News

In Dagestan, attempts of unlawful administrative pressure on the "Nastoyaschee Vremya" (Present Time) weekly newspaper bring into question the existence of freedom of speech and the policy of democratization in the republic. This was stated by Zagalav Somoev, the representative of the UN Human Rights Committee.

Today, members of the public campaign "Sing for Democracy", which is held to draw attention to the problems of human rights in Azerbaijan on the eve of the song contest "Eurovision-2012", has adopted a video message to the performers of the international contest.

Supporters of Oleg Shein, the member of the "Spravedlivaya Rossiya" (Fair Russia) Party, the ex-candidate for the position of Mayor of Astrakhan, were detained by police in Astrakhan, when they were trying to lay a wreath to the building of the regional state-owned TV and Radio Company.

In Yerevan, in Freedom Square, at 6:40 p.m. local time, the oppositional Armenian National Congress (ANC) began a sanctioned rally. At present, the rally gathered several thousand people. Candidates for deputy from the ANC called on the audience to come to the parliamentary elections to be held on May 6.

At present, in Nalchik, people in masks carry out a search of the house belonging to Muradin Berov, who earlier reported that officers from the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Kabardino-Balkaria beat his son. This was told to the "Caucasian Knot" by Muradin Berov himself.

Two operative agents of Department of Federal Drug Control Service of the Russian Federation (FDCS) in Rostov region are suspected of an attempt of fraud to a sum of 1,3 million rubles.

175 fires with four victims happened in the first quarter of 2012 in the territory of Chechen Republic.

A non-governmental movement "We do care!" held an action in Stachki prospect of Rostov-on-Don demanding construction of interchanges near the new bridge in Siversa prospect.

On April, 19, the court of Lenin district of Rostov-on-Don brought a judgment of prolongation of custody term to publisher Alexander Tolmachev suspected of extortion.

The violations detected in the videos from polling stations in Astrakhan have to do mainly with the procedure of vote tabulation, said a source from the working group, engaged in watching the videos.

Under the order of Rovnag Abdulaev, President of the SOCAR (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan), a commission was set up at the company to investigate the events of April 18 in Sulu-Tepe residential area, where clashes between the company's securities and local residents took place. During the conflict journalists suffered, in particular, Idrak Abbasov, an employee of the Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS) and the "Aina" (Mirror) newspaper, was beaten.

Coordinator of the "Left-Wing Front" Sergey Udaltsov said that he would temporarily suspend his hunger strike held in solidarity with oppositionists in Astrakhan, who failed to admit the outcomes of the election of the Mayor of Astrakhan.

Today, the Dagestani leader Magomedsalam Magomedov and a State Duma Deputy Rizvan Kurbanov have held a sitting of the commission for adaptation of militants to peaceful life. Three petitions were satisfied, while the repeated petition of Mirzamagomedov was denied.

Relatives of the 16-year-old boy from the village of Karata, Akhvakh District of Dagestan, who was wounded by a policeman on 16 March and who is in coma since, do not believe in the proper objectivity at the investigation into the crime by local authorities. They report about attempts of pressure on the investigators, participants and witnesses to the incident and ask the leadership of Dagestan and Russia's power bosses to take the inquiry of the case under their control.

Resident of Krasnodar Ludmila Kablukova has been on a hunger strike near the White House in Moscow stating that she became victim of swindlers who took away her house and homestead which had been her private property. According to her, neither the courts nor her appeals to bodies of power yielded any results.

Natives of Ingushetia who are serving penalty in correctional facilities (CF) of Irkutsk and Kirov regions of the Russian Federation are asking Head of the republic Yunus-bek Evkurov to find an opportunity of building a colony in the territory of Ingushetia. They explain that they undergo oppression on ethnic grounds and seldom see their relatives because of financial problems.

Yesterday, April, 18, public actions of supporters and opponents of ex-candidate for Mayor's office of Astrakhan Oleg Shein were held simultaneously in the town of Volzhsky, Volgograd region.

The Russian fishing ship "Tyulen-6" (Seal-6), which has anchored at the port of the Democratic Republic of Congo and which crew is seeking payment of wage arrears from the ship owner, faces running out of reserve of food.

Yaqub Shakhin oglu Nasrullazade, a soldier of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan, shot himself dead from his service weapon. This was reported by Teimur Abdullaev, Deputy Chief of the press service of the Defence Ministry of the country.

Today, in Baku, Idrak Abbasov, a staff member of the Institute of Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS) and of the newspaper "Aina" (Mirror) was severely beaten. The incident happened at about 12:00 a.m. in a residential area of Sulu-Tepe in the village of Khodjasan of Binagadi District of Baku.