News

A Sochi investigator has refused to initiate criminal proceedings against policemen about beating builders of an Olympic facility, said the lawyer Alexander Boichenko.

The court has ruled to arrest Umar Musaev, arrested on July 13 on suspicion of involvement in illegal armed formations (IAFs), for two months. According to Selim Magomedov, Musaev's advocate and a member of the Bar "Kavkaz", the Sovietsky District Court of Makhachkala has upheld the demand of investigators to put the suspect in custody.

Magomed Bilalov, a former shareholder and a former deputy chair of the Board of Directors of the Open Joint-Stock Company (OJSC) "Krasnaya Polyana", was accused in absentia of abuse of power in a commercial organization, said the Russia's MIA.

The investigation into the murder of an employee of the Grozny office of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" Natalia Estemirova was not suspended; and the inquiry has been extended until August 15, the Investigating Committee of the Russian federation (ICRF) has reported today.

Murder of journalist Akhmednabi Akhmednabiev in Dagestan; decision of Russia's Supreme Court to uphold ban on wearing hijabs in schools of Stavropol Territory; start of trial in Boston of Johar Tsarnaev, accused of committing a terror act during marathon race; start of nominating presidential candidates in Georgia; a public hearing on the reconstruction project of Volgograd embankment; end of international film festival "Golden Apricot" in Armenia, – look these and other events in the Caucasus in the review of the week of July 8-14, 2013, prepared by the"Caucasian Knot".

As reported by the press service of the Investigating Department for Dagestan of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF), the attack on the Dagestani lawyer Magomed Guchuchaliev was committed by two criminals.

The leaders of the opposition parties of the StavropolTerritory treat the campaign conducted by the "Edinaya Rossiya" (United Russia) Party in Stavropol in support of the prohibition of propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations adopted by the State Duma as an attempt to distract the public from the real problems.

Today marks exactly four years since in 2009, Natalia Estemirova, a staff member of the Grozny Office of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", was kidnapped and murdered in Chechnya.

Gusein Abdullaev, an Azerbaijani ex-MP, businessman and author of the protest song "Susma!" (Don't keep silent!), claimed being under political persecution at home and asked for political asylum in Germany. The law enforcement bodies of Azerbaijanput Gusein Abdullaev on the wanted list on suspicion of committing economic crimes.

Agents of the Federal Security Bureau (FSB) and the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) should check the heads of those villages and districts, where members of the armed underground are active; such head should be dismissed, said Ramazan Abdulatipov, the acting head of Dagestan.

On July 14, inBaku, three activists of youth organizations were detained. Their detentions are connected with anti-government leaflets, distributed in public places. This was stated by one of the detainees.

The provisions on the Human Rights Council under the republic's leader should be prepared within a month. However, local experts express their doubts about the feasibility of establishing a body which, in their opinion, would be controlled by the authorities.

Abdul-Muslim Suleimanov, a native of Dagestan, is subjected to torture at the SIZO (pre-trial prison) of the city of Cherkessk. Investigators try to force him to confess to the crime that he had not committed. This was stated by the mother of Abdul-Muslim. A detainee's advocate has confirmed that Abdul-Muslim Suleimanov spoke about torture.

The pre-election assessment mission of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) has released recommendations for organizing the monitoring of the presidential election in Azerbaijan to be held in the second half of October. The mission recommended that the main monitoring group deployed 8 months before the election should be complemented by about 300 additional observers.

Abudul-Muslim Suleimanov, who was detained in Makhachkala and placed into the SIZO (pre-trial prison) of the city of Cherkessk, was tortured and forced to refuse from the advocate, the lawyer Elvira Aidinova said. On July 13, she sent a statement in defence of Suleimanov's interests to the prosecutor's office, investigators and human rights defenders.

Umar Musaev, who has surrendered today to law enforcement bodies in Makhachkala, a year ago became an IAF member – first of the "Makhachkala", and then of the "Derbent" militant grouping, the Russian National Antiterrorist Committee (NAC) has reported.

For three days, during the campaign "Dress a child for the holiday", the "Heart Without Borders" Charitable Foundation raised 60,000 roubles to purchase clothing for children from poor families and orphans. This was reported by Mussa Bekmurziev, an Ingush blogger, an organizer of the Foundation.

The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) has started forming the observer mission for the presidential election in Azerbaijan to be held in the second half of October 2013.

In Dagestan, investigators completed a preliminary investigation into the criminal case on the murder of four Gamzatov brothers and their nephew Magomed Omarov that was committed in Kizlyar on March 18, 2012. This was reported by Sapiyat Magomedova, an advocate from the Bar "Omarov and Co.".

In the evening on July 12, in the village of Semender, a suburb of Makhachkala, unidentified persons shot dead Magomed Guchuchaliev, the head of the Bar Association "Kavkaz". He was the father of Sirazhudin Guchuchaliev, detained by power agents on May 31 in the village of Leninkent.