News

Elnur Medjidli, a member of the youth branch of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), was arrested in Azerbaijan in connection with the criminal case on the oppositional rally in Baku on April 2 this year.

On May 13, a rally, attended by relatives and associates of prisoners, was held near the General Prosecutor's Office of Armenia with a demand to release political prisoners.

During the week of May 2-8, the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus took away at least 22 human lives; at least 18 persons were injured. These are the results of the calculations made by the "Caucasian Knot", based on its own materials and information from other open sources.

On May 12, the Independent Press Centre in Prechistenka Street hosted presentation of the Annual Report of the Amnesty International (AI), which provides a comprehensive picture of the human rights situation in 157 countries of the world and analysis of the situation in 2010.

On May 11, the lawyers, who represent the interests of the victims, said at a press conference that Nikita Tikhonov and Eugenia Khasis, found guilty of murdering lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasia Baburova, most likely had accomplices.

At the trial held in Ulan-Ude of journalists Tatiana Stetsura and Nadezhda Nizovkina, the court ordered to hold new examinations of the text on deportation of the Caucasian nations, for writing and distribution of which the journalists had been prosecuted on charges of inciting hatred and enmity towards employees of power structures.

On May 11, in the course of the opening ceremony of the largest in Northern Caucasus sports complex named after Akhmad Kadyrov in Grozny, not all possible nuances were foreseen; and it resulted in a number of serious incidents outside the stadium, local observers and football fans assert.

According to updated information, a Major of the Frontier Department for Dagestan of the Russian FSB was lost in the armed clash, which occurred on May 12 in the Tsumandin District of Dagestan. This was announced by the press service of the Dagestani MIA.

Today in Moscow, the Russia's Supreme Court (SC) has considered a complaint lodged by the advocates of Elim-Pashi Khatsuev, Aslanbek Dadaev and Timur Isaev, accused of murdering Ruslan Yamadaev. The court decided to postpone its session till May 25.

As reported by a source from the penitentiary system, the former senator (deputy of the Russian Council of the Federation) from Kalmykia Levon Chakhmakhchyan, sentenced in 2008 to 7.5 years in prison for an attempted fraud, has received his conditional early relief (CER).

Advocates of the parents of the schoolchildren, who drowned in the sea near Yeisk have filed a complaint against the court, which rejected their petition to attract teachers as co-respondents. On May 16, 2011, a preliminary court hearing will take place.

On May 11, Batyr Akhilgov, advocate of Issa Khashagulgov, a resident of Ingushetia, had a meeting with his client, who is suspected of organizing the terror act in North Ossetia. The meeting was sanctioned after Akhilgov and Khashagulgov wife complained to rights defenders that since April 22 the advocate had no chance to meet his client.

The wristwatches are intended not for bureaucrats but for awarding on special occasions and memorial dates of law enforcers, athletes and scientists for special merits to the republic, Rasul Khaibullaev, press secretary of the president of Dagestan, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Currently, the family of Sheikh Kurman Ismajlov, whose house was searched, after which power agents stated confiscation "of substance looking like explosive", lives not at home but with his relatives, since advocates strongly advised his to stay among people and not live along as he had used to.

The Centre for Combating Extremism is now checking the fact of dissemination of the book on war crimes in Chechnya, written by the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society (RCFS). The Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" considers it an attempt to suppress the freedom of speech and prevent human rights activities with the help of the anti-extremist legislation.

Journalist Oleg Teplischev reports that on May, 11, he and his mother were compulsory evicted from two flats belonging to them located in one of the houses in the center of Astrakhan.

Armenian parliamentarians approved a legislative initiative of forming an Ethics Committee for officials and deputies in first reading. The Committee will control interrelations between the officials and deputies and correspondence between real officials' income and declarations submitted by them.

Administration of the President of Dagestan placed an order on purchasing a parcel of 100 silver watches at the web-site of Government Purchases. The starting price of the contract makes 2 215 thousand rubles (about 80 thousand dollars).

On May, 12, Head of the Ministry of Interior Affairs in Kabardino-Balkaria Sergey Valiliev signed an agreement of collaboration with representatives of the three major confessions of the republic and the Ombudsman of KBR.

Today, the village of Dvani was the venue of the fourth meeting of the special commission in charge of searching the dead and missing persons with participation of officials from Georgia, South Ossetia and Russia, organized by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).