News

Irakli Macharashvili, an expert of the NGO "Green Alternative", asserts that the project Khudoni Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP) is not yet well devised; and its implementation will have a negative impact on the ecology of Svaneti. Local residents are categorically against the construction.

Asker Sokht, the head of the Krasnodar territorial organization "Adyge-Khase", is back at large, his lawyer Inver Tlij told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Today, Lydia Lepsveridze has held an action in Sochi in protest against the decisions of the courts, which had deprived her of housing, as well as against the court decision, according to which she was fined after holding a picket near the residence of the Russian President.

The Magaramkent ROVD (District Interior Division) of Dagestan still keeps at least four men detained during the counterterrorist operation (CTO) held in the village of Sovietskoe. The advocate of one of them complains about non-admission to his client.

Elena Topoleva, the head of the commission on social policy, labour relations and life quality of the Public Chamber of Russia, visited Volgograd on February 21 and urged the hunger-strikers to stop their protest.

A statement demanding resignation of the Governor of the Volgograd Region Sergey Bozhenov was adopted by the participants of the rally dated to the Day of Fatherland's Defender (February 23). A letter with the same demand was also sent to President of Russia.

Ruslan Alkhanov, the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Chechnya, asserts that in 2013 not a single terror act was committed in the republic's territory. During this year, law enforcement bodies killed 28 militants; other 54 members of the armed underground and their helpers were detained or persuaded to surrender.

The man who had revealed an alleged internal service report of the Ministry of National Security (MNS) of Azerbaijan, which refers to the recruitment of an oppositionist, was Ramin Nagiev, a former investigator of the MNS. This was reported on February 21 by Khadija Ismayilova.

The Armenian Fund for Cinematography Development "Golden Apricot" has announced, jointly with the Charity Fund "Pyunik", a contest aiming at defining the best 10 scenarios for 4-6-minute fiction films and documentaries about the Armenian genocide.

In the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR), Nart Abaza, a student from Syria, had gone to the Nalchik City Court (NCC) against the cancellation of his residence permit.

On February 21, in Yerevan, about four thousand people took part in the march against the mandatory accumulative pension system.

In Makhachkala, the Dagestani Public Chamber has held public hearings "Impact of water intake from Samur Valley on ecology of Samur Nature Complex".

The lawyer Selim Magomedov, who was hired by relatives of Alautdin Dadaev, a resident of the village of Novy Agachaul, who was detained on February 17, and whose house was blown up on February 20, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that he was not admitted to his client yet.

The Bzugu water treatment facilities in Sochi fail to run to their full capacity. Therefore, most of untreated faecal sewage from the Olympic capital gets right into the Black Sea, say ecologists and oppositional party activists.

Rashidat Nurmagomedova and Abdurashid Gadjimagomedov, two leaders of the Dagestan community of Sochi, received refusals of the Organizing Committee (OC) "Sochi-2014" of issuing fan's passports. Another community member Mukhtarakhmed Alidibirov claims that his fan's passport was blocked.

One of the Sochi-based websites has posted the appeal of Nikolai Kuts, the Ataman of the Tsentralny District Cossack Society of Sochi, to the city prosecutor to express protest against the presence of Pussy Riot band in the capital of the Olympics.

The General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) of Azerbaijan has questions to Khadija Ismayilova, an investigative journalist and a collaborator for the Azerbaijani service of Radio Liberty in connection with her meeting this January with two employees of the staff of the US Senate.

Investigators admit participation of nationalists in the murder of a native of Dagestan, a MIA trainee, committed on February 18, said the spokesman of the ICRF Chief Department for Saint Petersburg.

Marina Dubrovina, who represents the interests of Darya Polyudova, the leader of the Novorossiysk branch of the "Rot Front" Party, has announced her intention to appeal against the court ruling to sentence her client to 15 days of arrest and a fine of 10,000 roubles for a solo picket.

The advocates of Dzhohar Tsarnaev, accused in the USA of committing the terror act in Boston in April 2013, ask the court to withdraw the special prison restrictions imposed on their client. The team of advocates was strengthened by another lawyer, who specializes in cases, where the death penalty is considered.