the lawyer Abdurashid Sheikhov, the cancellation was made retroactively.

Anar Mamedli, an Azerbaijani rights defender and the head of the Centre for Monitoring Elections and Democracy Training (CMEDT) was awarded the Human Rights Award named after Vaclav Havel for 2014. This was announced today during the opening ceremony of the autumn session of the PACE (Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe). The Award was given to Anar's father, since the laureate himself is in prison, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

A local woman told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent today that law enforcers offered the residents of the settlement of Vremenny, Untsukul District of Dagestan, to leave their settlement. According to her story, residents refused to do it, fearing for their property.

On September 26, representatives of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" and Human Rights Watch (HRW) tried to visit the settlement of Vremenny to see what was happening there in terms of human rights, but the power agents at the checkpoint at the crossroads leading to Vremenny and the village of Gimry village refused to let rights defenders to move farther, says the HRC's release received today by the "Caucasian Knot".

The PACE fall session opened on September 29 in Strasbourg is to hold so-called "side-event" titled "Unprecedented Repressions in Azerbaijan". This has been told today to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by Khadidja Ismailova, an Azerbaijani investigative journalist, who is to take part in the forthcoming discussions.

During the week of September 22-28, 2014, at least two persons were killed in the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus. One person was wounded. These are the results of calculations made by the "Caucasian Knot" based on its own materials and information from other open sources. The death toll includes one suspected member of the armed underground and one civilian, both of them in Dagestan.