News

Today, the Moscow City Court (MCC) has dismissed the petition lodged by advocates of Dmitry Pavlyuchenkov, a figurant in the murder case of Anna Politkovskaya, an observer of the "Novaya Gazeta", and asking to postpone the execution of punishment.

Today, bomb experts from the FSB have blown up an improvised explosive device (IED) detected on the "Kavkaz" Federal Highway in the territory of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR), says the Information Centre of the National Antiterrorist Committee (NAC).

As reported today by the "Kommersant", without specifying its source, the Supreme Court (SC) of Dagestan has sent for retrial the case of a doctor Marat Gunashev, accused of involvement in illegal armed formations (IAFs).

The City Court of Bataisk, Rostov Region, has found three former district policemen of the GOVD (City Interior Division) guilty of abuse of power. Each of them was sentenced to four years of imprisonment in a general security colony.

During the week of September 8-14, 2014, at least two persons were killed in the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus. No wounded persons were reported. These are the results of calculations made by the "Caucasian Knot" based on its own materials and information from other open sources. According to law enforcers, both deceased persons were suspected members of the armed underground in Dagestan.

During the election campaign, which ended on September 14, the "Map of Election Fraud" received more than 30 reports from five regions of Southern Russia. Some of them are published by observers; there are also reports from members of the election commissions and anonymous messages.

Oleg Shein, a candidate for the Governor of the Astrakhan Region, has recognized Alexander Zhilkin's victory, but stated violations at several polling stations and demanded a control vote recount. Shein said that his demand was supported by Alexander Zhilkin himself.

Voting in Southern Russia to elect heads of the four regions and legislative assemblies of three regions; closing TACs opened earlier for Ukrainian refugees in Rostov Region; adoption of the first reading of abolition of direct election of municipality heads in Dagestan, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of September 8-14, 2014, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

The recurring incidents of attacks on media workers and obstacles to their activities result from the impunity of criminals who have committed such acts. Meanwhile, journalists fail to use all the means of judicial protection. This was stated by members of Armenian NGOs at the press conference in Yerevan.

Members of the Chechen Diaspora in Austria are sceptical about the information about the alleged participation of the Chechens living in Europe in Ukrainian hostilities. The Ukrainian authorities are supported by nationalists from Sweden, France and Italy, but not by Caucasians, said Orhan Cemal, a correspondent of the Forbes Magazine.

Members of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) have filed five complaints about electoral violations in Volgograd, including illegal voting, obstructing observers to participate in the visiting voting, etc. This was told to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by Katerina Pechenova, the head of the press service of the regional branch of the CPRF.

The "Russian United Labour Front" (Rot Front) and the "Communists of Russia" Parties treat the withdrawal of their candidates from the elections to the Parliament and district soviets of the Karachay-Cherkessian Republic (KChR) held on September 14 as an ungrounded and politically motivated decision. This was stated by members of the Parties.

In Grozny, the court has recognized entrepreneur Islam Bashlaev guilty of distributing the book "Fortress of the Muslim" included in the federal list of banned literature. On September 8, the Zavodskoi District Court of Grozny found Islam Bashlaev guilty of an administrative offense under Article 20.29 of the Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation (storage of extremist materials for mass distribution) and sentenced the defendant to a fine.

Black Sea Circassians and Shapsugs have appealed to the "Adyge Khase" with a request to help in stopping the mining and transporting of sand and gravel from the valley of the Ashe River. The experts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" state that the ongoing development of natural resources puts into question the existence of the Shapsug people as an ethnic group.

On September 11, in Nagorno-Karabakh, Stepanakert hosted a presentation of the book written by Anna Terkott-Astvatsaturyan and titled "To Nowhere: The Story of Exile", telling about refugees who left Azerbaijan in the course of the Karabakh conflict. Participants of the presentation have noted that after 20 years, the refugee problem has not been solved yet.

Magomed Shapiev, the Acting Prosecutor of the Gunib District, is suspected of opening fire on a policeman and wounding the victim, sources in the law enforcement bodies report.

Idris Cherkhigov, 25, a nephew of the Chechen leader, was approved as the head of the Kurchaloy District of Chechnya by secret ballot of Deputies of the District Soviet, the local administration has reported.

The prosecutor's request to sentence a minor Shagen Arutyunyan to five years of deprivation of liberty has become possible only because the society puts up with this situation, the mother of the accused teenager believes.

The ban on wearing of religious clothing introduced at the Pirogov Medical University in Moscow is not logical. Clothing has no influence on the educational process, and the ban will lead to the opposite effect. Moreover, the very fact of the ban does not look as thoughtful.

When the police had classified the incident with a pig's head nailed to a door of a medrese in Kobuleti as a "destruction of property", it was not correct. The criminal case is to be instituted on the fact of harassment on grounds of religion. This was stated by the "Centre for Training and Monitoring of Human Rights".