News

As a result of a breakdown of service settlements of plain areas of Shelkovskoy district of Chechnya have been cut off power. Experts of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and "Nurenergo" company are working on the scene of the incident.

On visiting the 25th International Book and Press Fair going on in Geneva, President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan said that it was a very important event before the 500th anniversary of book printing in Armenia and declaring Yerevan the World Book Capital in 2012.

Head of Dagestan Magomedsalam Magomedov discussed the development of democratic institutions and activities of law enforcement bodies in the region with a delegation of European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (ECPT) in Makhachkala.

The Association of Political Sciences of Armenia (APSA) has addressed President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan asking to pardon political prisoners convicted on the case of March 1, 2008. According to the authors of the petition, this step will facilitate the internal political dialogue and strengthen the internal security of the country.

On April 29, a soldier, an Armenian citizen, killed two soldiers, who were born in the Martuni District of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), from his submachine gun, says the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of Azerbaijan in its statement. In its turn, the Armenian MoD accused Azerbaijan of killing the soldiers in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The organization named "European Union of Deportees and Displaced Persons" (EUDDP) plans to hold actions aimed to acquaint the European community with the Karabakh problem. As reported by Maximiliano Lakota, secretary general of the EUDDP, the first such event will be held this autumn in Italy.

Andrei Krasnenkov, representative of the head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov at the criminal trial on slandering Kadyrov, is misleading the court by trying to substitute the subject of the trial. This was stated on April 28 by Genry Reznik, advocate of Oleg Orlov, head of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", at the session at the Moscow City Court. This was Mr Reznik's reaction to Krasnenkov's demand to add Kadyrov's interview and video from his meeting with human rights defenders to the materials of the case.

Mr Iskenderov, head of the NGO "Promotion of Democracy Defence" and a member of the Civil Movement for Democracy "Public Chamber" was arrested on charges of violating the law during the parliamentary elections in 2010.

Aram Baregamyan, head of the Razdan branch of the Party "Armenian Nationwide Movement" (ANM) and a board member of the ANM, received his CER (conditional early relief) and left the penal institution "Sevan".

A corruption network has been revealed within the national football championship; several persons were detained. According to investigators, players agreed beforehand on the course and results of football matches with organizers of illegal totes, as reported at a news briefing by Soso Topuridze, Deputy Head of the Department of Constitutional Security of the MIA of Georgia.

Activists of several NGOs, youth organizations and oppositional parties have held a protest action near Tbilisi courts, where in May 2005 Zurab Vazagashvili and Alexander Khubulov were killed in a police special operation.

It is expected that since January 2012, the process of repatriation to Georgia of Meskhetian Turks from various countries of the world will begin.

Today, the international NGO Freedom House has issued a comparative analysis of the status with the freedom of press in 196 countries worldwide. Georgia is in the 118th place, which is the best among the countries of Southern Caucasus.

Journalist Magomed Khanmagomedov, beaten in Derbent, sent a telegram on the fact on attack on him to the head of the Dagestani MIA (Ministry of Internal Affairs) Abdurashid Magomedov, where he reports about the threats expressed by the assailants.

On April, 27, Lithuanian journalist Thomas Chivas appealed to the prosecuting party asking to attach his articles to the case of Egle Kusaite accused of terrorism equally with the telephone talks of Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko and human rights activist Oksana Chelysheva submitted by Public prosecutor's office as one of the evidences of Egle Kusaite's pressure upon the investigation.

In the evening of May, 1, some strangers shot down Nasrulla Magomedov, Chief of the Department of Interior Affairs of Sergokala district.

The authorities of Sochi in cooperation with an excursion agency opened a new excursion route over the Olympic objects of the winter Games of 2014.

Three officers of the republican law enforcement bodies got wounded on May, 1, at about 17:30, during operational search actions in the mountainous and wooded area near the settlement of Eshelkhatoy, Vedeno district.

Azerbaijani Institute of Freedom and Safety of Reporters (IFSR) wrote a letter to President of the USA Barack Obama asking him to mention the name of convicted journalist Einullah Fatullaev in the speech of Head of the USA devoted to World Press Day.

On April 29, Chairman (Speaker) of the National Assembly of Armenia Ovik Abramyan addressed President Serzh Sargsyan asking him to pardon Sasun Mikaelyan, an opposition activist and a veteran of the Karabakh War.