News

The well-known Georgian stage director Robert Sturua was dismissed from his post of the artistic director at the Shota Rustaveli State Drama Theatre because of his xenophobic statements, Nikoloz Rurua, Minister of Culture and Protection of Monuments of Georgia, told reporters today.

At the present time, the circumstances of kidnapping of Vakha Zhovbatyrov, a resident of Ingushetia, are being clarified, said Akhmed Kotiev, Secretary of the Ingush Security Council.

In Armenia, the state of health of the bodyguards wounded in the shootout in the restaurant "Arsnakar" is treated by medics as moderate gravity. Their lives are out of danger, say the doctors of the surgery ward of the medical centre "Armenia".

At the trial held by the Supreme Court of Kabardino-Balkaria on the case of explosion at the Baksan Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP), the prosecutor has read out the indictment.

On August 16, all polling stations of Abkhazia exposed voter lists; practically everything is ready on the ground for the presidential election, said Batal Tabagua, the head of the Central Election Commission (CEC).

The names of first winners of the 5th Pan-Armenian Games, which were kicked off in Yerevan on August 13 under the motto "Artsakh-Armenia-Diaspora", have become known.

Karen Andreasyan, Ombudsman in Armenia, has stated that the actions of the Yerevan Mayoralty and police aimed to dismantle kiosks are illegitimate and violate human rights.

Robert Sturua, stage director at the Shota Rustaveli State Drama Theatre, has been dismissed from his position. He believes that this was done because of his oppositional views on the authorities.

Tengiz Kitovani, ex-head of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of Georgia, said in his interview to the newspaper "Moskovskaya Pravda" that Alexander Ankvab, Vice-President of Abkhazia, allegedly cooperated with Georgian authorities during the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict in 1992-1993. Mr Ankvab has categorically refuted Kitovani's accusations calling them "bedtime stories".

Some refugee families, evicted from the hotel "Abkhazia" in Tbilisi, are filing lawsuits with demand of monetary compensations. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed about it by Marina Meshvildishvili, the leader of the coalition of NGOs "Tskhinvali of the Future", who had also lived in the "Abkhazia".

Today the fifth meeting between the ruling coalition and Armenian National Congress was held. The leaders of the delegations refused to answer the journalists’ questions explaining that the discussion of the incident of August, 9, between the police and ANC activists would be continued at the next meeting, August, 19.

Armed and masked people wearing camouflage uniforms in Chechnya kidnapped and carried away in an unknown direction a teacher of a men’s madrasah of Gudermes and three of his pupils, “Memorial” Human Rights Center reports.

A fourteen-years-old resident of Khasavyurt who formerly reported that she had undergone gang rape suddenly altered her evidence. Now she states that all the events took place by her consent, a source in the Investigative Department of Committee of Inquiry (ID CI) of the Russian Federation in Dagestan reports.

An armistice was concluded among residents of the settlement of Shushanovka where several people got injured on August, 12, as a result of a mass scuffle, resident of the settlement Ravzanat Uvaisova reports.

Today Public prosecutor of Kentron administrative district of Yerevan Aram Grigoryan who had formerly been Military prosecutor of Armenia committed suicide. Prosecutor General’s confirmed this information.

Four supposed terrorists whose detention was reported on July, 18, were planning to organize an explosion of a passenger “Sapsan” train following from Moscow to Sr. Petersburg which enjoys great popularity with the politicians and businessmen.

In August publishing of the newspaper “Mestnaya” (“Local”) with a video application will be recommenced in the health resort of Sochi. It was held up about a year and a half ago after an attempt at its Editor-in-Chief Arkady Lander.

Upon the decision of Law Chamber of Armenia, a rapid response team will be formed in the nearest future. It will deal with unlawful actions of law enforcement bodies against the lawyers and protect their rights.

On August, 14, about one hundred people in Sochi gathered for a new meeting of protest against violation of “Olympic law”, i.e. Federal Law No 310. The meeting was held opposite the railway station.

The refugees who were resettled to the new district named Maltakva in the city of Poti demand to provide jobs for them; otherwise they plan to start protest actions.