News

The members of an illegal armed formation (IAF) killed during a special operation in the village of Dygulybgey were involved in the killings in 2013 of civilians and law enforcers, said the spokesman of the operational headquarters of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR).

Magomedamin Magomedov and Zalimkhan Valiev, the leaders of Tarkin settlements, detained for 48 hours by decision of the investigator of the Inquiry Division of the Dagestani NIA, were released from temporary detention and placed, under the ruling of the Kirov District Court of Makhachkala, under home arrest.

In Moscow, the "Gostinny Dvor" Exhibition Centre hosted the Moscow International Travel Fair "MITF-2014", where residents and guests of Moscow had the opportunity to get acquainted with the offers of the leading Russian and international tour operators and to book tours at special discounted rates. Representatives from two North-Caucasian republics Ingushetia and Dagestan have noted an increased interest of the visitors in their region.

Replacement of Russian President's Envoy in Northern Caucasus and setting up a ministry to be in charge for development of the region; landslide in Georgia causing human deaths, highway closure and interaction of gas supplies to Armenia; start of parties' pleadings at MCC on Anna Politkovskaya's murder; daring attack of unidentified persons on law enforcers in Gunib District of Dagestan; conviction of journalist Parviz Gashimli in Azerbaijan; decision of the court in Rostov Region on recognizing the "Union of Don Women" as a foreign agent, – read the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of May 12-18, 2014, prepared by the"Caucasian Knot".

In the course of the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus, during the week from May 12 to May 18, 2014, at least 21 people suffered, including 10 killed and 11 wounded persons. These are the results of the calculations run by the "Caucasian Knot" based on its own materials and information from other open sources.

The managers of the Azerbaijani Service of Radio Liberty have appealed to Ramil Usubov, the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Azerbaijan, demanding to investigate the attack on the reporter Islam Shikhaliev, committed on May 16, while he was covering a confrontation at the smelting factory in Baku.

On May 17, the action held in front of the parliament building gave a start for collecting signatures in Tbilisi to support a demand to amend the Law "On Prohibition of All Forms of Discrimination" and adopt a new law prohibiting the propaganda of non-traditional sexual orientation. It is planned to send the collected signatures to the Georgian Parliament.

The defendants in Said Amirov's case have nothing to do with the man-portable air defence system (MPADS), presented by the prosecution, said the advocate of the dismissed Mayor of Makhachkala. In his turn, the state prosecutor said that not all the evidences had been presented yet, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports from the trial underway in Rostov-on-Don.

The noisy opening of the resort season says nothing about the city's preparedness for the arrival of tourists, said local residents questioned by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. The opening ceremony took place on May 17 in Sochi – concerts, festivities and other entertainment events lasted till late at night.

In connection with the disaster in the Darial Gorge, the press service of the Georgian Ministry of Energy has issued the statement which denies the responsibility of builders of the Darial Hydraulic Power Plant (HPP) for the landslide.

The visit of the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group to the Kashatag District of the breakaway and non-recognized Nagorno-Karabakh was met by a protest of local residents against the principles of conflict settlement proposed by James Warlick, the US Co-Chair of the above Group.

In Sochi, city officials fail to enforce their own decision of 2011 on demolition of the emergency house, situated in the settlement of Vesyoloe, Adler District, and on resettlement of its tenants. People claim that they have no sewage, heating, water and gas supplies, while officials disregard all their problems.

Today, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed by Arslanali Zeinalov, the Chairman of the Board of Elders, that Magomedamin Magomadov and Zalimkhan Valiev, the leaders of community councils of Tarkin settlements, were detained in Karaman, near Makhachkala. Residents of the above settlements demand their release under recognizance not to leave.

Today, in the capital of Georgia, during a protest action against the anti-discrimination law, which prohibits harassment, including of people with non-traditional sexual orientation, a conflict burst out of the protesters with the police.

Tonight, at about midnight, in the city of Chegem of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR), a crew of the road-and-patrol service (known as DPS) has been attacked. During the shootout, a policeman was wounded, two attackers were killed by return fire, and one more attacker managed to escape.

Today, during searches conducted in the village of Sogratl in Dagestan, law enforcers detained five persons, including the principal of the rural school. This was told to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by a local resident.

In Kabardino-Balkaria, Tamerlan Fargiev, Maxim Kolesnik, Azamat Tanov, and Azamat Khachev, inmates of the penal colony No. 3, have made a suicide attempt to protest against the use of physical violence against them. This was claimed by relatives of the prisoners.

Omaraskhab Alibegov, the imam of the village of Stalskoe of the Kizilyurt District of Dagestan, who was found murdered, was presumably kidnapped on May 14 by law enforcers. This was claimed by one of the relatives of the religious figure. The relatives have identified the murdered man as Omaraskhab Alibegov, who was a nephew of Abu Mukhammad (Aliaskhab Kebekov), the new leader of the "Imarat Kavkaz".

The Azerbaijani authorities should stop the practice of criminal prosecution of journalists. This was stated by Dunja Mijatovic, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media. She has condemned the conviction of journalist and activist Parviz Gashimli, who on May 15 was sentenced to eight years of imprisonment.

The commission consisting of officials from the Government of the Stavropol Territory and the administration of the Plenipotentiary Envoy of the Russian President in the North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD) together with the Spiritual Administration of Muslims (SAM) has determined a land plot near the city of Pyatigorsk to build a mosque. The agreement to allocate the land plot has been signed at the travelling meeting at the office of the SAM for the Stavropol Territory.