News

The Andrei Sakharov Museum and Public Centre has hosted a presentation of the book "Polina Zherebtsova's Diary", telling about the events of 1999-2002 in Grozny during the Second Chechen War, as seen by the teenager.

Public prosecutor's office of Southern Military Okrug (SMO) has established that the servicemen did not take part in collection and delivery of shells and fragments of ammunition from "Ashuluk" firing range in Astrakhan region to a receiving center of scrap metal, Press service of SMO reported.

The tenth meeting of persons aggrieved by "Olympic" resettlement was held in Sochi on October, 23. Over one hundred people arrived to participate in the action from different districts of the city.

Yesterday, October, 23, some strangers beat up a manager of a sauna in the town of Khasavyurt and set fire to the building, the Ministry of Interior Affairs of Dagestan reported today.

Israil Yakhyaev, resident of Grozny who was detained on October, 19, and turned out to be one of the leaders of armed underground is arrested, Committee of Inquiry (CI) of Dagestan reported.

Today, a freight train was blow up on the North-Caucasian Railways in the Karabudakhkent District of Dagestan, as reported by district law enforcers.

Today at 1:00 p.m. in Makhachkala, near the Avar Theatre, residents of the Untsukul and Gergebil District held a rally. They demanded compensation for their lands flooded during construction of the Irganai HPP (Hydroelectric Power Plant).

Today in the afternoon, a rally is held in central Moscow, in Bolotnaya Square, within the campaign declared by nationalists "Stop feeding Caucasus!"

In the Rostov Region, a grouping engaged in human trafficking and using slave labour has been stopped, the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) asserts.

According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Chechnya, during the first nine months of this year, power agents killed 47 members of the armed underground in the territory of the Chechen Republic, more than 150 militants and their accomplices were detained and persuaded to surrender. According to the "Caucasian Knot" information, based on own materials of the edition and information from other open sources, only from the beginning of the year till September, 53 suspected militants were killed in Chechnya, 121 people were detained or came to surrender.

According to a number of local experts and observers, statements of the Chechen leadership about complete elimination of blood feud conflicts in the republic can be incorrect. At the same time, on the next day after Kadyrov announced abolition of the Commission on reconciliation of families who were in the state of blood feud, the National Reconciliation Commission was established under the Spiritual Administration of the Republic. In future, among other tasks, the Commission will be engaged in reconciliation of 'blood feudists' (blood feud avengers).

Today, the hunger strike in defence of rights of the oppositional activists convicted in connection with the rally of April 2, which was held at the headquarters of the "Musavat" Party in Baku, was stopped. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed by Gezyal Bairamly, Deputy Chair of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), that the decision to stop the hunger strike was made by the Committee of the convicts' family members.

Today, in the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria, relatives of Aslan Cherkesov, accused of murdering Yegor Sviridov, a football fan, held two sole pickets, demanding fair justice for Aslan Cherkesov. According to his relatives, the court "prejudges" him.

The regular soldier Martin Zakaryan was detained in Nagorno-Karabakh on the criminal case of the suicide of Corporal Vladimir Asatryan. This was reported by the Ministry of Defence of Armenia.

The property of the newspaper "Khural" was confiscated due to editors' failure to fulfil the court holdings on hip of judgments in civil lawsuits against the newspaper. This was declared by the official announcement of the Ministry of Justice, which was released today.

Today, the central square of the city of Buinaksk (Dagestan) hosted a rally organized by relatives and friends of Salman Abakarov, a father of six children, who disappeared on October 11. The rally was attended by about 200 persons; participants arrived from different regions of Dagestan, they demanded to intensify the search of the disappeared man.

Yesterday, on October 20, near the tax inspection office in the city of Dagestanskie Ogni, Ramazan Pashaevich Ramazanov, a local resident, born in 1983, was kidnapped by people in camouflage and masks in the eyes of his mother. This was reported by Magomed Khanmagomedov, a special correspondent of the newspaper "Chernovik" (Draft).

Today, the international organization "Reporters without Borders" (RWB) has published its report on the investigation into the situation with the media in the Chechen Republic and the Republic of Dagestan. The document notes that since their last visit to the republics, which took place two years ago, its activists found no changes for the better. The report provides estimates of journalists themselves, human rights activists and representatives of the republics' authorities, and the RWB's recommendations concerning the situation in the region.

Avaz Zeinally, the editor-in-chief of the Azerbaijani newspaper "Khural", believes that the confiscation of property of the newspaper is connected with an increase in publication frequency of the newspaper or the authorities' response to the criticism of the Ilham Aliev's interview.

Archil Benidze, a member of the Labour Party of Georgia, received status of a political refugee in Italy.