News

On April 17, the Nasimi District Court of Baku under the chairmanship of Judge Elnur Akhmedov considered the appeal lodged by Rashadat Akhundov, a board member of the civil movement "Nida" (Shout), asking to change his custody for home arrest. The court rejected the motion and left him behind bars.

On April 17, the MPs from the "Georgian Dream" accused President Mikhail Saakashvili of spending much money from the secret budget of the Special State Security Service on entertainments, personal whims, as well as gifts. Saakashvili, in his turn, has noted that the financial expenses were aimed at improving the image of Georgia and attraction of investments.

The castle complex Vovnushki in the Djeirakh District of Ingushetia and the mosque named after Akhmad Kadyrov "Heart of Chechnya" in Grozny are the leaders in the multimedia contest-project "Russia-10", designed to select the most popular attractions of the country. Besides, participants of the contest are actively voting for two other attractions in the Southern Russia - the temple "Golden Abode of Buddha Shakyamuni" in Elista and the Mamaev Kurgan with the sculpture "Motherland Calls" in Volgograd.

The "Esquire" magazine has published a list of Russian regions ranked by the number of extremist materials, included in the federal list of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation by decisions of the local courts. In this rating, Caucasus does not look the most extremist part of Russia. Experts believe that the rating does not reflect the real state of things and sooner indicates the problems in the work of law enforcement bodies than the level of prevalence of extremist moods and publications.

The Investigatory Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) has sent the criminal case against five defendants accused of murdering Anna Politkovskaya to the Russian General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) for confirmation of the indictment and transfer to the court.

Today, the Yasamal District Court of Baku has sentenced the human rights activist Vidadi Iskenderov, the head of the NGO "Enhancing Protection of Democracy" and a former "prisoner of conscience", to administrative arrest for 10 days for disobeying the police.

On April 18, the Stavropol Regional Court dismissed the appeal complaint lodged by the former staff members of the OVD (Interior Division) sentenced to 3.5-6 years of imprisonment for abuse and violence against Vyacheslav Merekha, a detained local resident.

On April 17, in the Novgorod Region, Olamafruz Ismailov, a 21-year-old citizen of Tajikistan, who is suspected of murdering a native of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR) in Saint Petersburg, was detained.

Today, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has ruled on the case of the kidnapping in 2009 of Abdul-Yazit Askhabov, a resident of Chechnya. The ECtHR has stated that Russian authorities failed to conduct an effective investigation into the incident and obliged them to pay 60,000 euros to victim's relatives.

At the trial of the case of the death of a student Radima Ezieva of botulism, colleagues of the defendant - Murat Bereketov, a physician of the Urvan District Hospital, - spoke in his defence. His advocate also thinks other doctors at the hospital should also respond for the girl's death.

On April 16, the drivers working at the construction of a bypass road in Kutaisi held a protest action outside the parliament, demanding higher salaries.

The construction workers erecting the Paravan Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP) in the Samtskhe-Djavakheti Region went on strike demanding better working conditions and higher wages.

Today, Astrakhan hosted a series of solo pickets demanding to stop the prosecution of the opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

The indictment against 16 members of the religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses, accused of extremism, has been sent to the court. Alyona Borodina, one of the advocates, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent about it.

At today's session of the Moscow City Court (MCC), Yusuf Temerkhanov, a native of Chechnya, accused of killing Yuri Budanov, said he did not shoot at the ex-colonel and has nothing to do with the crime.

Members of the Human Rights Council (HRC) of Russia issued a statement in support of several non-profit organizations (NPOs), in particular, of the Association "Golos" (Vote). According to their opinion, the accusations of the NPO of political activities cross out citizens' constitutional rights.

As reported by the locals, during the day the village of Gimry, Untsukul District of Dagestan, was hit by several explosions. As reported by the spokesman of the Untsukul ROVD (District Interior Division), power agents blew up the hideout they found in the village; however, he did not specify the location of the hideout.

A delegation of women from Abkhazia has come to the Kabardino-Balkarin Republic (KBR) to visit families of the volunteers who perished during the 1992-1993 Georgian-Abkhaz conflict. According to Anzor Shorov, the chairman of the Union of Abkhaz Volunteers (UAV), the visit is an evidence of the resumption of contacts and warming up of the relations between the two republics.

Professor Moshe Gammer, a prominent expert on religious and political history of Northern Caucasus, died in Israel on April 16. The funeral took place on April 17.

A criminal case under the article of murder has been opened on the fact of disappearance at night on March 26 of Rashidbek Shamsudinov, a resident of Khasavyurt. This was reported by his advocates; and the investigatory division confirmed the information.