News

Today, the Tbilisi City Court has ruled to appoint pre-trial detention to the photographers detained on espionage charges.

The international human rights organization "Reporters Without Borders" (RWB) urges the authorities of Georgia to clarify the circumstances of detention of the photographers, who were arrested on suspicion of espionage. This was reported by Johan Bihr, the head of the European and Central-Asian Branch of the RWB.

Today six Georgian oppositional parties issued a statement on creation of the coalition "For Free Choice", aimed at achieving the power change through elections.

On July 7 a large-scale rally of youth organizations, aimed against extremism and radical movements in religion, was held in the centre of the Chechen capital. About three thousand people marched along Putin Avenue, the central street of the city, chanting slogans "No terrorism!" and "No Wahhabism!"

The Interstate Humanitarian Cooperation Fund of the CIS Member States "CIS Fund", headed by Armen Smbatyan, the Armenian Ambassador to Russia, has provided for the program "Cinema of CIS: 20 years of independence," which would be held during the festival "Golden Apricot", 30 thousand dollars. This was reported at the press conference on July 8 by Arutyun Khachatryan, the festival's director.

South Ossetia has decided to withdraw from the negotiations on refugees, held in within the Geneva talks. This was reported by Boris Chochiev, the presidential envoy in South Ossetia on post-conflict settlement issues.

Today Sidrat Akhmedova, a resident of the village Shamkhal of Kirov District of Makhachkala told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent about the disappearance of her brother Khalid Akhmedov, a 43-year-old resident of the village of Kara-Tyube of the Babayurt District of Dagestan.

The Central Election Commission (CEC) of Abkhazia has registered the initiative group to nominate acting Prime Minister Sergey Shamba as a presidential candidate. The initiative group consists of 23 members, representatives from all areas of the country.

On July 6 at the initiative of Rizvan Kurbanov, First Deputy Prime Minister of Dagestan, a meeting with bloggers was held in Makhachkala. To the complete surprise of Livejournal's users, Magomedsalam Magomedov, the President of the republic, and Abdurashid Magomedov, the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), also came to take part in the meeting.

More than 120 racers from all over Russia and near abroad arrived at the base camp of the mountain multi-race "Caucasus Adventure Race 2011", which is located on the southern outskirts of the village Khamyshki of the Maikop District of Adygea. The athletes will have to overcome the 240 kilometres in the mountains within two days.

Oppositional parties of Georgia called for the authorities of the country to make transparent the investigation on the case of press photographers detained for accusation of espionage.

An action in support of the Gafurovs passed off near Soviet district court of Stavropol region. Three Gafurov brothers are defendants of the case of the conflict in Zelenokumsk which took place in November, 2010.

The Ministry of Labour and Social Development of Kabardino-Balkaria is organizing classes of computer literacy and work on the Net specially for elderly people for them to feel it more convenient to submit all kinds of complaints and statements.

Maksudjon Ismatov, a citizen of Tajikistan, and the Iranian Makhdi Lorniya, who had been convicted in the case on the murder of the Hero of Russia Sulim Yamadaev, were released from the prison of Dubai and deported beyond the UAE, reported Saidmukhammod Salikhov, the Vice-Consul of Tajikistan in Dubai.

On July 7 at the initiative of the Ministry of Culture the National Gallery of Armenia opened an exhibition called "Dali and the Surrealists".

In Kizlyar District of Dagestan the military shelled the vehicles of local residents, since they considered them militants. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told by Gadjimurad Kamalov, the founder of the newspaper "Chernovik" (Draft).

Judge Lyatifa Mamedova of the Sumgait Court of Appeal decided to hold new judicial investigation on the case of Jabbar Savalan, the activist of the "Popular Front Party" of Azerbaijan.

The investigating authorities of Kalmykia rejected to institute a criminal case against employees of the SIZO (pre-trial prison) of the city of Elista, who, according to Vladimir Galitrov, the expert of the Kalmyk Branch of the public movement "For Human Rights", had beaten 49 prisoners with electric shocker.

Within two weeks the lawyers of defendants, accused in Georgia in espionage for Russia, have the right to file a lawsuit to the Court of Appeal. According to the lawyer Gela Nikolaishvili, all lawyers will use this right and appeal against the verdict sentenced on July 6 in the Batumi City Court.

Picket in protest against the killings without trial was carried out late in the night on July 6 in the city of Baksan of Kabardino-Balkaria by the relatives and neighbours of Zeushev, killed by the Beslan police, one of four perished during the past day and announced by the law enforcement agents as militants, reported an informed source, a resident of the city of Baksan.