News

The roundtable "Policy in Northern Caucasus. What Experts Suggest" was the last event of the Forum "Gaidar Readings" ongoing in Pyatigorsk. In the course of the discussion, experts invited state officials to actively cooperate with various religious groups and create agglomerations in the regions of the North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD).

Today, Milrad Fatulaev, the editor-in-chief of the Dagestani weekly "Nastoyascheye Vremya" (Present Time), has received a statement of the Prosecutor's Office of the city of Makhachkala about initiation of an administrative case against him under the article of slander after publication of an article about introduction of the CTO (counterterrorist operation) regime in the village of Gimry, Untsukul District. The weekly's staff views it as pressure on the edition by national authorities.

As stated by Eldar Orudjev, the head of the legal department of the Azerbaijani state-owned oil company SOCAR, residents of the dwelling area Sulu-Tepe of the township Khodjasan, Binagadi District of Baku, whose house are demolishing by the company, should go to court and seek compensations for their housing from local authorities and municipalities, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

A criminal case was initiated by republican Investigative Department of Committee of Inquiry of the Russian Federation (CIR) in KBR on the fact of beating up resident of Nalchik Inal Berov by the personnel of the Ministry of Interior Affairs. Inal Berov was officially acknowledged sufferer.

Local residents of Beslan, North Ossetia, held an action of protest neat the dump where garbage of several years' standing was burning. They demand to move the dump farther away from the residential area of the town.

On April, 11, an action of protest was held in Vardanants square of the town of Giumri, Armenia. Its participants came out in opposition against the festival of Azerbaijani films "STOP" planned on April, 12.

Today, in Sochi, the action to protest against tree felling and construction of multi-storey parking facilities near the children's centre in Constitution Street was resumed. The place of the protest action was visited by Oleg Sheveiko, City Chief Architect, who ordered to stop felling of 50-year-old plane trees and thus supported the demands of the public activists.

Relatives of Murat Tekuzhev, the 34-year-old resident of Kabardino-Balkaria, who was killed on March 30 during a special operation in Nalchik, claim that he had not been involved into illegal armed formations (IAFs).

Investigators instituted a criminal case on the fact of kidnapping of Ruslan Aushev, a resident of Ingushetia, in the city of Mineralnye Vody of the Stavropol Territory.

Sergey Udaltsov, the coordinator of the "Left-Wing Front", who went on a hunger strike in solidarity with the Astrakhan opposition activists, who do not recognize the results of the mayoral elections, was detained by police near the building of the State Duma in Moscow. Later, the Magistrate Court fined Sergey Udaltsov by 2000 roubles for attempting to hold an unsanctioned rally near the State Duma.

In the Stavropol Territory, Evgeny Pechorin, the ex-head of the Lermontov city administration, is suspected of incurring a loss to the local self-administration in the amount of 2,000,000 roubles. This was reported today at the press conference by Yury Turygin, Prosecutor of the Stavropol Territory.

Wife of Omar Omarov, Chairman of the Khasavyurt City Court, who was injured in the explosion, which occurred this morning near the house of the judge, is in serious condition. This was reported by a staff member of the Investigatory Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) in Dagestan.

On April 10, the Khasavyurt District Court of Dagestan pronounced the verdict in the case against Marsel Gamidov, a resident of the village of Karlanyurt, accused of illegal possession of firearms. The defendant pleaded guilty and was sentenced to one year of conditional sentence. The lawyer and the public defender of Marsel Gamidov believe that the young man incriminated himself.

Oleg Shein, the participant of the hunger strike in Astrakhan, the ex-candidate for the position of City Mayor, fell bad, and for that reason he was unable to meet local residents. This was reported by Dmitry Gudkov, the deputy of the State Duma from the faction of the "Spravedlivaya Rossiya" (Fair Russia) Party.

Dmitry Demushkin, the leader of the nationalist movement "Russians", doubts that the murder of Metin Mekhtiev, the Muslim public figure, committed in Moscow, is backed by nationalistic motives.

Ilya Yashin, the activist of the opposition movement "Solidarnost" (Solidarity), was released from the police station in Astrakhan, where he was taken after taking part in a fight.

Non-governmental organization "For Human Rights" in Azerbaijan headed by former political prisoner, journalist Einulla Fatullaev opened a new human rights web-portal "Your right". On April, 11, a presentation of this web-site was held in media center of the Institute of Freedom and Safety of Reporters (IFSR) in Baku.

Prime Minister of Russia Vladimir Putin declared that he did not comprehend why leader of Astrakhan branch of "Fair Russia" party Oleg Seiyn went on a hunger strike without appealing against the results of the election in court. Head of the Government made this statement during his speech in State Duma. After Putin's reply "Fair Russia" fraction left the assembly hall.

Two witnesses for the prosecution, inspectors of Road Patrol Service (RPS) Evgeny Andreev and Alexander Tselikov, were interrogated at a trial on the case of the personnel of the second detached battalion of State Traffic Safety Inspectorate (STSI) in Volgograd. They confirmed that after every duty they gave part of the money to their bosses.

In Astrakhan, the residents, who support hunger-strikers, held a rally in the city centre, marking the arrival of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, physician Elizaveta Glinka, and Dmitry Gudkov and Ilya Ponomaryov, the deputies of the State Duma from the "Spravedlivaya Rossiya" (Fair Russia) Party. Another event is to start at 6:00 p.m. Elizaveta Glinka said that on April 11 she would persuade three persons to stop participating in the hunger strike.