News

In Krasnodar, 65 facilities of uncontrolled settlement were revealed, following the inspection results. The facilities are to be demolished in accordance with the court's decision. Advertising of uncontrolled settlement facilities is being dismantled from city streets and transportation, the press service of the Mayoralty reports.

Builders of the Turkish companies "Penta" and "Bora Inshaat", which have large wage arrears, will appeal to the Office of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Grozny, where, on March 21, the meeting with residents of Chechnya on labour relations is to be held.

Relatives of Abdurakhman Djakaev, accused of illegal possession of weapons, claim that he is subjected to periodical beatings by law enforcement agents. The policemen themselves deny all allegations and intend to criminate Sapiyat Magomedova, the detainee's lawyer, of slander.

The court found two participants of mass fight in North Ossetia, in which student Kuanch Guliev, a resident of Kabardino-Balkaria, was beaten and later died, guilty and sentenced them to 7 and 8 years of imprisonment.

Starting from March 18, units of the Armed Forces of Armenia violated the ceasefire. This was reported by the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence (MoD). The MoD of Nagorno-Karabakh claims that during the period of March 10-17, it registered about 350 cases of violation of the ceasefire by Azerbaijan.

Appointment of the second round of parliamentary elections in Abkhazia at majority of electoral precincts; sentencing the person accused of committing terror ac in Stavropol; hunger strike of supporters of the "Spravedlivaya Rossiya" (Fair Russia) Party in Astrakhan; dismissal of the Prosecutor of the Rostov Region for violation of oath; protest actions in defence of Yerevan park, look these and other events in the Caucasus in the review of the week of March 12-18, 2012, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

A large group of power structures was shifted from a military base Khankala located in Grozny to neighbouring Dagestan. According to a source from the Chechen law enforcement agencies, the transfer of internal troops and staff members of other power agencies to the republic is associated with a significant complication of the situation in Dagestan in recent months.

At least 24 persons became victims of armed confrontation in Northern Caucasus within a period from March, 12, till March, 18. 19 out of them perished and five got wounded. These are the totals of calculation by the “Caucasian Knot” based on its own data and information from other open sources.

Human rights activists in Azerbaijan are disappointed in the charter of pardon signed by President of the country Ilham Aliev which in their opinion failed to solve the problem of political prisoners once again.

Public prosecutor’s office of Makhachkala fined three officials of the municipal Department of Architecture and Town planning for violations of the terms of considering the citizens’ appeals. All in all, Public prosecutor’s office registered 97 facts of such violations.

The Krasnodar Territory has hosted actions in support of Suren Gazaryan and Evgeniy Vitishko, activists of the "Ecological Watch for Northern Caucasus", and their lawyer Victor Dutlov. Twelve solo pickets took place in Krasnodar; and the picket in Sochi was about 50 persons strong.

About 1500 people came to the rally of oppositional youth organizations held in the capital of Azerbaijan.

The health condition of Ilaishat Alieva, a resident of the village of Tukita of the Akhvakh District of Dagestan, who lost her four children in a fire, is assessed as extremely grave by doctors.

People see a large accumulation of military machinery and servicemen in the Karabudakhkent District, Valimagomed Iziev, a resident of the village of Karabudakhkent, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The houses of residents of the Astrakhan Region, located near the "Ashuluk" military testing ground are not seismically resistant, said the spokesman of the Chief Department for the Astrakhan region of the Russian Ministry for Emergencies (MfE).

In Astrakhan, the termless hunger strike in protest against the outcomes of the March 4 presidential election, started on March 15, continues. The number of the participants of the protest action is now 12.

The struggle to improve social conditions of Armenians is the topic of the exhibition of documentary photos "Great Expectations", which opened in Yerevan on March 16.

On March 16 in Tbilisi, students from various universities held a protest action, demanding the de-politicization of the bodies of students' self-government and reduction of tuition fees.

In Sochi, Svetlana Kravchenko, a correspondent of the "Caucasian Knot", was attacked during performance of her professional duties. The culprits took away her video camera.

The city of Gudauri has commissioned the longest and the fastest gondola-type ropeway in the Caucasus. Its first passengers were the President of Georgia Mikhail Saakashvili, the country's First Lady Sandra Elisabeth Roelofs and the Mayor of Tbilisi Gigi Ugulava.