News

Today, at 5 o'clock in the afternoon, in Makhachkala, in Akushinsky Avenue, five unidentified men attacked and beat Ruslan Gereev, the deputy director general and editor of the political division of the newspaper "Nastoyascheye Vremya" (Present Time), said Milrad Fatullaev, the editor-in-chief.

Supporters of Arthur Dordjiev, who was not approved for the post of city manager, blocked the Elista Mayoralty and tried to storm the building, said Mingiyan Yashaev, the incumbent acting city manager of Elista, the capital of Kalmykia.

The Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" has sent an appeal to Alexander Bastrykin, Chairman of the Investigatory Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF), asking him to take the criminal case initiated against the policemen who tortured Inal Berov, a resident of Nalchik, under his special supervision.

Today, Oleg Shein, an ex-candidate for the Mayor of Astrakhan and a member of the "Spravedlivaya Rossiya" (Fair Russia) Party, has announced his withdrawal from the political protest hunger strike.

On April 23, Viktor Orban, Prime Minister of Hungary, said that the Hungarian oil company MOL would quit the gas pipeline project named "Nabucco". So far, the company's managers and the authors of the pipeline project have not confirmed the information.

On April 20 in Makhachkala, unidentified persons in masks kidnapped a local resident Zalbek Magomed-Kamilovich Paizulaev, born in 1967. This was announced by his cousin Ramzan Omarov, who addressed human rights activists asking to help to find his relative.

At night on April 24, funeral torch marches to commemorate the victims of the genocide of Armenians in the Ottoman Turkey and the 97th anniversary of the tragedy took place in Yerevan and other cities on the country.

Patimat Murshidova, a resident of the village of Balakhani, Untsukul District of Dagestan, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that she was persecuted by law enforcers.

At the protest action aimed to protect the Mashtots Park in Yerevan, activists held a symbolic funeral ceremony of oligarch Olik Garkhyan.

In the evening on April 23, Stepanakert, the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, hosted a torchlight march and a rally to commemorate the victims of the genocide of Armenians committed in the Ottoman Empire.

Imadibir Makhiev, 16, who on April 16 was shot in his head by a policeman, was transferred from the Akhvakh Central District Hospital to Makhachkala, to the intensive care unit of the Republic's Clinical Hospital.

In Kaspiisk, employees of the local GOVD (City Interior Division) have asked the believers not to visit the mosque, located in Aeroflotskaya Street, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed by a local resident Abakar Abakarov.

The office of Oleg Shein, a member of the "Spraveldivaya Rossiya" (Fair Russia) Party and an ex-candidate for the Mayor of the city, has reported that the political hunger strike against the outcomes of the election of the Mayor of Astrakhan has now 40 participants.

Today, Shirinbadji Rzaeva and members of her family were evicted from their apartment in Baku. This happened after she expressed yesterday, on April 22, her strong criticism at the oppositional rally against the leadership of Azerbaijan and the Baku Mayoralty for massive violations of citizens' property rights.

Law enforcement authorities of Volgograd have detained two young men, one of whom stuck a swastika sticker to his T-shirt and went to the Easter Sacred Procession, while the other was disseminating leaflets with Hitler's portrait on the dictator's birthday.

Oleg Shein's lawsuit on cancellation of the outcomes of electing Mayor of Astrakhan and his demand to release his supporters as precondition for his quitting the hunger strikes; thousands-strong oppositional action in Baku; demand of Evkurov's resignation declared at a public conference held in the republic; inauguration of new president of South Ossetia, suicide of suspects of attempt on president of Abkhazia; opening of NGO resource centre in Grozny, – look these and other events in the Caucasus in the review of the week of April 16-22, 2012, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

On April, 21, non-governmental organization “Mothers of Kabardino-Balkaria in protection of the citizen’s rights and freedoms” held a meeting in Nalchik authorized by the municipal authorities. Over one hundred people gathered at the meeting. They demanded from the authorities to take steps to prevent escalation of violence in the republic.

In the evening of April, 22, the capital of Armenia was officially granted the title of “World Book Capital-2012” from Buenos Aires.

On April, 22, a meeting with about one thousand participants was held in the settlement of Karata, Ahvakh district. During the action its participants demanded punishment for Zaur Djalilov, officer of Ahvakh Department of Interior Affairs. It is suspected that on April, 16, he shot into a sixteen-years-old local resident’s head.

Public events dated to the 21st anniversary of the signing of the Law "On Rehabilitation of Repressed Nations", which covered Cossacks, were held on April 21 in Krasnodar.