News

In Tuapse, on the case against ecologists Suren Gazaryan and Evgeny Vitishko, accused of damaging a fence around the so-called summer cottage of Alexander Tkachov, Governor of the Krasnodar Territory, the court dismissed the Suren Gazaryan's motion to challenge lawyer Oleg Kochubin and to conduct self-defence. Besides, the judge dismissed the ecologist's motion to challenge the composition of the court. At present, the court session pronounced a break till 2:00 p.m.

On June 11, in the Sunzha District of Ingushetia, under unascertained mysterious circumstances, three residents of the village of Arshty Bai-Ali Makhauri, Bekkhan Zhukalaev, and Islam Bazgiev disappeared. This was reported by the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial". On the next day, burnt body of Bekkhan Zhukalaev was found the on the outskirts of a village.

The Cossack outposts with slogans "Down with nickel!", "We did not vote for nickel!" went on patrol along the sectors of Moscow highway, Novonicolaevsky and Novoanninsky districts of Volgograd region and Borisoglebsk district of Voronezh region.

Two assaults at prayer houses where representatives of religious community Jehovah's Witnesses hold their meetings were registered in the South of Russia, i.e. Sochi and Volgodonsk, Grigory Martynov, representative of Management Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in the Russian Federation, informed the "Caucasian Knot" today. There were no victims.

Relatives of two residents of Khasavyurt, Yusup Arsabiev and Zaur Khajiev, reported their disappearance to the police of Dagestan.

Tonight, in the village of Ordjonikidzevskaya, Sunzha District of Ingushetia, strong wind de-roofed the cardiology unit of the district hospital; the patients were evacuated.

In Dagestan, Khaidarbek Magomedgadjiev, a resident of Yuzhno-Sukhokumsk, has stated that he was given a permit by employees of the Dagestani Investigatory Committee to take the body of his son Abdulaziz Magomedgadjiev, who was killed in a special operation on July 8, from the Makhachkala morgue only against a written certificate that the relatives have no claims against law enforcement bodies. According to the father, the bodies of three other casualties were given out to relatives on the same condition.

The project named "Academy of Young Citizen" was finalized by awarding the authors of best civil initiatives at the final conference.

A criminal case of three suspects of raping a 14-year-old girl from the Kursk Region committed in the village of Nartan has been delivered to the Supreme Court of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR).

On June 15, an initiative group of students held a protest action near the Ministry of Defence (MoD) demanding to protect the rights of veterans' children, namely, free education and better social conditions.

The Ninth International Film Festival "Golden Apricot" has received this year a record number of applications – 1250; of them, 150 films from 44 countries were selected," Mikael Stamboltsyan, Director of Festival Programmes, said at a press conference on June 15. The Film Festival "Golden Apricot" will take place in Yerevan on July 8-15.

The Institute of Media Rights (IMR), engaged in defence of the freedom of the press and expression in Azerbaijan, has announced a start of the public campaign with the aim to adopt the defamation law, which cancels criminal responsibility for slander and insult.

Dunja Mijatovic, OSCE Special Envoy on Freedom of the Media, has expressed her concern in connection with the recent facts of the prosecution of journalists and restrictions of freedom of information in Azerbaijan.

On June 14, in Yerevan, the union of NGOs "Save Yerevan" organized a rally to protect historical monuments. More than 100 participants of the rally under the slogan reading: "Not to be destroyed" marched along the streets of the Armenian capital of Armenia. The stopped near every historical monument, which had faced and continued to face a threat of destruction, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

Leonid Kozlov, a former assistant of Igor Bestuzhy, the former head of the Stavropol administration, was found guilty of mediation in taking bribes and fined 100 million roubles. This was reported by the website of the Investigatory Department of the Investigatory Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF).

The Lenin District Court of Vladikavkaz sentenced David Kachlaev, a local resident, who disseminated extremist materials on the Internet, to six months of correctional labour. The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the 24-year-old man was charged of inciting hatred or enmity and humiliation of human dignity (Part 1 of Article 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

The verdict against Andrei Scherba, the ex-staff member of the private security department of the Krasnodar UVD (Interior Department), who was found guilty of causing death by negligence because of improper execution of his professional duties (Part 2 of Article 109 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), has come into force. This was reported by Natalia Smyatskaya, Assistant Director of the Investigatory Department of the Investigatory Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) in the Krasnodar Territory.

Today, three officials of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR) Vladimir Zhamborov, the head of the administration of the KBR's leader, Khabdulsalam Ligidov, ex-Minister of State Property and Land Relations, and Ruslan Zhamborov, his former deputy, were charged of committing fraud on a large scale with the use of their official positions. This was reported by the press service of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA).

Olga Morozova, Judge of the Kirov District Court of Astrakhan, who pronounced the decision to refused Oleg Shein, the ex-candidate for the position of City Mayor, in granting his lawsuit to invalidate the outcome of the election of Astrakhan Mayor, held on March 4, read out only the findings of the court decision. Upon receipt of the reasoning of the court decision, Oleg Shein will begin preparation for appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). Today, the court refused Oleg Shein to grant his lawsuit in full.

In the framework of the investigation into the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, the observer of the newspaper "Novaya Gazeta", investigators conducted a confrontation of two defendants in the case Sergey Khadjikurbanov, and Dmitry Pavlyuchenkov, ex-officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA). Following the results of that investigatory action, Sergey Khadjikurbanov' lawyer intends to appeal to the Investigatory Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) with a motion to stop the criminal proceedings against his client.