News

The Minister of Internal Affairs of Dagestan Abdurashid Magomedov has reported today to Rashid Nurgaliev, Minister of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, who arrived in Dagestan today, that the suicide bomber who blew himself up in the centre of Makhachkala had been identified. Among his potential targets experts name the building of the Lenin ROVD (District Interior Division) of Makhachkala, or the medical unit of the MIA (Ministry of Internal Affairs) employees.

The report of Thomas Hammarberg, Supreme Commissioner for Human Rights Council of Europe, published on May 9, is truly reflecting the situation in Armenia, and the rigorous assessments made therein could have been expected, say the Armenian rights defenders.

Today, at a regular session of the Khamovniki Court of Moscow on the slander case initiated against the head of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" Oleg Orlov, Andrei Krasnenkov, legal representative of the head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov, has moved a number of new petitions.

According to preliminary data, Nadezhda Petruchenya and Anatoly Ozrokov have been identified among the suspected militants, killed today in a special operation in Nalchik.

Protesters against the ban on hijabs in schools, held May 6 in Baku, have been sentenced to administrative arrests.

In the regions of Southern Russia and Transcaucasian countries the Victory Day was celebrated in various formats.

During the week from April, 25, till May, 1, no less than 28 people were killed and minimum 18 wounded in armed confrontations in Northern Caucasus. These are the totals of calculation by the "Caucasian Knot" based on its own materials and other open sources.

On May 8, in the village of Shamkhal, Kirov District of Makhachkala, an unidentified person made several pistol shots at Asvad Abdullaev, deputy commander of OMON (riot police) company No. 1 for the Republic of Dagestan (RD), who was at that moment in the yard of his house. This was reported by the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of the RD.

In the plain Shelkovskoy District of the Chechen Republic the police detained a truck carrying more than a thousand bottles of alcohol. A source from law enforcement bodies of Chechnya asserts that this is the largest of the recently detected batches of alcoholic beverages.

The Georgian parliament may recognize the so-called "Genocide of the Circassian Nation" before May 21, since the Circassian issue has rather powerful lobby in Georgia, said Yulon Gagoshidze, Minister on the Matters of Georgian Diaspora.

The presentation of the book by Zoya Svetova "Innocent Is Found Guilty" about the scientist Igor Sutyagin, accused of espionage, and the Chechen girl Zara Murtazalieva, convicted for terrorism, was attended by about a hundred persons; half of them were journalists of Russian and foreign mass media. As it turned out later, some visitors could not get into the hall and waited outside hoping to get an autograph from the author of the book. According to Zoya Svetova, she dedicated her book to Anna Politkovskaya.

A triple holiday is celebrated in Nagorno-Karabakh on May, 9: the Day of Victory in the Great Patriotic War, the 19th anniversary of creation of the Defense Army of Karabakh and the day of liberation of the town of Shushi.

A search group of Peace-support mission named after General Lebed started search of those missing since the period of the Georgian-Osetian conflict of 1989-2008.

Unidentified people committed an attempt at a woman fortune-teller and her husband in Sergokala district of Dagestan, both of them were hospitalized with grave gunshot wounding.

According to a preliminary version, Yahya Magomedov, journalist of an Islamic newspaper "As-Salam", might be killed by mistake: he might have been confused with his relative, a police officer, Alkhas Amirhanov, Senior Assistant Chief of Investigative Department of the Committee of Inquiry of the Russian Federation in Dagestan, reported.

The two members of the armed underground, whose liquidation was reported on April 25 by the republic's authorities and power agents, blew themselves up after they ran out of ammunition, but not killed in the course of the special operation, said the head of one of the republic's public organizations (NGOs).

The Inter-District Division of "Rospotrebnadzor" (Russian Federal Agency for Consumer Supervision) for Dagestan fined Murtazali Tagirov, head of public organization "Fighter for Justice" by 4500 roubles.

Today, a trial took place in Finland on the case on illegal immigration of Chechen natives. The defendants Abdulkhamid Mechiev and Mikael Storsjo were acquitted.

On May 6, the Ingush oppositionist Magomed Khazbiev was summoned to the Investigatory Committee of Ingushetia by investigator Gaitov for questioning. Magomed Tambiev, head of the Nazran GUVD (Chief Interior Department), has asked the Prosecutor's Office initiate a criminal case against the oppositionist.

About 50 houses were flooded in the village of Atlanaul, Buinaksk District of Dagestan, after heavy rains. This was reported by the republic's department of the Russian Ministry for Emergencies (MfE).