News

The Parliament of Armenia has rejected, by a majority vote, the proposal brought by the oppositional factions of the "Prosperous Armenia", Armenian National Congress (ANC), Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) "Dashnaktsutyun" and "Heritage" to postpone – by one year – the implementation of the law on the mandatory accumulation pension system.

In the mountains and forests of the Urus-Martan District, located in the south-western Chechnya, power agents are holding an operation to find and neutralize members of the armed underground, the republic's Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) has reported.

The labour collective of the Volzhsky Municipal Unitary Enterprise (VMUE) "Gorelectrotrans" (in charge of electric public transport) have addressed their open letter to the Governor of the Volgograd Region Sergey Bozhenov, saying about the poor status of the enterprise and mass layouts. The letter was signed by 178 employees of the VMUE "Gorelectrotrans".

A team of 30 builders who were involved in repairing the sanatorium "Izvestia" in Sochi, cannot receive their wages, because the directorate of the sanatorium failed to transfer money for the works performed, said the contractor's representative. In its turn, the customer's party asserts that the reason for non-payment is in poor quality of the works.

The members of the Independent Trade Union of Interior Employees and Prosecutors of Dagestan, who took part in the roundtable held in Moscow, said that corruption and systemic violations of the law in the Dagestani Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) are among the main triggers of the rise of extremism and increased count of casualties among policemen.

On December 3, Liana Khachatryan, an investigator of the Tsentralny ROVD (District Interior Division) of Sochi changed the freedom restriction measure of the local journalist Nikolai Yarst from home arrest into recognizance not to leave.

A bomb with the explosion power of 10 kg of TNT equivalent has been neutralized in the city Khasavyurt, the Russian National Antiterrorist Committee (NAC) reports.

At the recent court session at the trial in the case against Rostov journalist and publisher Alexander Tolmachov, the court has interrogated two other defendants in one of the episodes of the case entrepreneurs Yury Galagan and Elena Morozova. They pleaded not guilty.

In Azerbaijan, the increase from December 3 in prices for gasoline and diesel fuel has drawn criticism from the civil society and the opposition. They believe that the growth of fuel prices will trigger an avalanche increase in the cost of other goods and services and lead to deterioration of people's lives. Till present, official comments on the decision of the Tariff Council are not available.

Vardan Minasyan, a correspondent of the newspaper "Graparak", claims policemen used violence against him during the protest action held in Yerevan on December 2. The police promise to carry out the investigation into the incident.

The international non-governmental organization "Transparency International" (TI), based in Berlin, has released its annual Corruption Perceptions Index for 2013. According to it, Georgia occupies the 55th place, Armenia the 94th place, and Azerbaijan shares with Russia the 127th place.

Major General of Justice Sergey Bobrov, the Head of the Investigating Department of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) for Chechnya, has been dismissed from his position. The appropriate decree was signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin press service reports.

The Government of Georgia has decided not to arrive in Sochi for participation in official activities within the Winter Olympic Games. This was announced by Prime Minister Irakly Garibashvili.

In Tbilisi, participants of the rally in support of the Ukraine's European integration have decided not to leave Rustaveli Avenue until Kiev continues holding its rallies for rapprochement with Europe. Otar Karalashvili, the organizer of the action, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent about it.

The lawyers and rights defenders, questioned by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, believe that the sentence passed today to Gyulyar Akhmedova, an Azerbaijani former MP, is too lenient. According to Azad Mursaliev, a nephew of Elshad Abdullaev, they just made a visibility of trying Akhmedova.

As reported by Nana Kakabadze, an activist of the NGO "Former Prisoners for Human Rights", more than 150 prisoners of Gldani Prison No. 8 in Tbilisi have gone on a hunger strike demanding to review their cases.

As announced by Mark Tolchinskiy, the spokesman of the Chief Department of the Russia's MIA for the North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD), the police has opened a criminal case against Bukhari Kurbanov, the head of the Dagestani credit organization "Naftabank", whose banking license was revoked by the Central Bank of Russia.

The woman, who headed the Department of Labour and Social Development of the Malokarachay District, suspected of embezzling more than 348 million roubles from the budget as a member of an organized criminal grouping, was detained in the Karachay-Cherkessian Republic (KChR).

As reported by the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF), in Moscow, law enforcers have detained a suspect of killing the woman, whose body with amputated arms and legs was found on November 23. According to investigators, the detainee is a young man, a native of Dagestan.

Initiation of criminal case against Russia's ex- Defence Minister Serdyukov on negligence at construction of the recreation centre in Astrakhan Region; Georgia initials its Association Agreement with the European Union (EU); Azerbaijan signs visa simplification with the EU; abolishment of direct election of the head of North Ossetia; creation of territorial units in Dagestan and license withdrawal from Makhachkala "Naftabank"; conviction of journalist Reznik in Rostov-on-Don – look at these and other events in the review of the week from November 25 to December 1, 2013, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".