News

Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe (PACE) awarded the "Human Rights" prize to a Russian non-governmental organization "Committee Against Torture" of Nizhny Novgorod for investigations of crimes in Chechnya. The respective decision was officially announced on April, 12, within the framework of the spring session of the organization in Strasbourg.

An audit conducted by investigating bodies of the ICRF (Investigatory Committee of the Russian Federation) for the Astrakhan Region at the Raznochinovskiy orphanage-boarding school in the context of reports about multiple deaths of pupils found no evidences of crime.

On April, 13, the Committee for assistance to adaptation of persons who decided to stop terrorist and extremist activities in the territory of Dagestan to peaceful life adopted an appeal to the Supreme Court and Public prosecutor's office of the republic to reduce preventive punishment for four citizens of Kazakhstan arrested for participation in paramilitary groups in the territory of Dagestan.

A mass scuffle with the use of firearms took place on April, 13, in the settlement of Jimikent, Derbent district of Dagestan. One person was killed, three more got wounded.

The Parliament of Kabardino-Balkaria has introduced a law in draft to the State Duma suggesting to cancel the clause of the Criminal code of the Russian Federation according to which a citizen is exempted from liability "for concealment of a crime committed by his of her spouse or close relative not promised beforehand".

The Leninsky District Court of Rostov-on-Don found Vladimir Bagin, a local resident, guilty of willingly false reports about terror acts and sentenced him to a real term in prison, said the press service of the Prosecutor's Office of the Rostov Region.

The main concern issues of Georgian citizens are employment problems, utility tariffs and the low level of democracy in their country. This was confirmed by published materials of the public opinion research conducted in major cities across the whole country by the Caucasian Centre of Research Resources under the order of the US' National Democratic Institute (NDI).

The discussion at the presentation of the report of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" entitled "New Magomedov's Course?" ran about the growth of terrorism in the country and continued human rights violations; however, the authorities' attempts to start dialogue with human rights defenders were also noted. The event was held at the Independent Media Centre.

According to indirect evidences, Dokku Umarov, leader of the "Imarat Kavkaz", is most likely alive, said Anatoly Safonov, special representative the Russian President for matters of international cooperation in combating terrorism and organized crime.

On April 10, relatives of and sympathizers to the natives of Dagestan, accused of raping and kept in custody for more than two years, held a protest action against protraction of the investigation.

Suicide bombers again blow them up in Northern Caucasus; unpleasant weather surprises paralyze life in the Krasnodar Territory; in Ingushetia, former deputy minister miraculously survives an attempt, - look these and other events in the review of the week of April 4-10, 2011, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

On April 12, head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov made some reshuffling in his government and appointed Khadizha Dulaeva to the post of the first deputy head of the administration and Chechen government. Changes were made among top managers of a number of ministries and agencies.

According to preliminary data, in comparison with the leaders of other subjects of the Southern Federal District (SFD), the revenues of the head of Adygea Aslan Tkhakushinov are among the lowest. This is evidenced by the data, published by heads of Russian regions in their declarations. So far, out of the SFD subjects, there is no data about the income of Alexander Zhilkin, Governor of the Astrakhan Region.

According to the Ingush human rights organization "Mashr", starting from 2002, 197 persons are on the list of kidnapped and missing residents of Ingushetia. As stated by Yusup Kostoev, an Ingush MP, only last year 10 persons were abducted, whose fate remains unknown. Making his comment on the dispersed rally on March 23 in Nazran, Mr Kostoev noted that such protests are held because the desperate people cannot get at least any information about their kidnapped relatives.

Djavid Mekhraliev, a youth activist of the Party of "Classic" People's Front of Azerbaijan (PCNFA) and a 3rd year student of the Department of History of the Baku State University (BSU), was expelled from the university. This is the second exclusion of a young activist from university within the last week in Azerbaijan.

Public prosecutor's office of Karachay district of the Republic of Karachay-Cherkessia has carried out an inspection of sanitary and technical state of medioprophylactic institutions of the district. Five outpatients' clinics, eleven first-aid and obstetric stations and two district hospitals underwent the inspection.

One more "Day of Wrath" passed off on April, 12, in the city of Rostov-on Don and the town of Sakhti. Activists of oppositional movements of Taganrog decided not to hold the picket not authorized by the administration.

The suspicion of negligence has become the reason for starting criminal proceedings against the director of a boarding school in Rostov region where three inmates got poisoned.

The young man liquidated in Ingushetia on April 11 as a result of a fight had a driver's license and a student's record book of the Curative Department of the Sechenov Moscow Medical Academy. Besides, documents of residents of Grozny and Armavir were found at the fight venue, said a source from local law enforcement bodies.

Igor Zhelyabin, head of the press service of the GUVD (Chief Interior Department) for the Krasnodar Territory, had deliberately told the media that the rally on April 9 against the launch of the Tuapse Terminal of the "EuroChem" Company, intended for handling chemical fertilizers, was attended by a total of 100 persons, while in fact the figure was over 500. This is stated by a message issued by the public organization "Ecological Watch for Northern Caucasus".