News

On June 11, the many-month-long confrontation between the construction company "Azinko" and the tenants of No. 61 in Neftyanikov Avenue in central Baku ended in a forced eviction and demolition of the building. The demolition was motivated by the improvement and expansion of the motor road.

In the evening on June 15, unidentified assailants attacked the American journalist Amanda Erickson and British human rights activist Silja Davis. The young ladies were almost at home, when several young men of athletic body-build attacked them and began beating without explanations. Earlier the women felt that they were shadowed by the young men.

On June 12, the participants of the first ever in the Temryuk District of the Krasnodar Territory ecological rally demanded to suspend all the environmentally hazardous projects in the waters of the Azov and Black Seas, as well as complete ecological safety of all the production facilities planned for launching in the territory of the Taman Peninsula.

On June 15, the city of Argun, the third-largest city of Chechnya saw an opening of two new settlements for the residents of the city downtown, whose houses were demolished this winter in the course of the broad-scale reconstruction of the city. The keys to their new houses were solemnly handed over to 62 families.

Vladimir Galitrov. an expert of the Kalmyk Branch of the Public Movement "For Human Rights", demands an inquiry into the mass beating of convicts kept in the SIZO (pre-trial prison) of the city of Elista. This is stated in the message of Valery Badmaev, editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Modern Kalmykia", that arrived to the "Caucasian Knot".

According to eyewitnesses, on June 10 in Chechnya, on a road in the Kurchaloy District, unidentified armed persons kidnapped Aslambek Shataev, 30, a resident of Kurchaloy. Later, his relatives managed to find him in one of police stations. Now the man is at home, but, according to his relatives, he was severely beaten.

There was no open confrontation with supporters of extension of Mr Kokoity's presidency, who broke today into the Parliament of South Ossetia; however, the MPs were under pressure. This was stated by the Speaker Stanislav Kochiev. In protest, some of the parliamentarians submitted their self-resignation applications.

This July, the Azerbaijani journalist Einullah Fatullaev, who had spent 4 years in prison, intends to resume his professional career as editor-in-chief of the Russian-language weekly "Real Azerbaijan". The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed about it by Fatullaev himself.

Residents of other dwelling settlements of the mountainous parts of Dagestan are ready to join the protest hunger strike held near the village of Gimry, Untsukul District of Dagestan, with a demand to open free passage through the Chirkata-Gimry Tunnel, which connects nine mountain regions of the republic with the lowland.

The Nobel Institute in Oslo has hosted the awarding ceremony of the winners of the 2010 Gerd Bucerius Prize in the nominations of "Free Press of Russia" and "Free Press of Eastern Europe". The Caucasian region was represented by laureates from Dagestan, Armenia and Azerbaijan. This was reported by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent from the Norwegian capital.

In Georgia, the MPs from the parliamentary majority have drafted a bill on amending the Law "On Assemblies and Manifestations". If adopted, it will empower the police with more freedom at dispersal of oppositional rallies and actions; while it will become much harder to get permits for holding such events.

Today, residents of Kalmykia celebrate a birthday, enlightenment and departure to nirvana of Shakyamuni Buddha. From early morning the central Khurul of the republic "Golden Abode of Buddha Shakyamuni" is holding celebrations, prayers and taking oaths of Makhayana.

After the murder in the city of Baksan of Khasan Bogatyryov, Deputy Head of the Russian Centre for Combating Extremism at the local Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) for the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR), mass detentions of local residents took place there. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed about it by lawyers Magomed Abubakarov and Rustam Matsev.

Sergey Arakcheev, a former MIA officer, who was convicted in 2007 to 15 years of imprisonment for murdering Chechen residents, has recorded a video appeal to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, where he states his innocence, and asks the Premier to get into the circumstances of his case.

On June 14, lawyer Abusupyan Gaitaev filed a brief cassation complaint against the decision of the Taganka District Court, which had sentenced the blogger Alexei Dudko to six years of colony imprisonment. Mr Gaitaev himself told about it to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

At the ceremony to be held on June 15 in Oslo, Norway, the Dagestani weekly "Chernovik" (Draft) will be awarded the "Free Press of Eastern Europe" Prize named after Gerd Bucerius.

Dmitry Ostrovenko, a deputy of the City Duma of Rostov-on-Don, accused of killing a student Igor Verbenko in a road accident, was expelled from the "Edinaya Rossiya" (United Russia) Party on the following day, said Victor Deryabkin, the secretary of the regional political council of the party.

Today, the initiative group, advocating for a referendum to decide on extension of the term in office of the incumbent South-Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity, held an action in Tskhinvali in front of the building of the Supreme Court, which was to make its decision on the referendum.

The top managers of the Football Club (FC) "Terek" from Grozny FC Terek believe that head coach Ruud Gullit failed to cope with his duties.

The village of Gimry, Untsukul District of Dagestan, hosted a rally, which was attended, according to organizers, by about five thousand people. The participants adopted a resolution demanding to open the tunnel, which connects nine mountainous districts of the republic with its lowland part.