News

A section of the Olympic Torch Relay was held today in the city of Maikop, the capital of Adygea. The festive event was held at elevated security measures; however, there were plenty of people in the streets, residents report.

On February 2, in Istanbul, at the building of the Consulate General of the Russian Federation in Turkey, a rally of the Circassian public against the Olympics in Sochi was held with the attendance of over 700 people.

Today, the ecologist Evgeny Vitishko has been sentenced in Tuapse to 15 days of administrative arrest. Evgeny was detained in the morning when leaving the building of the criminal-executive inspection. At detention, policemen alleged that Evgeny Vitishko was suspected of committing a theft, the lawyer Alexander Popkov told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Today, the prosecutors showed the jury of the Moscow City Court (MCC) the video record from the surveillance camera at the entrance to the house of the observer of the "Novaya Gazeta" Anna Politkovskaya, who was assassinated in the fall of 2006.

Murat Borlakov, a resident of Karachay-Cherkessia, delivered today to the Ust-Djegutin ROVD (District Interior Division), has died there under unclear circumstances, according to his relatives. In demand to clear out what happened, his relatives and friends blocked Federal Highway A-155 Vladikavkaz-Dombay.

Although the risk of terror acts during the Olympic Games in Sochi is real, the capital city of the Games is safe, said the President of the United States Barack Obama.

Passage of the Olympic Torch Relay in the republics of Northern Caucasus; detention in Dagestan of suspected helpers to suicide bombers and identification of initiators of terror acts in Volgograd, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of January 27-February 2, 2014, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

Alexei Navalny, a blogger and the leader of the unregistered "People's Alliance" Party, has spread information that the authorities of Krasnodar urge the bosses of the local Department of Education to ensure the presence of 30% of city teachers at the celebration of the Olympic Torch Relay on February 4.

Those who go to court to sue "Sochi-2014" Organizing Committee (OC) demanding to repeal the provision in the rules on issuance of fan's passports, allowing to refuse to issue one without explanation, have no chance to win the trial, said Galina Arapova, the Director of the Centre for Defence of Media Rights.

In the course of the armed conflict in North Caucasus, during the week from January 27 to February 2, 2014, at least seven people suffered: five of them were killed and two wounded. These are the results of the calculations made by the "Caucasian Knot" based on its own materials and information from other open sources.

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).