News

The Stavropol Regional Branch of the association "Golos" (Vote) does not recognize the results of the presidential election because of numerous violations identified in the region. The Regional Election Commission denies the allegations.

Today, the Basmanny Court of Moscow extended the arrest of Rustam Makhmudov, accused of the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, the journalist of the "Novaya Gazeta", till May 31.

In their blogs on the Internet, Dagestani residents report on violations in the course of the voting during the Russian presidential election held on March 4. Among those violations, they mention voting of the same persons at different electoral precincts; besides, some Dagestani residents report that their votes had not been counted at the voting.

Four natives of Ingushetia Yandiev brothers, Akhmed Evloev, and Bashir Khamkhoev were filed final charges in the case of the terror act at the Moscow "Domodedovo" Airport. This was reported by Vladimir Markin, Spokesman of the Investigatory Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF).

Elena Isinbaeva, the Olympic Champion in the pole vault, the native of the city of Volgograd, heads the top 20 in the ranking of the most successful operating Russian women-athletes, compiled by the Russian media.

On March 5, during the fire-fight in Dagestan, three suspected militants were killed; at present, all of them are identified. This was reported by the Information Centre of the National Antiterrorist Committee (NAC).

Azerbaijan has prepared new proposals to strengthen the fight against corruption. They are included in the draft of the Plan of actions to increase transparency and combat corruption.

The names of seven persons initially included by the opposition into the list of political prisoners are absent among those concerning whom President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev ordered to verify legitimation of their verdicts.

Gasan Aigunov, Chairman of Public monitoring commission (PMC) in Dagestan, visited investigative isolation ward (IIW) No 1 of Makhachkala where the convicts had been on a hunger strike. According to Aigunov, the hunger strike had been stopped by the moment but all the facts reported by the convicts would be thoroughly verified.

Four participants of a flash mob against falsifications at the Russian presidential election were taken to the local UVD (Interior Department).

On Mount Elbrus, at an altitude of 4700 meters above sea level, the rescuers found the body of Ukrainian climber Maria Khitrikova. This was reported by Murat Apazhikhov, Spokesman of the Chief Directorate of the Russian Ministry for Emergencies (MfE) in Kabardino-Balkaria. Maria Khitrikova was 21 years old.

On Monday, the Supreme Court (SC) of North Ossetia began the trial on the criminal case against Suleiman Khashagulgov, the suspected member of the criminal group that organized the terror act on the central market in Vladikavkaz on September 9, 2010.

At the press conference in the Human Rights Centre "Memorial" devoted to the presidential election held on March 4, Lilia Shibanova, Executive Director of the movement "Golos" (Vote) reported on violations during the voting in Chechnya, Dagestan and in Astrakhan.

At least 18 persons suffered in the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus in the period from February 27 to March 4: 17 persons were killed and 1 wounded. These are the results of calculations made by the "Caucasian Knot", based on their own materials and information from other public sources.

The Basmanny Court of Moscow has refused to change the pre-trial restriction for Dmitry Pavlyuchenkov, ex-officer of the Moscow GUVD (Chief Interior Department), accused of involvement in the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, the journalist of the "Novaya Gazeta", to the house arrest. According to the court's decision, the period of Dmitry Pavlyuchenkov's arrest has been extended till July 7.

On March 1 and 2, Baku hosted the first round of negotiations on visa facilitation and readmission between Azerbaijan and the European Union (EU).

Dmitry Medvedev has instructed the General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) of the Russian Federation to analyze the justification of sentences of prisoners from the list prepared by the opposition. This was reported by the official website of the Russian President.

74 135 residents of Abkhazia having Russian citizenship took part in the election of President of the Russian Federation. According to the information from the Russian Embassy, 67 424 or 90,94 per cent out of them voted for Vladimir Putin.

According to the results of processing of nearly 100 percent of the ballots in the Southern Federal District (SFD), Vladimir Putin is in the lead at the election of Russian President. He has won the highest percentage of 70.24 of the votes – in Kalmykia. Gennady Zyuganov has shown the best result in Adygea and the Rostov Region, where more than 20 percent of voters had cast their ballots for him.

Election of the President of Russia and a number of municipal elections in the regions of Southern Russia; collapse of a section of a nine-storey apartment block after explosion in Astrakhan; announcement of the final list of presidential candidates in South Ossetia for the March 25 repeated elections; riots in the Guba District of Azerbaijan; cancellation of elections to the City Council of Lermontov, Stavropol Territory, which was sought by hunger-strikers, – look these and other events in the Caucasus in the review of the week of February 27-March 4, 2012, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".