News

During the week of October 7-13, 2013, at least 8 persons suffered in the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus. Of them, 6 persons were killed, and 2 persons were wounded. These are the results of calculations made by the "Caucasian Knot" based on its own materials and information from other open sources.

In seven cities of Georgia, students held a peaceful protest action "Stop Annexation". Participants of the protest action accused Russia of occupying parts of Georgia.

Since October 12, in Makhachkala, policemen carry out mass detention of employees of the network of Islamic cafes "Azbar" and Islamic restaurant "Room". This was stated by staff members of cafes and human rights defenders.

Residents the city of Derbent that was affected by the flooding in October 2012 claim that they continue enduring hardships and do not get any help from the authorities.

During the picket held near the summer residence of the Russian President in Sochi, no provisions of law were violated. This was stated by Lydia Lepsveridze, a 75-year-old resident of the resort city, who was detained during the protest action.

The National Council of Democratic Forces intends to seek cancelation of the results of the presidential election held on October 9 and appointment of new presidential election in Azerbaijan. This was stated by leaders of political parties and movements at the rally held on October 12.

In the garden non-profit partnership "Poselkovoe", located in the Tsentralny District of Sochi, court marshals are demolishing two multi-storey apartment blocks, following the decision of the court, which has satisfied the claim of the city administration on demolition of unauthorized constructions. About 50 people, pensioners, disabled people and children among them, are deprived of their only housing, say the tenants.

The Sochi police have detained Lydia Lepsveridze, 75, during her solo picket near the summer residence of the President of the Russian Federation "Bocharov Ruchei". According to policemen, the woman has violated Part 5 of Article 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation – "Order of organizing or holding meetings, rallies, demonstrations, marches or pickets."

On Saturday in Khasavyurt, a member of the local "Khasavyurt" terrorist grouping was killed in a shootout, said the spokesman of the Chief Department of Russia's MIA for the NCFD.

As reported by the National Council of Democratic Forces (NCDF), the today's rally in Baku of those who disagree with the outcome of the recent presidential election was attended by 20,000 people. According to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, there were some seven or eight thousand participants.

The demand of the Prosecutor's Office of Dagestan to treat an article published in the local weekly "Chernovik" as an extremist material is an attempt to exert pressure on the independent weekly, said Magdi Kamalov, the editor-in-chief.

In the city of Cherkessk, employees of the Centre to Combat Extremism of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of the Karachay-Cherkessian Republic (KChR) have returned the copies of the Koran, translated by Elmir Kuliev, confiscated on October 2, back to Islamic stores, said Anzor Abrekov, the owner of the shop "An-Nur".

The interregional festival of national cultures "Caucasus Is Our Common Home" that was held on October 9-11 in Vladikavkaz will become traditional and will be held every second year, said Luiza Kabulova, the head of the division of the North-Ossetian Centre of Traditional Culture and Ethnic Tourism "Farn".

Magomed Medov, a resident of the village of Sagopshi, Malgobek District of Ingushetia, who was detained in the morning on October 10, was released from the police in the evening on that very day. According to his story, he was detained because of an anonymous letter, which reported about his alleged links with militants.

The Office has sued the weekly edition "Chernovik" for the article by Umar Gadjialiev "Here and Now. Sham", published in No. 23 on June 21, 2013, which was treated as extremist material.

In the city of Cherkessk, picketers against torture have failed to meet the bosses of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) and the Supreme Court of the Karachay-Cherkessian Republic (KChR) and give them information about violations of detainees' rights.

Twenty internally displaced persons (IDPs) living in a barrack of the village of Yandare, Nazran District of Ingushetia, have announced a hunger strike, demanding from the authorities to provide them with housing in accordance with the current legislation.

At the today's debate session of the trial of four young opposition activists of the Armenian National Congress (ANC), the floor was given to the defendants, their advocates and the prosecutor. Stepan Voskanyan, one of the advocates, moved a petition to terminate the criminal proceedings against his clients due to the absence of corpus delicti.

Dagestan has no literary process, which should include publication of books and literary criticism, say the participants of the Dagestani Second Book Fair "Tarki-Tau", held in Makhachkala. Magomed-Rasul Rasulov, the Director of the "Dagestani Publishing House", has also noted the difficulties in distribution of books in the region and invited local authorities to participate in the process.

In Azerbaijan, the opposition and the authorities have expressed different attitude about the opinions about the presidential election voiced by various missions of international observers. The staff members of the Jamil Gasanli's campaign headquarters in general support the joint statement of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (PA) and the ODIHR and reject the joint evaluation voiced by the missions of the PACE and the European Parliament.