News

The handover ceremony of the two Armenian citizens detained in Azerbaijan after crossing the border, took place today under the mediation of representatives of the Yerevan and Baku offices of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

The "United National Movement" has demanded to hold a preferential voting in order to identify the actual distribution of political forces. The members of the "Georgian Dream" were against the initiative.

Ragim Gaziev, the ex-Minister of Defence of Azerbaijan, detained in the evening on March 19, was released tonight without charging. He did not rule out that his detention had to do with his open letter criticizing the head of the state.

The indictment against four senior officials of the Krymsk District has been approved; and the case has been sent to the court. They are accused of negligence that resulted in human deaths during the flood in July 2012.

Aslan Cherkesov, convicted of murdering Yegor Sviridov, a fan of the "Spartak" FC, in a scuffle in Kronstadt Boulevard in Moscow, has been transferred to another colony in the Krasnoyarsk Territory for systematic violations of the regime, said the spokesman of the Chief Department of the Russian Federal Correction Service (GUFSIN) of the territory.

The Tskhinvali residents in need of better housing conditions have squattered apartments in newly built houses that are almost ready for commissioning. They explained their actions by intolerable conditions in which they have lived until recently.

She says that threats began to arrive after she wrote an application to the investigatory bodies asking to inquire into the fact of the attack on her by a Buinaksk policeman.

As reported today by Anna Tyurina, the head of the press service of the Moscow Regional Court (MRC), at today's session one of the victims of the terror act at "Domodedovo" refused to file a civil action for compensation of damage.

An action in memory of the victims of the terror act committed 14 years ago – on March 19, 1999, – was held today in Vladikavkaz. The attack on the central marketplace of Vladikavkaz killed 52 people. The participants of the action laid flowers and wreaths at the monument to the dead.

Today, a new trial on the murder of the former Colonel Yuri Budanov was launched at the Moscow City Court (MCC).

Since March 17, 2013, 20 local residents are on hunger strike in demand of resignation of prosecutors Adzharia and of investigation against them. The hunger-strikers assert that they had suffered from actions of five prosecutors.

Today, the Russian State Duma has adopted in the second reading the bill allowing the regions to decide themselves on the procedure of electing their governors.

The Baku Court of Appeal has upheld the ruling to arrest for three months Rashad Gasanov, a board member of the civil movement "Nida" (Shout), having dismissed the defence's motion, said Asabali Mustafaev, Gasanov's advocate.

In Baku, the exhibition dedicated to the activities of human rights defenders in Azerbaijan was closed half an hour after its opening, said Shakhla Ismail, the head of the NGO "Women's Society for Rational Development", which was one of the organizers.

The Sverdlovsk Regional Court has sentenced all the figurants in the case of the unrests in Sagra with participation of natives of Azerbaijan. The six defendants received from one year and eight months up to six years in prison; 17 defendants more were sentenced conditionally to 3-4 years.

The Maikop City Court has denied the motion lodged by Sergey Koblev, the organizer of rallies in support of Syrian Circassians, against the refusal of the administration of Maikop to sanction the actions.

Today, the Karabulak District Court has adjourned the consideration of the suit lodged by the Karabulak administration on eviction of residents of the "Promzhilbaza", because certain participants of the litigation were not notified about the trial.

The Ministers of Internal Affairs and for Emergencies of Azerbaijan have given up their lawsuits against Ganimat Zakhid, the editor-in-chief of the opposition newspaper "Azadlyg".

On March 18, a young soldier called up three months ago died in the Volgograd military hospital. The soldier's mother sought the help of human rights defenders, as she suspects that they hide the truth from her.

Today, the arrest of residents of Dagestan Zalina Gabibulaeva and Zaira Akaeva, accused of illegal possession and transportation of explosives, was extended by two months – till May 18, 2013.