News

A branch of the public all-Russian organization "Children of War" was launched in Sochi. The first action of the branch was a picket held in support of the demand to pass a law on this category of citizens.

Pavel Nagibin, an activist of "The Other Russia" Party from Rostov-on-Don, claims the politically motivated actions of "Sochi-2014" Organizing Committee (OC), which has refused to issue a fan's passport to him, thus, prohibiting him to attend the Olympic Games in Sochi.

Since the start of 2014, Azerbaijan has registered 21 suicides and a few suicide attempts, including in the form of self-immolation, said a spokesman of the youth movement "Dalga" (Wave). Activists of the movement are going to demand from the authorities to toughen the penalties for bringing people to suicide.

The protest against the Sochi Olympics, held in Ankara on February 1 under the motto "Circassians extinguish Olympic Flame", was attended by 1200 people.

As reported on February 1 by the press service of the Chief Department for the Region of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), a suspect of making a false telephone call about a terror act has been detained in the Volgograd Region.

The mother of Khadizhat Elimkhanova, a 20-year-old resident of Grozny, abducted in Chechnya, has complained to the Prosecutor's Office about improper investigation into her daughter's abduction. The Office has stated that they will supervise the investigation.

A week before the 2014 Olympics, Bill Paskrell, a US Congressman, spoke in support of the Circassian people, urging his colleagues to condemn the Sochi Olympics and support the Circassians' struggle for their culture. Activists of Circassian organizations expressed gratitude to Paskrell and hope that other Congressmen would listen to him.

The action was coordinated with the authorities of the city, said Igor Stenin, the organizer and the leader of the association "Russians of Astrakhan". The picket was held near Swan Lake, not far from the offices of the LLC "Lukoil-Nizhnevolzhsk" and the CJSC "Gazprom Mezhregiongaz".

The campaigners of "Strategy 31", about 20 in number, held their rally on January 31 in Astrakhan. They believe that the city administration had violated their rights by banning their picket in front of the office of the "Gazprom".

On January 31, the Baku Court of Appeal, chaired by Judge Gadim Babaev, began the hearings on the merits of the case of the former Public Health Minister Ali Insanov. The case is considered in connection with the decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).

On January 31, the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Georgia destroyed two CDs with records of citizens' private life, which had been recorded in the course of secret surveillance. The destruction took place at the closing sitting of the temporary commission on illegal surveillance and secret recording.

Alu Amirkhanov, earlier Imam of the mosque named after Akhmad Kadyrov, has been appointed a new Kadi (Islamic Judge) of the Urus-Martan District of Chechnya.

Volunteers, rescuers from the Ministry for Emergencies (MfE) and local residents have completed liquidating the consequences of the storm that struck Sochi at night of January 31.

For more than 20 days already, relatives of Khizir Tlepshev, who disappeared in the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR), know nothing about his whereabouts. His wife fears that he could be detained by power agents and may be tortured, the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" reports.

Semyon Simonov, the coordinator of the network "Migration and Law" of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", has filed a lawsuit to the Adler District Court against the "Sochi-2014" Organizing Committee (OC) demanding to repeal the provision in the rules on issuance of the Olympic fan's passports that admits refusal without explanations.

The prosecutor's demand to apply death penalty to Johar Tsarnaev, a native of Chechnya, accused of committing a terror act in Boston, may change, if Tsarnaev agrees to deal with the investigation, The New York Times writes.

In 2013, the total number of victims of the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus decreased as compared to 2012 by 239 people, or by 19.5%. The death toll went down from 700 in 2012 to 529 in 2013, i.e., by 24.4%; the number of wounded persons – from 525 to 457 (by 13%). However losses among civilians went up.

According to a source from law enforcement bodies, the Chairman of the People's Assembly of the Kulin District of Dagestan died after falling in his off-road Hummer car off a cliff.

Around 70,000 law enforcers will ensure safety at the Olympic Games in Sochi; more than half of them are policemen, the "Vedomosti" reports, citing its source from power agencies.

The operation to detain brothers Magomednabi and Tagir Batirov, suspected of aiding the suicide bombers, who committed terror acts in Volgograd, was conducted in the Dagestani village of Semender, where on January 18 law enforcers killed seven militants, said a source from the law enforcement bodies of the republic.