News

On June 28, 40 persons took part in a protest action held in front of the General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) of Armenia demanding immediate release and acquittal of the four young activists of the oppositional Armenian National Congress (ANC), now kept in custody.

The parliamentary faction of the "United National Movement" (UNM) Party in Georgia stops its work in the supreme legislative body of the country and starts its political boycott in protest against the detention of senior officials of Tbilisi Mayoralty, said the MP Levan Bezhashvili.

In the course of the talks in Geneva on security in Southern Caucasus, delegates of the conflict regions made an attempt to leave one working group and continue working in another one. The co-chairs banned the precedent and stopped the security working group, said the Ministry of Justice of Georgia, explaining the disruption of the talks.

Law enforcement bodies of Armenia are preparing to launch inquiry into activities of Narek Sarkisyan, the Chief Architect of Yerevan, after the statement of the anti-corruption centre of the Transparency International about his possible misuse of powers.

The 145-meter tower of the complex "Grozny City", which was damaged by fire in April, will be restored with the use of new fire-resistant decoration materials by September 30, the city administration reports.

The journalist Nikolai Yarst, accused of drug possession, is not guilty of the incriminated offence, while the inquiry into his case is accompanied by violations, the Yarst's advocates Alexander Popkov and Marina Dubrovina said at the press conference held in Sochi.

The court in Baku dismissed the complaints of the former office manager of the president of Azerbaijan Akif Muradverdiev, filed by his defence in connection with his freedom restriction, the conducted searches and investigators' refusal to provide information. According to the advocate Fuad Agaev, the court decisions gave sufficient grounds for filing a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).

Zarema Bagautdinova, a representative of the Dagestani Regional Public Organization (DRPO) "Pravozaschita" (Advocacy) for the Buynaksk District, has addressed the Public Prosecutor of Dagestan asking him to react to the fact of forcing 23 residents of Buynaksk to give their saliva for collecting DNA samples.

On June 29, the city of Magas will hold a conference against encroachment on human honour and rights, which will be organized by the republic's administration and Muftiate. One of the topics to be discussed at the forum will be the issue of bride abduction.

The fire in the unloading dock, located near the farmstead of Bobry in the Sredneakhtubinsk District of the Volgograd Region, which was recognized as cultural heritage, was caused by arson, the activists who fought for the preservation of the building are sure. They now prepare a series of rallies to demand to find and punish the arsonists.

On June 27, Yadigar Sadygov, an advisor to the chairman of the opposition "Musavat" Party, was detained by police in the city of Lankaran in southern Azerbaijan on suspicion of committing acts of hooliganism. The "Musavat" finds the accusations fabricated and politically motivated.

In Dagestan, relatives cannot locate Magomed Magomedov, 28, who was detained by police on June 24. His relatives assert that Magomed Magomedov was detained by Kizilyurt district policemen at the post at the entrance to Kizilyurt from the village of Komsomolskoe.

On July 3, at a session of the Basmanny Court of Moscow, the defence of the arrested and removed from office Mayor of Makhachkala Said Amirov will insist on changing his freedom restraint measure to home arrest, said Mark Kruter, Amirov's advocate.

On June 27, the court has extended till August 1 the custody of Talekh Bagirzade, a theologian, said his lawyer Javad Javadly. The defender finds the decision unjustified and intends to appeal against it at the appellate.

Tamerlan Akaev, a villager of Mutsalaul, Khasavyurt District of Dagestan, a 28-year-old supporter of Salafism, who had been elected a delegate to the future Kumyk Parliament, was shot dead in his car. According to Rasul Ismailov, the head of the human rights organization "Civil Initiative", believes that the reason for the murder could be the hostility that arose on religious grounds.

Evgeniy Kuzyur, the advocate of Ruslan Rakhaev, a former deputy head of the police of the city of Cherkessk, who is accused of abuse of power that led to the death of a person, has stated – in the course of the debate at the court – that the case was falsified, and asked the court to acquit his client.

On June 27, after the session of the People's Assembly of Dagestan, Magomed Magomedov, an MP, was detained, the MIA of Dagestan reports. According to a source from the National Assembly, the reason for the detention was the fact that the MP is suspected of links with militants.

The Dagestani law enforcement bodies have not yet taken a procedural decision on the application of the lawyers Sapiyat Magomedova and Musa Suslanov, who had reported about received threats with demands to refuse to represent the interests of the relatives of Gamzatov brothers, killed in Kizlyar, said Magomedova.

The members of the armed group, blocked in August 2012 in Lopota Gorge, had legally entered the country. Some of the survivals in the special operation legally left Georgia and stay now in different countries, including Syria, said the Ombudsman of Georgia Ucha Nanuashvili.

For the first time since June 17, the lawyer Vyacheslav Merzakulov was admitted to the detention facility to meet Atam Achmiz, a resident of Adygea, suspected of executing the murder of the deputy prime minister of the Karachay-CherkessianRepublic (KChR) Ansar Tebuev.