News

Abudul-Muslim Suleimanov, who was detained in Makhachkala and placed into the SIZO (pre-trial prison) of the city of Cherkessk, was tortured and forced to refuse from the advocate, the lawyer Elvira Aidinova said. On July 13, she sent a statement in defence of Suleimanov's interests to the prosecutor's office, investigators and human rights defenders.

Umar Musaev, who has surrendered today to law enforcement bodies in Makhachkala, a year ago became an IAF member – first of the "Makhachkala", and then of the "Derbent" militant grouping, the Russian National Antiterrorist Committee (NAC) has reported.

For three days, during the campaign "Dress a child for the holiday", the "Heart Without Borders" Charitable Foundation raised 60,000 roubles to purchase clothing for children from poor families and orphans. This was reported by Mussa Bekmurziev, an Ingush blogger, an organizer of the Foundation.

The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) has started forming the observer mission for the presidential election in Azerbaijan to be held in the second half of October 2013.

In Dagestan, investigators completed a preliminary investigation into the criminal case on the murder of four Gamzatov brothers and their nephew Magomed Omarov that was committed in Kizlyar on March 18, 2012. This was reported by Sapiyat Magomedova, an advocate from the Bar "Omarov and Co.".

In the evening on July 12, in the village of Semender, a suburb of Makhachkala, unidentified persons shot dead Magomed Guchuchaliev, the head of the Bar Association "Kavkaz". He was the father of Sirazhudin Guchuchaliev, detained by power agents on May 31 in the village of Leninkent.

The Department of execution of judgments of the Binagadi District of Baku has postponed for indefinite period serving of sentence to community service by Khadidja Ismailova, a journalist of the Azerbaijani service of "Radio Liberty".

The Parliament of Georgia introduced to the draft amendments to the Law "On Higher Education" a provision stating that in the event of early termination of powers of a rector of a higher education institution, a person to act as acting rector shall be appointed by electoral commission of a higher education institution and not the Prime Minister.

The Karabulak District Court has ruled to evict 54 residents of the temporary accommodation centre (TAC) "Promzhilbaza", because they have not extended their status of internally displaced persons (IDPs), said the lawyer Mikail Mutsolgov.

During a meeting of the initiative group "Pre-Parliament of Armenia" in Yerevan, a clash burst out between its members and the police; the coordinator of the group Garegin Chugazyan was detained.

Today, a picket in support of the four activists of the oppositional "Armenian National Congress" (ANC), convicted of disorderly conduct and resisting the police, was held in Yerevan with participation of about 40 people.

The complaint lodged by Mamed Azizov, a member of the civil movement "Nida" (Shout), after the refusal to accept his lawsuit about the infringement of his presumption of innocence, was granted by the Court of Appeal (CoA) of Baku, Fariz Namazly, Azizov's advocate, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The court marshal Aindy Bulatov, who was found on June 25 guilty of abuse of power by the court, has perished today in a motor crash on the Federal Highway "Kavkaz", said Vakha Chagaev, a senior on duty traffic policeman of the GIBDD (Road Traffic Inspectorate) of Chechnya.

The Georgian Ministry of Justice has prepared a draft law "On Prohibition of All Forms of Discrimination", which, in the authors' opinion, sets up the mechanisms for the prevention of discrimination and ensures equality of all people. The bill has been brought to public debate; the authors promise to take into account people's suggestions.

Natives of Chechnya were not forcibly evicted from the city of Pugachov, Arbi Navruzov, the chairman of the Saratov regional public organization "Vainakh", told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. The administration of Pugachov has confirmed the departure a number of natives from Northern Caucasus; however, the exact number of them is unknown.

Arif Yunusov, a historian and the author of the newly published book "Islamic Factor in Azerbaijan", believes that Azerbaijan continues repressing Islamists, while the state tries controlling processes in the religious community; along with that, the authorities are using the Islamic factor for propaganda purposes.

In Azerbaijan, Avaz Zeinalov, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Khural", who was sentenced to nine years in prison, has filed an appeal to the country's Supreme Court (SC), asking to stop his prosecution on the grounds of acquittal. Zeinalov's colleagues have stated the political nature of his case and intend to hold a picket in defence of his rights on July 22.

The decision not to give out to relatives the bodies of the people, many of whom have never been convicted by any court, but simply called to be militants, is an absurdity that should be overcome, a journalist Maxim Shevchenko believes.

Today, Abdurashid Sheikhov, the advocate of the assassinated "Caucasian Knot" correspondent Akhmednabi Akhmednabiev, has filed a complaint against the actions of the prosecutor's office of the Kirov District of Makhachkala, which had refused to initiate a criminal case on the attempt to kill the journalist committed this January.

Today, residents of the village of Khachpar, Ararat Region of Armenia, have gathered to a protest action demanding to solve the problem of a long-term absence of water in their houses. Should the outage persist, the villagers will hold a protest in Yerevan, said Kazar Martirosyan, the head of Khachpar.