News

In Azerbaijan, Djavid Mamedgusein Mamedov, one of the organizers of the believers' protest action against the prohibition of hijabs in secondary schools, held in front of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Education, was arrested. The police seized from him weapons, ammunition, large amounts of money in different currencies, and prohibited religious literature. This was reported by the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Azerbaijan.

In the centre of Zugdidi, in the region of Samegrelo, a fire occurred at the building of the former district hospital, occupied by refugees. No victims have been reported.

On October 20 and 21, a terracotta smog covered central districts of the city of Volgograd. City residents believe that the factory "Krasny Oktyabr" could be a source of the smog. The Environmental Service of the City Mayoralty twice took air samples and revealed in them only excess of maximum permissible concentration of dust. A dispatch operator of the factory claims no problems with emissions.

First sitting of the newly elected parliament of Georgia and nomination of Bidzina Ivanishvili to the post of prime minister; observers' statements about violations at elections to the Legislative Assembly of Krasnodar Territory; outcomes of parliamentary elections in North Ossetia, where "Patriots of Russia" were especially successful; action in Baku demanding dissolution of Azerbaijani parliament; restoration of Chechen districts abolished in 1944, – look these and other events in the Caucasus in the review of the week of October 15-21, 2012, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

The dwelling settlement of Sinagur of the Dzau District of South Ossetia, which is located on the border with Georgia and which is a home for mixed Georgian-Ossetian population, has restored the general education school, built a bridge and a medical centre, which were absent there since the end of the 1992 war.

On October 19-20, units of the Armenian Armed Forces shelled the positions of the Azerbaijani army. This was reported by the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence (MoD). The representative of the Defence Army of Nagorno-Karabakh accused Azerbaijan of violating the ceasefire regime and shelling positions.

Raisat Nurukhalaeva, a resident of Makhachkala, tries to locate the whereabouts of her brother, a 24-year-old Alikhan Nurukhalaev, a staff member of the patrol-and-post service (PPS) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Dagestan, a student of the 5th year of the Legal Department of the Dagestan State University.

In Baku, the police prevented holding of the protest action of young activists, who demanded the dissolution of the Parliament. Organizers and participants of the protest action are being detained.

The "PIK", the only Russian-language TV Channel in Georgia, stops broadcasting because of disagreements with the customer, the Georgian Public Broadcaster.

The Krasnodar Election Committee had faced problems with the website for election to the Opposition Coordination Council. The website suffered from two DDOS-attacks. This was reported by Leonid Malyavin, Chairman of the Committee.

The "Armavia" Airline, the Armenia's national air carrier, paid to the "Zvartnots" International Airport 1 million US dollars for repayment of the debt for servicing its flights.

In Georgia, 30 inmates of the penal colony No. 5 for women in the city of Rustavi, went on a hunger strike, demanding objective consideration of their cases by the Commission on early relief.

In the Rostov Region, Vladislav Ryazantsev and Pavel Nagibin, two representatives of the opposition, filed a lawsuit to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). In their lawsuit, they claim unlawful administrative detention, violation of the right to freedom of assembly and the right to freedom of expression, committed by the authorities.

13,000 signatures from 65 countries were collected in support of Vardan Oskanyan, the founder of the "Civilitas" Foundation, ex-Foreign Minister of Armenia. This was reported by representatives of the Foundation at the march, held on October 19 in Yerevan.

Yunus-Bek Evkurov, the leader of Ingushetia, again called on members of the armed underground to come to surrender and promised "to provide everyone, who would come with peace to surrender, with all conditions and to protect his rights." He left his mobile phone number in his blog for those persons, who would like to contact him after his offer.

In one of the cafes of the city of Volzhsky, a visitor in a state of alcoholic intoxication opened fire from a hunting rifle. This was reported by the Private Security Department at the Chief Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) in the Volgograd Region.

In Rostov-on-Don, the court pronounced a pre-trial restriction measure in the form of detention in custody to a 58-year-old suspect of organizing an explosion at apartment of a staff member of the educational division, in which her 63-year-old mother was killed and she and her son were injured.

Important steps for compliance of Azerbaijani SIZOs (pre-trial prisons) and penitentiary institutions with the requirements of the Prison Rules of the Council of Europe have been taken. This was reported today by Mekhman Sadygov, Chief of the Public Relations Division of the Penitentiary Service of the Ministry of Justice, at the conference "Prisons by our eyes: results of monitoring of penitentiary institutions in Azerbaijan". Meanwhile, according to the other participants of the conference, treatment of prisoners in the prisons has undergone little changes, and they are still deprived of rights.

In Ingushetia, a 28-year-old Orts Almurziev disappeared. This was reported by his mother Raishat Kokurkhoeva. According to the woman, her son disappeared on October 18 after he left his home for work.

Akhmed Chergizov, the former head of the village of Voznesenskaya of the Malgobek District of Ingushetia, was detained within the investigation into the criminal case on embezzling 1 billion roubles from the budget. According to investigators, he was a member of a criminal grouping of 12 persons, and he was involved in a fraud to obtain certificates, allocated to the republic's residents, affected by disaster.