News

In the village of Machara of the Gulripsh District of Abkhazia, 37 returnees obtained apartments in a five-storey building. Most of them returned from Turkey. The others are the Abkhazians, who returned from Syria and Adzharia, and the Abazins, who came back from Karachay-Cherkessia.

The Tbilisi City Court found 8 members of the NGO "Civil Front" guilty of disobeying the police; 5 of them were sentenced to arrest, and three of them to fines.

Today, the Baku Court of Grave Crimes, chaired by Judge Ramella Allakhverdieva, continued court hearings on the criminal case against Avaz Zeinalov, Editor-in-Chief of the newspaper "Khural". The Judge dismissed all defence motions, including motions on audio recording of the court session and on release of Avaz Zeinalov from custody.

As a result of checking the reports, including ones of the "Caucasian Knot", about kidnappings of Dagestani residents in the period of January 1-May 18, which involved armed men in camouflage and masks, whereabouts of 6 persons were revealed. Fate of 14 persons remains unknown. This was reported by the Dagestani Prosecutor's Office.

A judgment within the framework of the trial on acknowledgment of the results of the election of Mayor of the city invalid may be passed already on June, 5, ex-candidate for Mayor's office Oleg Shein considers.

Suleiman Gadjiev, imam of the local mosque in the settlement of Guni, Kazbek district, who broke a portrait on the headstone of a police officer killed by gunmen was detained, law enforcement bodies of the republic reported.

Basmanny court of Moscow released from custody Dmitry Pavliuchenkov involved in the murder of observer on "Novaya Gazeta" Anna Politkovskaya. The defendant will now be under house arrest.

A deputy in Krasnodar region was detained for suspicion of getting a bribe of two million rubles from a local businessman, Chief Directorate of Economic Security and Struggle against Corruption (CDES and SC) of the Ministry of Interior Affairs of the Russian Federation reported.

This morning, Aslan Afaunov, born in 1978, was kidnapped by unidentified men in masks from his house in the village of Lechinkai of the Chegem District of Kabardino-Balkaria. This was reported by his wife.

"Gazenergostroi" Company Group, the developer of the construction of the Kudepsta Thermal Power Plant (TPP), claims damaging of construction vehicles, committed by local residents, who try to stop the construction works. The Sochi residents called the accusations a provocation and organized day-and-night watch at the construction site.

On May 26, Russian President Vladimir Putin reassigned his advisers, including Mikhail Fedotov, who would continue to lead the Presidential Council for Human Rights. Three of its members, including Svetlana Gannushkina, Chair of the "Civil Assistance" Committee, think about leaving the Council. According to Svetlana Gannushkina, she is not satisfied with the outcome of the Council's meeting held on April 28, 2012, since it failed to give any instructions on Northern Caucasus.

Alexander Misrikhanov, Branch Director of the "Bronnitsky" Jewellery Trading House, who was kidnapped on last December 15 in Makhachkala and, according to him, voluntarily released, by kidnappers, declined to give investigators the information about the kidnappers and about the place, where he had been kept.

The Investigatory Division of the city of Nalchik of the Investigatory Department of the Investigatory Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) in Kabardino-Balkaria takes measures to identify a police officer, who on January 11, 2012, destroyed the documents of a lawyer, defending a detainee.

Administration of the Caucasian Nature Reserve has not given permission for the construction of border guard station in the territory, and it will seek to transfer the buildings, which had been already erected. This was stated by Sergey Shevelev, Director of the Caucasian Nature Reserve.

Oleg Orlov, Chairman of the Board of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", left his position; journalist Alexander Cherkasov, an activist of the organization since 1989, became the new head of the Board.

Mayor's office of Grozny rejected a non-governmental organization's notification of holding a picket in Grozny. In this way human rights activists were planning to draw attention of the community and authorities of Chechnya to the present-day problems of disabled people and orphans in the republic.

Gazimagomed Gaziev, resident of the settlement of Shamkhal-stantsia, reports that his son Shamil Gaziev who is serving his penalty in penal colony No eight of Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug is undergoing victimization on religious and ethnic grounds.

On May 28, in Yerevan, the civic initiative "Let's Save Market Hall" organized a protest action against dismantling of the market hall, located in the centre of the city and included in the list of historical and cultural monuments of Armenia.

The Tver District Court of Moscow postponed till July 3 the consideration of the lawsuit filed by Andrei Krasnenkov, the lawyer of the Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, for the protection of good standing against the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial".

In Azerbaijan, participants of the campaign "Sing for Democracy", held to draw attention to the problems with human rights in connection with the song contest "Eurovision 2012" in Baku, intend to organize new public campaign, preliminary entitled "Internet networks in the name of democracy". The campaign is timed for the upcoming Global Internet Governance Forum (IGF), which is held under the auspices of the UN, scheduled for November.