News

Today, the Kizilyurt District Court has begun a retrial on the murder of a woman from the village of Nechaevka. The defendant – the casualty's uncle – has refused to plead guilty and testify.

Azerbaijan has completed a preliminary investigation into the case of theologian Talekh Bagirzade, accused of illegal possession of drugs. The case was sent to the court. The defendant remains in custody, despite the expiration on September 30 of the term of his arrest, said his advocate Jawad Javadly.

The Georgian authorities have denied entry to the Russian MP Vasily Likhachov, a member of the PACE delegation for monitoring the election in Georgia. This was stated by Alexei Pushkov, the head of the Russian delegation to the PACE office.

Today, at the Department of the Russian Pension Fund (RPF) for Dagestan, law enforcers have started searches and seizure of documents to be examined for fraud and embezzlement.

Baku Court of Appeal (BCA) dismissed the complaints filed by Tyurkel Kerimli, a son of Ali Kerimli, the leader of the "Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan" (PFPA), and two other young men, who had been sentenced by the court to administrative arrest on charges of disobeying police.

Combat engineers have defused an improvised explosive device with capacity of 12 kg of TNT left by unidentified persons at the restaurant "Golden Empire" in Makhachkala. This was reported by the Operational Headquarters in the Republic of Dagestan.

Suicide bombing and killing of SC judge in Dagestan; investment forum in Sochi, held after emergency situation caused by bad weather; conviction of Hilal Mamedov, editor-in-chief of "Tolyshi Sado", in Azerbaijan, – look these and other events in the Caucasus in the review of the week of September 23-29, 2013, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

On September 29, several hundred residents of the capital of Georgia, who are not satisfied with the pace of restoring justice in the country, held an action near the parliament building in central Tbilisi.

During the week of September 23-29, 2013, at least 42 persons suffered in the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus. Of them, 21 persons were killed, and 21 persons were wounded.

Investigator from the Khasavyurt Inter-District Investigating Division has lost a complaint reporting on torture against Shamil Salatgereev, a resident of Dagestan. This was reported by advocate Sapiyat Magomedova.

Police Sergeant, who was wounded to his head in an armed attack on a police squad that was committed on September 28 in Makhachkala, died at the hospital. This was reported by a representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) for Dagestan.

Alisa Ganieva's book about Dagestan has been included in the long list of the "NOS" Literary Award. The short list is to be announced on October 31, and the winner will become known in late January 2014.

The disappearance of three female residents of Khasavyurt, Kizlyar, and Dokuzparin Districts of Dagestan was reported to the police by their relatives.

Today, in the village of Dvani, about 100 workers of Georgian media held a rally against installation of barbed wire separating the territory of South Ossetia from Georgia. A few days ago protests were held by local residents. Authorities of South Ossetia treat such actions as provocations, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

The participants of the today's several-thousand-strong oppositional rally in Baku have expressed their support for the presidential candidate from the oppositional National Council of Democratic Forces (NCDF) Jamil Gasanli. Speakers at the rally called on citizens to take an active part in the voting on October 9 – the president election day.

As reported by Kirill Koroteev, an employee of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", on September 26 a complaint was submitted to the Grozny Garrison Military Court against the decision to close the inquiry of the criminal case about the death in February 2000 of 24 residents of Chechnya at the bombing of the village of Katyr-Yurt, Achkhoi-Martan District.

At the 12th International Investment Forum "Sochi-2013", the Republic of Ingushetia found partners for seven new projects with the total investments nearing 5.5 billion roubles, said the head of the republic Yunus-Bek Evkurov. According to preliminary estimates, these projects will create up to 5000 new jobs.

On September 27, in the course of debates, the state prosecutor asked to find Dayanat Babaev, an activist of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), guilty of hooliganism and sentence him to four years in prison, despite the fact that the victim in the case had recalled his application. The advocates and the defendant himself insist on his acquittal.

Two registries of investment projects and proposals have been presented by Dagestan at the ongoing Investment Forum "Sochi-2013". As reported by the spokesman of the Ministry of Trade and Foreign Economic Relations of Dagestan, out of the presented projects, 33 have a priority status.

On September 26, the Armenian radio stations "Radio-Hay" and "Hay-FM" sent an open letter to Karen Andreasyan, the Ombudsman in Armenia, asking him to check whether the initiative of the Committee for State Revenues to audit their financial condition has no attributes of political persecution.