News

A presentation of the second issue of a literary miscellany consisting of works by writers of Southern Caucasus was held on March, 19, in Yerevan. It is a kind of dialogue among the writers residing in the zones of conflicts and its mission is to help soften the present-day tension.

Nine residents of Ishimli district of Azerbaijan held up their hunger strike they started on March, 10, demanding fair compensation for the aftermath of the flood of 2010 in the Kura and Araz rivers.

On March, 19, single-person pickets against occupation of the children’s centers and deforestation passed off in Sochi. The participants of the actions declare that plans of construction of multilevel parking lots are a threat to the green belt and children’s centers of the city. Officials of Mayor’s office assure that the development is going within legal boundaries.

Starting from March 19, Azerbaijan began the celebration of Nowruz Bayram the holiday of spring and New Year. On that occasion, Baku organized celebrations.

In Dagestan, a protest action, during which relatives of the persons killed in a fight in Kizlyar blocked the federal highway "Rostov-Baku", continued during four hours.

At the trial on the case of the armed attack on Nalchik in October 2005, held at the Supreme Court of Kabardino-Balkaria, a new lawyer has been appointed for defendants Zaur Tokhov and Ruslan Amshukov.

Victor Dvorakovskiy accused of preparing a terror act and of extremism, admits his guilt only partially. This was announced today in Stavropol by his lawyer Vadim Lobanov. Vladimir Skirko, the figurant in the Dvorakovskiy's case, pleaded guilty in full.

In Dagestan, mother of a beaten schoolboy demands to institute criminal proceedings against pupils, who beat him, and argues that the police department refuses to initiate criminal case on the incident.

Today, in Astrakhan, four other persons joined the indefinite hunger strike to protest against the results of the election held on March 4, 2012.

In Krasnodar, 65 facilities of uncontrolled settlement were revealed, following the inspection results. The facilities are to be demolished in accordance with the court's decision. Advertising of uncontrolled settlement facilities is being dismantled from city streets and transportation, the press service of the Mayoralty reports.

Builders of the Turkish companies "Penta" and "Bora Inshaat", which have large wage arrears, will appeal to the Office of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Grozny, where, on March 21, the meeting with residents of Chechnya on labour relations is to be held.

Relatives of Abdurakhman Djakaev, accused of illegal possession of weapons, claim that he is subjected to periodical beatings by law enforcement agents. The policemen themselves deny all allegations and intend to criminate Sapiyat Magomedova, the detainee's lawyer, of slander.

The court found two participants of mass fight in North Ossetia, in which student Kuanch Guliev, a resident of Kabardino-Balkaria, was beaten and later died, guilty and sentenced them to 7 and 8 years of imprisonment.

Starting from March 18, units of the Armed Forces of Armenia violated the ceasefire. This was reported by the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence (MoD). The MoD of Nagorno-Karabakh claims that during the period of March 10-17, it registered about 350 cases of violation of the ceasefire by Azerbaijan.

Appointment of the second round of parliamentary elections in Abkhazia at majority of electoral precincts; sentencing the person accused of committing terror ac in Stavropol; hunger strike of supporters of the "Spravedlivaya Rossiya" (Fair Russia) Party in Astrakhan; dismissal of the Prosecutor of the Rostov Region for violation of oath; protest actions in defence of Yerevan park, look these and other events in the Caucasus in the review of the week of March 12-18, 2012, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

A large group of power structures was shifted from a military base Khankala located in Grozny to neighbouring Dagestan. According to a source from the Chechen law enforcement agencies, the transfer of internal troops and staff members of other power agencies to the republic is associated with a significant complication of the situation in Dagestan in recent months.

At least 24 persons became victims of armed confrontation in Northern Caucasus within a period from March, 12, till March, 18. 19 out of them perished and five got wounded. These are the totals of calculation by the “Caucasian Knot” based on its own data and information from other open sources.

Human rights activists in Azerbaijan are disappointed in the charter of pardon signed by President of the country Ilham Aliev which in their opinion failed to solve the problem of political prisoners once again.

Public prosecutor’s office of Makhachkala fined three officials of the municipal Department of Architecture and Town planning for violations of the terms of considering the citizens’ appeals. All in all, Public prosecutor’s office registered 97 facts of such violations.

The Krasnodar Territory has hosted actions in support of Suren Gazaryan and Evgeniy Vitishko, activists of the "Ecological Watch for Northern Caucasus", and their lawyer Victor Dutlov. Twelve solo pickets took place in Krasnodar; and the picket in Sochi was about 50 persons strong.