News

This year, as compared with last one, Dagestan sees fewer kidnappings but more extrajudicial executions, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told by Gulnara Rustamova, co-chair of the Dagestani human rights organization "Pravozaschita" (Rights Advocacy).

After the incident in the parliament of South Ossetia, where initiators of actions in support of extension of the presidential term tried to put pressure on local MPs, Eduard Kokoity made a statement, in which he urged people of South Ossetia to refrain from actions in his support.

The bust of Joseph Stalin was demolished in the village of Zemo Alvani, Akhmet District (Eastern Georgia) because of the start of rehabilitation works in the park. However, even the temporary removal of the monument caused protests.

The Pervomaisky District Court of Krasnodar has ruled to recognize the activities of the Limited Liability Company (LLC) "Bastille" of killing stray dogs to be illegal. The LLC specialists engaged in sanitary clearing activities were killing animals in the city and in the eyes of residents.

Journalists from Buryatia Tatiana Stetsura and Nadezhda Nizovkina, accused of inciting hatred to law enforcers in their article about deportation of Caucasian nations, were detained for participating in an unsanctioned rally. While at the IVS (temporary detention facility) of the city of Chita, the women went on hunger strike.

Today, the Sumgait Court of Appeal, chaired by Judge Lyatifa Mamedova, held a preparatory session on the case of Jabbar Savalan, a young activist of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA).

Dagestani authorities are looking for new land plots for building a sugar-beet mill, since its construction in the Nogai District became impossible because of frequented protest actions of the population.

Any illegal forms of influencing the deputy corps should be toughly suppressed, said South-Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity in his comment on the events of June 15 in the Republic's Parliament, which was attacked, right during the sitting, by supporters of extending Kokoity's presidency, who disrupted the course of the session.

Tomorrow, on June 17, a number of dwelling settlements of Dagestan will hold rallies in support of the people who hold their hunger strike in the vicinity of the village of Gimry, Untsukul District, who demand to open an unobstructed motor traffic through the Gimry-Chirkata Tunnel.

On June 11, the many-month-long confrontation between the construction company "Azinko" and the tenants of No. 61 in Neftyanikov Avenue in central Baku ended in a forced eviction and demolition of the building. The demolition was motivated by the improvement and expansion of the motor road.

In the evening on June 15, unidentified assailants attacked the American journalist Amanda Erickson and British human rights activist Silja Davis. The young ladies were almost at home, when several young men of athletic body-build attacked them and began beating without explanations. Earlier the women felt that they were shadowed by the young men.

On June 12, the participants of the first ever in the Temryuk District of the Krasnodar Territory ecological rally demanded to suspend all the environmentally hazardous projects in the waters of the Azov and Black Seas, as well as complete ecological safety of all the production facilities planned for launching in the territory of the Taman Peninsula.

On June 15, the city of Argun, the third-largest city of Chechnya saw an opening of two new settlements for the residents of the city downtown, whose houses were demolished this winter in the course of the broad-scale reconstruction of the city. The keys to their new houses were solemnly handed over to 62 families.

Vladimir Galitrov. an expert of the Kalmyk Branch of the Public Movement "For Human Rights", demands an inquiry into the mass beating of convicts kept in the SIZO (pre-trial prison) of the city of Elista. This is stated in the message of Valery Badmaev, editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Modern Kalmykia", that arrived to the "Caucasian Knot".

According to eyewitnesses, on June 10 in Chechnya, on a road in the Kurchaloy District, unidentified armed persons kidnapped Aslambek Shataev, 30, a resident of Kurchaloy. Later, his relatives managed to find him in one of police stations. Now the man is at home, but, according to his relatives, he was severely beaten.

There was no open confrontation with supporters of extension of Mr Kokoity's presidency, who broke today into the Parliament of South Ossetia; however, the MPs were under pressure. This was stated by the Speaker Stanislav Kochiev. In protest, some of the parliamentarians submitted their self-resignation applications.

This July, the Azerbaijani journalist Einullah Fatullaev, who had spent 4 years in prison, intends to resume his professional career as editor-in-chief of the Russian-language weekly "Real Azerbaijan". The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed about it by Fatullaev himself.

Residents of other dwelling settlements of the mountainous parts of Dagestan are ready to join the protest hunger strike held near the village of Gimry, Untsukul District of Dagestan, with a demand to open free passage through the Chirkata-Gimry Tunnel, which connects nine mountain regions of the republic with the lowland.

The Nobel Institute in Oslo has hosted the awarding ceremony of the winners of the 2010 Gerd Bucerius Prize in the nominations of "Free Press of Russia" and "Free Press of Eastern Europe". The Caucasian region was represented by laureates from Dagestan, Armenia and Azerbaijan. This was reported by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent from the Norwegian capital.

In Georgia, the MPs from the parliamentary majority have drafted a bill on amending the Law "On Assemblies and Manifestations". If adopted, it will empower the police with more freedom at dispersal of oppositional rallies and actions; while it will become much harder to get permits for holding such events.