News

Natural fires in the Volgograd Region capture dwelling settlements, taking eight human lives and leaving about a thousand persons without roof over their head; Russia and other countries hold mourning actions on the sixth anniversary of the terror act in Beslan; suicide bomber commits a terror act in Buinaksk killing five and wounding thirty persons, - look these and other events in the review of the week of August 30-September 5, 2010, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

On September 7, the Administrative Court of Armenia has rejected the claim lodged by the Armenian All-National Movement (AANM) - a unit of the Armenian National Congress (ANC) - with a demand to nullify the decision of the plenipotentiary of the mayoralty of Yerevan of September 1 to ban the rally of the opposition, which was to be held on September 17 in Freedom Square.

The defence of Tsotne Gamsakhurdia, son of the first president of Georgia, who was sentenced to 9.5 years of imprisonment for a murder attempt, brings a claim against the patrol police challenging the legality of the detention procedure.

The situation around Karabakh settlement and the parliamentary elections forthcoming on November 7 in Azerbaijan were the main topics during the meetings held by Peter Semneby, EU's Special Representative for Southern Caucasus, during his visit to Baku on September 5-7.

According to Dukvakha Abdurakhmanov, speaker of Chechen parliament, the post of the president of Chechnya will be officially renamed only next April, after expiry of Ramzan Kadyrov's term.

On September 7, the Leninskiy District Court of Rostov-on-Don held its first session on the case contesting the legitimacy of the decision of the Prosecutor's Office of the Rostov Region, which had announced a warning to Konstantin Baranov, head of the regional branch of the public organization "Young Europe", about inadmissibility of extremist activity.

Rostov-on-Don has seen attacks of a grouping of young men, who hid their faces in medical masks on city residents. Unidentified youngsters are beating those who drink alcohol in the streets.

Today, the Moscow City Court has sentenced Sergey Tulinov, ex-head of the Yeisk District, Krasnodar Territory, found guilty of taking a bribe of 3 million roubles, to 7.5 years of high security colony. His defence believes the arguments of the prosecution unpersuasive.

After leaving the post of the head of Kalmykia, which he has been occupying for 17 years, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov plans to get engaged in social-charitable projects and preparation of Dalai Lama's visit to the republic, he said today at a press conference.

Today at 2:00 p.m., the project named "People's Control" was presented in Vladikavkaz, launched under the initiative of the North-Ossetian regional branch of the "Edinaya Rossiya" (United Russia) Party.

Gyulnara Bammatova, a lawyer from the "Kavkaz" Bar, who was hospitalized as a result of actions of the employee of the local drug control department, who presented himself as "Magomed Magomedovich Magomedov", is going to sue him, despite the offer of reconciliation that she received.

Russian human rights defenders had a meeting with William Burns, undersecretary of the US Department of State (DoS), and Michael MсFaul, adviser of the US president. Oleg Orlov, head of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", said that "criticism on the topic of human rights was one of the central issues" of the meeting.

Experts managed to identify the terrorist-suicide bomber, who committed the terror act on September 5 in the "Dalni" training range near Buinaksk in Dagestan. According to the MIA of Dagestan, it was Zamir Terekbaev, 26, a native of Andrei-Kurgan village, Neftekum District of the Stavropol Territory.

Svetlana Osipova, director general of the construction Limited Liability Company (LLC) "Astereya", who is kept in Tskhinvali prison, on September 2, went on hunger strike in protest against the charges presented by South-Ossetian authorities.

The development strategy of the North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD) till 2025 was presented by Alexander Khloponin, Russian President's Plenipotentiary in the District, for approval to Russian Premier Vladimir Putin during the meeting to Sochi on September 6.

Recent events in Dagestan show that the situation in the republic is getting out of control, runs the official statement of the working group of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation for development of public dialogue and institutes of civil society in the Caucasus, passed on September 6.

The forests located near the dwelling settlements of Khelaturi and Alak, Botlikh District, and of Anchikh, Akhvakh District, are captured by fire. Local residents find the efforts of the authorities to liquidate the calamity insufficient.

The law enforcement bodies of Ingushetia have prevented a large terror act planned by militants with use of a terrorist-suicide bomber. This was stated today by Ingush President Yunus-Bek Evkurov in his speech addressed to parliamentarians and the government.

The special commission for reconciliation of families in the state of blood feud, which was set up in Chechnya in August, has reconciled 18 blood feudists. According to the republic's Muftiyat, the commission still has 40 more cases pending consideration.

Magomed-Hadji Aushev, 80, father of Maksharip Aushev, an Ingush oppositionist and human rights activist, who was killed in autumn of 2009, asserts that he knows the assassins. The father is himself engaged in active public work in Ingushetia and does not exclude that he can become the next victim of gunmen.