News

On March 9, Mikhail Saakashvili signed decrees, according to which Georgia quits several agreements concluded within the framework of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The annulled documents include the agreement of CIS countries on protection of consumers' rights.

Before the assault of the house in Makhachkala, as a result of negotiations, one of the women with two children was convinced to leave the blocked building. The second woman refused to leave. This was reported by Gyulnara Rustamova, co-Chair of the human rights organization "Pravozaschita" (Advocacy).

The lawyer Sapiyat Magomedova reports on stopping of the criminal case initiated against police officers from the Khasavyurt OVD (Interior Division) accused of beating her. The investigation into the case initiated against the lawyer herself with charges of using violence against the police officers was also terminated.

Outcomes of presidential election in South of Russia questioned by some observers and the opposition; Medvedev offers to reappoint Tkachov as Governor of Krasnodar Territory; explosion of female suicide bomber in Dagestan kills five policemen; Armenia's decision to skip "Eurovision-2012" in Baku; parliamentary elections in Abkhazia, – look these and other events in the Caucasus in the review of the week of March 5-11, 2012, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

The defence of Evgenia Khasis convicted on charges of participation in the murder of the lawyer Stanislav Markelov filed a complaint against the verdict to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). This was reported by the lawyer Dmitry Agranovskiy.

The Supreme Court of Chechnya sentenced Khamidulla Yapov and Kemal Ebzeev to 14 years of imprisonment, and Rashid Atuov to 13 years of imprisonment on charges of destruction of 84 Pskov soldiers of airborne troops in battles near the village of Ulus-Kert in the Argun Gorge in Chechnya in 2000. This was reported today by the Investigatory Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) in Chechnya.

At least 15 persons suffered in the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus in the period of March 5-11: 13 persons were killed and 2 wounded. These are the results of calculations made by the "Caucasian Knot", based on own materials and information from other public sources.

On March 11, an extraordinary session of the Elista City Council (ECC) will be held, which is supposed to consider cancellation of the decision to appoint Nikolai Andreev to the post of City manager of the capital of Kalmykia.

Alexander Pochinok and Igor Matveev, the observers from the Russia's Council of Federation, and Anton Belyakov, Russia's State Duma Deputy, have fixed no violations at the elections in Abkhazia and noted the absence of drops-in of ballot papers and "round-robins".

On March 10, residents of several houses in Alpijskaya Street of Sochi told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that they had stayed for a week without electricity. Officials from the Mayoralty and the energy grid cannot tell exactly when the problem will be solved.

At its today's sitting in Baku, the "Public Chamber" has decided to hold a nationwide rally on April 8 in the capital of Azerbaijan with a demand to release political prisoners. The action is dated to the first anniversary of the rally on April 2, 2011.

The Norwegian Foundation "Human Rights House" (NFHRH) has called on the Azerbaijani authorities to resume the activities of its branch in this country – the "Azerbaijani Human Rights House (AHRH).

The website of the Department for Kalmykia of the Federal Service of Court Marshals has launched a new service that allows residents to know about their debt within the instituted executive proceedings.

In Georgia, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have addressed the authorities asking them to conduct the parliamentary elections this autumn in compliance with international standards. On March 9, activists of several NGOs submitted a corresponding statement to the President of Georgia Mikhail Saakashvili, Speaker of the Parliament David Bakradze and Minister of Foreign Affairs Grigol Vashadze.

Today, in Adygea, at the foot of Mount Tkhach, two men were covered by avalanche; one of them managed to get out.

Representatives of mass media, NGOs and professional associations of Azerbaijan have made statements condemning the threats and blackmail, to which the journalist Khadidja Ismailova was exposed.

On March 8, in the centre of the city of Tyrnyauz, the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic, a memorial board was opened in memory of the victims of deportation of the Balkar people.

In the context of the recent developments in the Azerbaijani city of Guba, where on March 1 a protest action turned into mass riots, five local residents were arrested.

Today, activists of youth organizations and NGOs held a protest action in front of the Georgian MIA under the slogan "I am a free citizen."

About three thousand people – residents of the streets named Nizhnyaya Imeretinskaya, Imeretinskaya, Staroshkolnaya, Staroklubnaya, Uritskogo Tsimlyanskaya, Tavricheskaya and Polevaya in Sochi – are without electricity since March 7 and get ready to protests.