News

The Sochi police have detained Lydia Lepsveridze, 75, during her solo picket near the summer residence of the President of the Russian Federation "Bocharov Ruchei". According to policemen, the woman has violated Part 5 of Article 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation – "Order of organizing or holding meetings, rallies, demonstrations, marches or pickets."

On Saturday in Khasavyurt, a member of the local "Khasavyurt" terrorist grouping was killed in a shootout, said the spokesman of the Chief Department of Russia's MIA for the NCFD.

As reported by the National Council of Democratic Forces (NCDF), the today's rally in Baku of those who disagree with the outcome of the recent presidential election was attended by 20,000 people. According to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, there were some seven or eight thousand participants.

The demand of the Prosecutor's Office of Dagestan to treat an article published in the local weekly "Chernovik" as an extremist material is an attempt to exert pressure on the independent weekly, said Magdi Kamalov, the editor-in-chief.

In the city of Cherkessk, employees of the Centre to Combat Extremism of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of the Karachay-Cherkessian Republic (KChR) have returned the copies of the Koran, translated by Elmir Kuliev, confiscated on October 2, back to Islamic stores, said Anzor Abrekov, the owner of the shop "An-Nur".

The interregional festival of national cultures "Caucasus Is Our Common Home" that was held on October 9-11 in Vladikavkaz will become traditional and will be held every second year, said Luiza Kabulova, the head of the division of the North-Ossetian Centre of Traditional Culture and Ethnic Tourism "Farn".

Magomed Medov, a resident of the village of Sagopshi, Malgobek District of Ingushetia, who was detained in the morning on October 10, was released from the police in the evening on that very day. According to his story, he was detained because of an anonymous letter, which reported about his alleged links with militants.

The Office has sued the weekly edition "Chernovik" for the article by Umar Gadjialiev "Here and Now. Sham", published in No. 23 on June 21, 2013, which was treated as extremist material.

In the city of Cherkessk, picketers against torture have failed to meet the bosses of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) and the Supreme Court of the Karachay-Cherkessian Republic (KChR) and give them information about violations of detainees' rights.

Twenty internally displaced persons (IDPs) living in a barrack of the village of Yandare, Nazran District of Ingushetia, have announced a hunger strike, demanding from the authorities to provide them with housing in accordance with the current legislation.

At the today's debate session of the trial of four young opposition activists of the Armenian National Congress (ANC), the floor was given to the defendants, their advocates and the prosecutor. Stepan Voskanyan, one of the advocates, moved a petition to terminate the criminal proceedings against his clients due to the absence of corpus delicti.

Dagestan has no literary process, which should include publication of books and literary criticism, say the participants of the Dagestani Second Book Fair "Tarki-Tau", held in Makhachkala. Magomed-Rasul Rasulov, the Director of the "Dagestani Publishing House", has also noted the difficulties in distribution of books in the region and invited local authorities to participate in the process.

In Azerbaijan, the opposition and the authorities have expressed different attitude about the opinions about the presidential election voiced by various missions of international observers. The staff members of the Jamil Gasanli's campaign headquarters in general support the joint statement of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (PA) and the ODIHR and reject the joint evaluation voiced by the missions of the PACE and the European Parliament.

As reported by the Chechen Ministry for Physical Culture, Sports and Tourism, the republic's authorities plan to spend 15 million roubles for the ceremony of the torch relay for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi. In the territory of Chechnya, the torches with the Olympic Flame will be carried by 40 persons.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has found the Russian authorities guilty of violating the rights of residents of Ingushetia in the case of disappearance of their relatives in 2002-2005. The ECtHR has obliged Russia to pay to six applicants more 200,000 euros. This was pronounced in the ECtHR's decision issued on October 10.

Residents of the village of Mutsalaul of the Khasavyurt District of Dagestan have appealed to the Dagestani Regional Public Organization (DRPO) "Pravozaschita" (Advocacy) with complaints about the facts of unlawful detentions and torture of their relatives suspected of aiding and abetting militants.

Local residents report that water supply has been fully restored in the Dagestani city of Khasavyurt and surrounding area. Now, the "Gorvodokanal" of Khasavyurt has a month to pay all the debts to the power company, said Shamsudin Khalitov, the first deputy head of the city administration.

Ingushetia has opened the international conference of Ombudsmen dedicated to the protection of human rights. The leader of the republic promised to resolve till the end of 2015 all the problems associated with housing accommodation of refugees and residents of landslide zone.

Svetlana Gannushkina, a member of the Board of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" and the chair of the Committee "Civil Assistance", was awarded the Swedish Stieg Larsson Award – the ceremony will take place on November 7 in Stockholm.

The October 9 presidential election in Azerbaijan was not fair, free and democratic, says the joint statement of the Centre for Monitoring Elections and Democracy Training (CMEDT) and the Public Association for International Cooperation of Volunteers (PAICV).