News

May Day actions; change of Governor of Stavropol Territory; double terror act in Makhachkala; deadline for nominating presidential candidates of Nagorno-Karabakh; election of Armenian Parliament explosion of balloons at pre-election rally in Yerevan, – look these and other events in the Caucasus in the review of the week of April 29-May 6, 2012, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

Bloggers of Northern Caucasus suggest working out a Charter of a responsible blogger whose participants would take the responsibility to abstain from offence on ethnic, religious of race grounds. This motion was advanced at a meeting of the bloggers of Northern and Southern Caucasus.

About 50 people gathered at an oppositional meeting “For honest and legitimate authority” held on May, 6, in Rostov-on-Don. The main slogan of the action was “Freedom to political prisoners!”.

Russia must stop arbitrariness against journalists and investigate the murder of founder of “Chernovik” newspaper Hajimurad Kamalov committed in Dagestan, Mark Toner, official representative of the United States Department of State, declared at a press conference in Washington timed to World Press Freedom Day.

On May 4, the Soviet District Court of Makhachkala upheld the demand of the Prosecutor's Office and recognized two Internet resources as extremist ones. According to the Office, they acted in the interests of the local bandit underground.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has helped two hospitals in Makhachkala, where the patients wounded at the double terror act take their treatment. We also know that two especially grave patients have been sent today from Dagestan into one of Moscow clinics by a special aircraft.

Today, the Constitutional Court of Armenia has denied the claim lodged by Deputies of the National Assembly to abolish the prohibition stipulated by the Electoral Code to disclose the list of those voters, who have actually cast their ballot papers.

Today, the Supreme Court of Dagestan has upheld the decision of the Lenin Magistrate Court of Makhachkala, prescribing to liquidate the religious books confiscated from Ziyavdin Dapaev, a follower of the Turkish theologian Said Nursi, who had been earlier convicted of organizing an extremist organization.

As a result of the double terror act committed in Makhachkala, five teenagers were injured – three are in local medical institutions; and two kids were let home after first aid. In total, 62 victims were hospitalized in Makhachkala.

The police have dispersed a picket held in Stavropol on May 4 at midday in front of the House of Justice in defence of pensioner Valentina Prasolova, who was accused of extremism. According to the police, the action was illegal.

On May 4, in Yerevan, the "Civil Movement of Tegut Defenders" organized a protest against felling the Tsagov Forest in the town of Zhukovsky, Moscow Region. Activists marched from the Mashtots Park to the Embassy of Russia in Armenia and expressed their support for Russian ecologists.

The head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov has dismissed Tamerlan Mingaev from his post of Deputy Plenipotentiary Representative of the Chechen Republic under the Russian President. The dismissal has to do with the improper conduct of his wife Madina Mingaeva, said Ramzan Kadyrov.

Today, the head of Dagestan Magomedsalam Magomedov has told reporters that the alleged executors of the double terror act on May 3 in Makhachkala were brother and sister Rizvan Aliev and Muslimat Alieva. On the eve of the terror act, a law enforcement source cited their names as searched suspects of preparing terror acts on May 9.

Shortly after the April 22 special operation in the village of Komsomolskoe, Gudermes District of Chechnya, armed men in camouflage burned down the houses belonging to relatives of Akhmed Bantaev, one of those killed in the special operation. This was reported by local residents to human rights defenders.

As reported by the Armenian Ministry for Emergencies (MfE), 25 victims of the explosion in Republic Square of Yerevan are still treated at intensive care units of local medical centres. The exploded balloons could be filled with hydrogen or methane, which have the lifting force and are explosives at the same time, said Vladimir Fedotov, Deputy Director of the Scientific and Production Association (SPA) "Geliymash". He denies that the balloons could be filled with helium, the RIA "Novosti" reports.

The court session in Astrakhan on the lawsuit initiated by Oleg Shein, an ex-candidate for the Mayor of the city and organizer of a hunger strike for cancellation of the election outcome, has interrogated 16 witnesses of the claimant.

The explosion occurred on May 4 in Republic Square during a pre-election rally-concert of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia. The number of victims was 144, said the spokesman of the Armenia's Ministry for Emergencies (MfE).

The Moscow Prosecutor's Office will supervise the investigation into the brawl near the "Evropeiskiy" Trading Centre between activists of the movement "Nashi" and relatives of Tamerlan Mingaev, Deputy Representative of the Chechen Republic at the President of the Russian Federation, the Russia's General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) reports.

Materials on the crimes committed by employees of law enforcement bodies in Dagestan will be transferred to the Investigatory Committee of the Russian Federation additionally, the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" has reported. The crimes are rapes, murders, acts of torture and kidnappings.

Kamil Mutaev, a resident of the village of Zubutli-Miatli, Kizilyurt District, who was kidnapped in Dagestan, had been earlier detained several times by the police, said his wife Zukhra Mutaeva.