News

On June, 14, layer Sapiyat Magomedova in Dagestan appealed to the court against the actions of investigative bodies who discontinued the criminal case on the fact of her being beaten up in Khasavyurt Department of Interior Affairs. The lawyer states that she was beaten by two policemen and there is enough evidence in the case for bringing a charge against them.

The Government of Georgia suggested to the Parliament to raise the sum of compensation to the families of servicemen who perished in Afghanistan up to $60,000. The “Caucasian Knot” correspondent received this news from the Press Service of the Ministry of Defense of Georgia.

Three co-authors of the monograph and head of interregional non-governmental organization “Committee Against Torture” Igor Kalyapinwere summoned to Dzerzhinsky district court of Nizhegorodsky region on the case of acknowledgment the book “International Tribunal for Chechnya” an extremist material.

The two-months arrest of Mikail Kadyev and Rizvan Omarov accused of illegal purchasing and storage of arms and explosives will be appealed against to the Court of Appeal of Georgia, the defendants’ attorney Irma Inasaridze declared.

Official Sukhumi and Tskhinvali say that the UN General Assembly Resolution on the situation in Abkhazia and South Ossetia passed on June 13 is unilateral and politically engaged.

The official statement of the US Congress on cooperation with Georgia in the defence sphere has called the recent arrests of former officials in Georgia politically motivated.

The Lezgin National Federal Cultural Autonomy, the public organization "Sadval" and the "Khrakh-Uba" Society have initiated a nationwide action to be held on June 29 in Moscow, St Petersburg, Makhachkala, Derbent and other Russian cities under the motto "Derbent is Russia's southern outpost!" The reason for the protest was the renaming of the central street of Derbent into Geidar Aliev Street.

On June 15, the police disrupted actions of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA) in Gazakh and Agstafa districts, activists of the oppositional organization reported. Officials of the district police departments deny these statements and decline comment.

Relatives of resident of Dagestan Seifudin Babaev who was found dead in his exploded car insist that he was killed and report pressure from law enforcement officials.

The detained resident of Makhachkala Sabina Sheikhmuradova, in whose house a "suicide belt" was found during a search, on June 14 was arrested by the court for a period of two months, Gadjimurad Izmailov, a lawyer from the Bar "Kavkaz" told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

On June 13, the European Parliament passed a resolution on the arrest of the head of the civil movement "Republican Alternative" (ReAl) Ilgar Mamedov, and urged the Azerbaijani authorities to ensure "a prompt, fair, transparent and independent investigation of the charges against him."

The improvised explosive device (IED), detected on June 14 on rails in Makhachkala, was neutralized, the Dagestani operational headquarters reports.

On June 14, the Basmanny Court of Moscow suspended the Mayor of Makhachkala Said Amirov, who is accused of involvement in the murder of an investigator. The suspension was motivated by the fact that Amirov, if staying at office, could put pressure on victims and witnesses.

At least 147 persons suffered in the course of the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus in May 2013; of them 45 people were lost and 102 more were wounded. These are the results of the calculations made by the "Caucasian Knot" based on its own materials and information from open sources.

The participants of the roundtable on "Caucasus in history of Russia: issues in dispute", held in Moscow with participation of experts in Caucasus and employees of the representative offices of the North-Caucasian republics, highlighted the relationships of the federal government and local elites as one of the major problems of Northern Caucasus.

Natives of Northern Caucasus detained for accusation of preparing an act of terror in Georgia might have been involved in the events in Lopota gorge in August of 2012, Director of the Caucasian Center of strategic research Mamuka Areshidze claims.

On June 13, partners of Azerbaijani human rights center “Art for Democracy”, international organizations for freedom of expression "Article 19" and "Index on Censorship" organized “Harlem Shake” action in front of the Embassy of Azerbaijan in Great Britain in London.

Oleg Rubezhansky, Director and owner of “Mestnaya” (“Local”) newspaper in Sochi, reported search in the newspaper’s office, impounding computers used for makeup of the paper and a written undertaking not to leave the place taken from him in connection with investigation on a case of copyright abuse. He associates these events with his criticism of the authorities in the newspaper.

On June, 13, during a preparatory trial on the case of Dashgyn Melikov, youth activist of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), the judge rejected the motions of the defense for both termination of prosecution and putting the activist under house arrest. The defense is going to appeal to ECtHR against unlawful arrest already at this stage, lawyer Asabali Mustafaev declared.

On June 13, the United Nations General Assembly adopted another resolution on Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the draft of which was brought in by Georgia; Russia called not to support it.