News

The Armenian National Assembly has approved the draft law "On Amnesty", initiated by the President of the country Serzh Sargsyan, when 91 MPs voted for it, and one MP abstained. The amnesty was announced in connection with the 20th anniversary of independence of the Republic of Armenia to be marked on September 21.

The international organizations Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Reporters Without Borders (RWB) have treated the force used by Georgian police to disperse the demonstration in Tbilisi as excessive and disproportionate.

Today Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev signed an order today to pardon 89 prisoners; among those pardoned is Einullah Fatullaev, editor-in-chief and founder of the newspapers "Real Azerbaijan" and "Daily Azerbaijan.

As ruled by Judge Natalia Larina, the trial of blogger Alexei Dudko would continue at the Taganka District Court in Moscow on June 1.

Two members of ex-Speaker of the Georgian Parliament Nino Burjanadze's "Democratic Movement - United Georgia" were detained by Georgian police for accusation of actions which resulted in the death of people.

After last night's dispersal of the action of "People's Assembly" in front of the Parliament in Tbilisi which turned into an unauthorized one, charges were brought against 90 people, Head of Informational and Analytic Department of the Ministry of Interior Affairs of Georgia Shota Utiashvili reported.

Supporters of Levan Gachechiladze, leader of the "Georgian Party", whose location was unknown after yesterday's dispersal of the unauthorized action in Tbilisi by riot squad announced that he was safe and sound and was in a safe place together with his son at the moment.

The personnel of law enforcement bodies of Kabardino-Balkaria have killed 36 participants of paramilitary groups and their accomplices, Sergey Vasiliev, Minister of Interior Affairs of the republic, reported at a session of the Parliament of KBR today.

A skirmish among natives of Ingushetia and Dagestan occurred at night of May, 22, not far from a cafe in the 8th Line of Vasilievsky Ostrov, St. Petersburg, eight people got wounded. According to law enforcement bodies, the incident was a result of shoot-outs.

The protest rally of the "People's Assembly", which demands President Mikhail Saakashvili's resignation, continues at the Parliament in Tbilisi, despite the information that at midnight, after the rally application expires, it may be dispersed by the police.

On May 6 in the morning, Hadji Murat Khalitov, a resident of the village of Serebryakovskaya, Kizlyar District, was detained. His advocate Murad Magomedov said that since May 17 he was not able to contact his client; and he fears that the detainee is tortured. The investigator in charge of Khalitov's case told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that the suspect was kept at the IVS (temporary detention facility) of the city of Kizlyar.

Protest actions of the opposition movement "People's Assembly" in Georgia; recognition by Georgian Parliament of Circassian genocide committed by Russian Empire; visit of Thomas Hammarberg, Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights, to Northern Caucasus; events within the European Action "Museum Night", - look these and other events in the review of the week of May 16-22, 2011, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

Detainees kept at the SIZO (pre-trial prison) of the city of Pyatigorsk are oppressed based on their ethnicity and religion. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed about it by relatives of the residents of Ingushetia kept there.

The 2010 report of the Amnesty International (AI) on Georgia for 2010 emphasizes the consequences of the military conflict in August 2008; violations of the rights of internally displaced persons (IDPs); actions of the police and security bodies; and violation of children's rights in refugees villages. The report was prepared within the general annual report on human rights situation in the world and was disseminated on May 12.

Gurban Aliev, a resident of the city of Baku, went on a hunger strike in front of the State Committee for State Property Management (SCSPM) of Azerbaijan. He demands to restore his ownership rights.

Elnur Israfilov, an arrested participant of the rally on April 2 in Azerbaijan, was presented another accusation, this time of "intentional destruction or damage of other people's property." This was reported by his advocate Yalcin Imanov.

The most wide-spread reason to refuse political asylum in Norway to residents of Chechnya is the use of general situation in the republic as an argument by the claimants without specifying the particular threats, Guri Norstrom, official of PR Department of the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI), told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent on May, 24.

Taganrog city court of Rostov region granted the motion of Public prosecutor's office by blocking access to the web-site where Sergey Mavrodi's information of his new project "MMM-2011" was posted, a representative of Public prosecutor's office of the region reported on May, 25.

The Georgian sailors who had been unable to leave India for almost two months have returned home from Turkey.

On May, 24, Sabail district court of Baku decided to prolong the term of arrest of Arif Gajili, Head of Executive Committee of "Musavat" party, Tural Abbasli, Chairman of the youth branch of "Musavat", and Muhammed Medjidli, member of the Azerbaijani Popular Front Party (APFP).