News

The Sochi Public Ecological Council has filed to the "Rosprirodnadzor" (Russian Federal Agency for Supervision of Natural Resources) an appeal in connection with plans to locate a landfill for construction waste from the Olympic facilities in the village of Akhshtyr. This was reported by Vladimir Ostapuk, Chairman of the Council.

At the recent meeting of the Council of National Communities, representatives of the Sochi Diasporas have discussed issues related to ensuring labour rights of migrant workers who came to the construction of the Olympic facilities and issues related to the safety of the city.

On August 27, during the debates in the case of the attack on Nalchik, prosecutors recalled the episode of the attack on the shop "Okhotnik Plus" and urged the court to take into account the testimonies given by the defendants during the preliminary investigation.

Those guilty of the murder of Akhmed Kotiev could rely on leniency only if they come and surrender, Yunus-Bek Evkurov, the acting head of Ingushetia, said today at a sitting of the Republic's Antiterrorist Commission.

Law enforcement bodies of Armenia must ensure peaceful protest actions and initiate criminal proceedings against the policemen who used force to protesters. This is stated in the letter adopted by the participants of the today's rally against police lawlessness in Yerevan and addressed to the country's General Public Prosecutor.

Today, the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Azerbaijan refused to approve the documents of Rustam Ibragimbekov, the presidential candidate from the National Council of Democratic Forces (NCDF).

Argishti Kiviryan, the coordinator of the Internet edition "Armenia Today", became a figurant of a criminal case of using violence against a power representative. The case files, after a comprehensive study, have been delivered to the Special Investigation Service of Armenia, said Sona Truzyan, the press secretary of the General Public Prosecutor.

The Central Election Commission (CEC) of Azerbaijan has approved the nomination of Ilgar Mamedov, 43, the leader of the civil movement "Republican Alternative" (ReAl), who is under arrest and investigation, as a presidential candidate.

In the Dagestani village of Khadjalmakhi people's militia units are lynching local Salafi Muslims, which demands urgent intervention of the leadership of Dagestan and the General Prosecutor's Office. This was stated on August 26 by activists of human rights organizations in their open letter to the Acting Head of Dagestan and heads of local and federal law enforcement bodies.

Law enforcement bodies of Azerbaijan have put Elshad Abdullaev, the former Rector of the private Azerbaijani International University (AIU), who is now abroad, on the international wanted list. He is accused of trafficking in human organs and abuse of office powers.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told at the Spiritual Administration of Muslims (SAM) of Dagestan that on August 26, one day before the official opening, the exhibition of relics of Prophet Mohammed was visited by more than five thousand people. According to Magomedrasul Omarov, the press secretary of the SAM of Dagestan, the exhibition will last till September 2.

The next session of the court dealing with the case of Alexander Tolmachov, a Rostov journalist and publisher, will take place on August 28. It is expected that the judge will make a decision on the possibility for Tolmachov to go to meet voters as a candidate for Deputy of the Legislative Assembly of the Rostov Region.

On August 26, residents of Abkhazia marked the five-year anniversary of the recognition day of the independence of their country. As stated by Irakli Khintba, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Abkhazia, the broadening of the international recognition of the country is one of the key areas of Abkhazian foreign policy.

Today, delegations from the regions of the North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD), Transnistria, Abkhazia and Nagorno-Karabakh came to celebrate the recognition of independence of South Ossetia.

At detention of activists of the "Armenian National Congress" (ANC), now convicted for hooliganism and disobeying the police, law enforcers themselves committed illegal actions, including beating of detainees. This was stated by Sahak Muradyan, an ex-figurant in the case and now a witness, at the session of the Court of Appeal (CoA) of Armenia.

The Moscow-Sukhumi relations are passing through hard times; and this explains the rapid departure of Vladimir Putin from Pitsunda on the eve of the day of international recognition of the republic's independence. This was stated by Alexander Skakov, a researcher at the Russian Institute of Strategic Studies. Abkhazian experts did not support this opinion.

The anti-immigrant campaign launched in Russia has been initiated by federal authorities with the aim to divert public attention from everyday problems and strengthen their political influence, assert the intellectuals questioned by the "Caucasian Knot".

The leader of the oppositional "Musavat" Party Isa Gambar has recalled his candidacy from the presidential race in Azerbaijan at the upcoming October 9 presidential election. He made his decision public today at the sitting of the board of the "Musavat" Party, which has supported the position of its leader.

The Party "Democratic Movement-United Georgia" has nominated its leader, the former Speaker of Parliament Nino Burjanadze as a candidate for the presidency of Georgia at the forth coming October 27 election.

In Azerbaijan, the theologian Talekh Bagirzade, who is kept in the SIZO (pre-trial prison), located in the Baku suburb of Kyurdakhany, has been placed into a punishment cell (dungeon) for three days. This is the theologian's second punishment of this sort since his detention on March 31.