News

The Committee to Protect the Freedom of Expression, the Yerevan Press Club, the Institute of Diverse Information and the Helsinki Committee of Armenia have issued a statement condemning the actions of law enforcement officers who violate the rights of journalists and hindering their professional activities, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

The Police of Armenia have opened a criminal case on hooliganism against the ANC activists who were disseminating leaflets on February 12 in Mashtots Avenue with information about the rally upcoming on March 1. Earlier, the police refuted the information about a criminal case against the activists.

Catherine Ashton, the EU High Commissioner for Foreign Policy, and Štefan Füle, the EU Commissioner for Enlargement, have expressed their concern about the adoption in Azerbaijan of amendments to the legislation restricting the activities of NGOs.

Relatives of the natives of Dagestan Shamsudin and Oka Magomedov, detainees on February 12, have addressed the Dagestani Regional Public Organization (DRPO) "Pravizaschita" (Advocacy) asking to help in stopping the harassment by law enforcement bodies. Their advocate said that he could not meet them. The Dagestani MIA denies the detention of the Magomedovs.

The explosion occurred on Thursday at a fuel station in the capital of Azerbaijan. One person was killed and another one wounded, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed by the on duty officer of the Khatai District Police Department.

The refusal of the Krasnodar Territorial Court to satisfy the complaint lodged by Evgeny Vitishko, an activist of the "Ecological Watch for Northern Caucasus", who asked to cancel the replacement of his conditional imprisonment with a real deprivation of freedom in the case of the so-called "Governor Tkachov's summer cottage", has caused concern of the European Union (EU) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

In the next three years, the support of the Sochi Olympic infrastructure will cost 7 billion US dollars, said the Bloomberg referring to two Russian officials. The costs are caused by the uncertain future of Olympic facilities.

The problem with queues for tickets formed by fans who want to get to the events of the Winter Olympics in Sochi has been resolved, said Alexandra Kosterina, the vice-president of the Organizing Committee (OC) "Sochi-2014". She promised that the operation to buy a ticket would take no more than 20 minutes.

On February 12, Magomedrasul Magomedov, a brother of the lawyer Sapiyat Magomedova was detained in Khasavyurt. According to Sapiyat, her brother is suspected of raping a local woman. She treats his detention as a provocation and associates it with the pressure on her.

The Armenian police spokesman said that no criminal case was opened against the activists of the "Armenian National Congress" (ANC), detained for distributing leaflets on February 12; their actions are studied within the framework of the preliminary investigation.

Today is the 10th day of the hunger strike held by parents with many children and parents of disabled children in Volgograd. The protesters reports that their personal problems began being solved; however, they want to hold negotiations with the top officials of the region to address all the raised issues.

The Winter Sochi Olympic Games had been planned not as a sporting, but as a commercial project; its goal being to capture the expensive land of the Black Sea shore, the activists of the "Ecological Watch for Northern Caucasus" ("EcoWatch" or EWNC) at the presentation of their report "Sochi-2014: Ten Years without Right to the Law: How They Built Better World".

In the last five years, Azerbaijan has seen a steadily increasing number of suicides, about 80 percent of which are caused by social problems, bureaucratic arbitrariness and human rights violations.

According to a source from the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Dagestan, a power agent received a fragmental wound during the special operation conducted in the village of Bammatyurt, the Khasavyurt District; there is no threat to his life.

The international journalistic organization "Reporters without Borders" (RWB) has published its regular annual "2014 World Press Freedom Index", in which Azerbaijan, along with Russia and the countries of Central Asia, have been put on the list of countries with unfavourable situation with the freedom of the press.

On February 11, unidentified killers shot dead a 14-year-old boy, whose father and cousin were killed last July. Investigators link the murder of the teen with earlier received threats from members of illegal armed formations (IAFs), a source from the above ID of the ICRF told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

In the course of a special operation conducted in the village of Bammatyurt, Khasavyurt District of Dagestan, three suspected members of illegal armed formations (IAFs) were killed, said a source from the Dagestani Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA).

On Wednesday, Olga Stepanova, a mother of many children, who is taking part in a hunger strike in Volgograd, needed medical help, said another protester Georgy Goryachevskiy. According to his story, they called an ambulance to the woman, but she refused from hospitalization.

It was back on February 6 that the Krasnodar Territorial Court dismissed the complaint lodged by Evgeny Vitishko, an activist of the "Ecological Watch for Northern Caucasus", against his administrative arrest for 15 days, said the court. However, neither Vitishko, nor his lawyer, according to them, knew about this decision until February 12.

The Krasnodar Territorial Court has dismissed the complaint lodged by Evgeny Vitishko, an activist of the "Ecological Watch for North Caucasus" (EcoWatch), against the change of his conditional verdict by the real deprivation of freedom in the case of damaging the fence of the so-called "Tkachov's summer cottage".