News

During the last week of January 9-15, at least 22 persons were killed and other 36 were wounded in the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus. These are the results of calculations run by the "Caucasian Knot" based on its own materials and information from other open sources.

High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has allocated to Azerbaijan 5,914,932 US dollars for programmes for persons seeking asylum, for material assistance to persons without citizenship, to internally displaced persons (IDPs), and for integration programme.

Special measures to find members of the illegal armed formations in the Sunzha District of Ingushetia and Chechnya have been completed, and no militants were found.

Everton, the ex-forwarder of the Grozny "Terek" FC, said that during his stay in the team, their coach could afford to hit the players in the faces. The FC stated that they knew nothing about acts of violence.

The Constitutional Commission of the French Senate opposed the draft law criminalizing denial of Armenian genocide.

Relatives of Zurab Batyrbekov, the disappeared resident of Makhachkala, who was eventually found at the IVS (temporary detention facility) of the city, reported on the continuing pressure on the family by law enforcement agencies.

Today, photographer Etimad Budagov and video operator Rashad Aliev were detained while performing their professional duties during a protest action held by defrauded housing shareholders in front of the administration of President of Azerbaijan. Their photo and video materials were seized.

Mothers in Kabardino-Balkaria whose sons were killed on October, 13, 2005, or are in the dock on the case of the attack at Nalchik created a Committee "Mothers of Kabardino-Balkaria in Defense of the Citizen's Rights and Freedoms".

The authorities of Pyatigorsk ignore destruction of a unique natural memorial, the Mashuk mountain. This was a statement of the activists of regional youth environmental movement "Sunny Patrol". They sent a round robin to Alexander Khloponin, Plenipotentiary of the President of the Russian Federation in South-Caucasian Federal Okrug (SCFO), asking him to pay attention to construction on this mountain.

A twenty-four-years old resident of Makhachkala Zurab Batyrbekov who had been considered missing was found in one of the investigative isolation wards of the town. The detainee's attorney reports that he is suspected of participation in paramilitary groups.

In Armenia, on January 15, the initiative groups "Let's save Trchkan Waterfalls" and the "Tegut Protection Group" organized information and ecological campaign to the Lori Region.

On January 16, a group of Baku private taxi drivers held a protest action near the building of the Ministry of Transport of Azerbaijan. They were protesting against the Ministry's intentions to ban the use of private cars, whose drivers were not licensed to render service to the population.

In Dagestan, human rights defenders investigate the circumstances of disappearance of two residents of the village of Komsomolskoe of the Kizilyurt District of the republic, who were found at IVS (temporary detention facility). According to witnesses, to whom relatives of the disappeared persons refer, young men were kidnapped by law enforcement agents. The human rights defenders were told at the police station that the young men were detained for violation of public order in state of alcoholic intoxication, policemen also reported on grenades found among the young men's belongings.

On January 16 in Derbent, OMON (riot police) agents beat an unknown man, the eyewitnesses of the incident report.

Residents of Chechnya, who were declared by the authorities as killed during a special operation, were earlier kidnapped Ali Aidamirov, Khalid Dushaev, and Israil Adizov. This was reported by the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" with reference to relatives of the killed persons.

As reported by Tsukver Ramazanova, the mother of Sharvili Ramazanov, a boy of 14 from the village of But-Kazmalyar, who was beaten in the Magaramkent District of Dagestan, was examined by doctors in Derbent, after the district hospital had refused to take him.

On January 17, the Turkish court sentenced the two persons accused of involvement in the murder of Hrant Dink, the editor-in-chief of the Armenian-Turkish newspaper "Agos", printed in Istanbul, to lifelong imprisonment.

Tonight at the hospital, armed and masked men tried to move Ilez Nalgiev, the ex-head of the criminal police of the city of Karabulak, who was wounded on January 12 by an explosion triggered near his house, into the ward for prisoners, said Aza Yandieva, Mr Nalgiev's advocate.

Today, John Prescott, Co-Rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), met in Armenia with relatives and friends of those who perished during the events on March 1, 2008. Parents of the casualties claim that they were not satisfied with the meeting with John Prescott.

Two young men, Ababukar Yevloev and Isa Bulguchev, disappeared on December, 27, in Magas, Ingushetia. A criminal case according to clause "abduction" was initiated on the fact of their disappearance, however up to date the fate of the missing people is unknown.