News

The international organization "Front Line Defenders" (FLD) launched its campaign in order to attract the world's attention to the problem of persecuted human rights defenders on the same day with the start of the 22nd Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.

The "Adyg's House" opened in the Olympic Park of Sochi will demonstrate – for the period of the Olympic and Paralympic Games – the Circassian culture, said Mukhamed Khafitse, Vice-President of the International Circassian Association (ICA).

During the Olympics, Sochi is guarded by tens of thousands of policemen recruited from many regions of Russia; however, the security measures have not yet led to queues at inspection points, said the guests of the city interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Five members of the "Buynaksk" militant grouping were killed during the today's special operation in Makhachkala, another one surrendered, said a source from the Dagestani MIA.

After the meeting with Volgograd city officials, four women, who take part in the hunger strike, needed medical help. Ambulances were called to Nadezhda Timoshenko and Tatiana Roschina after the February 7 meeting with the officials.

Last year, 35,000 tourists visited Chechnya, says the Committee on Tourism under the Republic's Government. According to the Committee, most of them come from neighbouring regions for pilgrimage to saints' tombs, and for sightseeing.

The Cherkessk City Court has ruled to arrest the policemen of the Ust-Djegutin ROVD (District Interior Division) of the Karachay-Cherkessian Republic (KChR), suspected of intentional infliction grave bodily harm that caused the death of a detainee Murat Borlakov, for the time of the preliminary investigation, said a source from the court.

Deputy Sochi Mayor Victor Filonov has suggested Roman Shikarev and Vladimir Kimaev, the organizers of the rally against "discrimination of Sochi townspeople based on their residence", to hold a conversation with governmental officials, the activists have reported themselves.

Igor Kharchenko, an activist of the "Ecological Watch for Northern Caucasus", who was sentenced to five days of administrative arrest, has gone on hunger strike.

Shaig Agaev, a resident of the city of Lenkoran, located in Southern Azerbaijan, was sentenced to 4 years in prison on charges of selling drugs. Azerbaijani human rights activists believe that Agaev was convicted for declaring that his daughter had been beaten at school.

The office of the Dagestani Regional Public Organization (DRPO) "Pravozaschita" (Advocacy) is now being searched with confiscation of financial and other documents, said Aisha Selimkhanova, a human rights activist.

Today, 25 protesters against the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi were detained in the city of Nalchik by employees of the OVD (Interior Division) No. 1, said Abubekir Murzakan, the chairman of the public movement "Adyge Khekuzh-Circassia".

Today, more than 20 activists of the youth wing of the ARF "Dashnaktsutyun" Party held a rally in Stepanakert demanding to objectively investigate the incidents on the contact line of the Karabakh conflict.

Today, 1000 prisoners, who serve their terms in the Gegut Prison located near the city of Kutaisi, went on hunger strike in protest against ill-treatment by the prison administration.

The family of Murat Borlakov, who died in the Ust-Djegutin ROVD (District Interior Division), is satisfied with the decision of Kazimir Botashev, the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Karachay-Cherkessian Republic (KChR) to detain 11 power agents in connection with the incident.

Three people were killed and one was wounded in the Urus-Martan District of Chechnya, said a source from the republic's law enforcement bodies.

On January 31, two unidentified persons kidnapped in Dagestan two Chontaul villagers; one of them was later released, say the villagers. According to their story, the fate of the second one, who served in Chechnya under contract, remains unknown.

Residents of the village of Atazhukino, Baksan District of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR) claim that they were moved into houses built with gross violations of building rules and technologies.

Some of Sochi residents believe that the preparation for the Olympics has brought a great benefit to Sochi as a resort. Others, on the opposite, assert that many social problems remain unresolved because of the Olympics. These are the results of the blitz opinion poll conducted by the "Caucasian Knot" in the city streets one day before the opening of the Games.

Representatives of Circassian organizations claim that the Circassians who have come to the Olympic Games in Sochi from abroad cannot represent the Circassian Diaspora and will be attending the Games as individuals. The International Movement "Patriots of Circassia" has urged them to listen to the opinion of the Circassian community.