News

Lawyer Keti Bekauri, who is defending the interests of Tsotne Gamsakhurdia, son of the first president of Georgia Zviad Gamsakhurdia, has treated the new charge presented to her client as "provocation".

Two residents of Ingushetia - Rakhman Imazhev from the city of Nazran and Anzor Mamilov from the city of Nazran - sent their complaints against the actions of power agents, which they believe to be illegal, to Ingush President Yunus-Bek Evkurov and human rights organizations.

Karalbi Karamizov, a resident of Chegem-2 village, Chegem District of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR), has addressed the local human rights centre with a complaint against the actions of the militia. He asserts that militiamen forced him to defame himself and other innocent people.

The Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" may close up its branch in the Chechen Republic. This was stated by Chairman of the Board Oleg Orlov in the context of recent statements made by President of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov on the work of human rights defenders.

A huge road accident with casualties happened on July 7 in the Lenin District of Grozny, the capital of Chechnya. An employee of the MIA (Ministry of Internal Affairs) is among the casualties. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told at the MIA that in several recent road accidents in the republic's highways killed two more persons, including a two-month-old baby, and wounded at least seven more.

In the Stavropol Territory, the prosecutor's office has dismissed, for the period of service investigation, director of the camp "Kolosok" and the head of the daytime camp "Ulybka"; on July 7 a child from the latter camp got drowned in a water basin in the territory of "Kolosok".

The Investigatory Department for the Astrakhan Region of the ICPO (Investigatory Committee at the Russian Prosecutor's Office) has initiated a criminal case on the fact of a mass poisoning of children, who took their rest in the camp "Young Railwayman", located in the Privolzhskiy District of the Region, the press service of the Department reports.

President of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov has called the members of the armed underground to surrender and promised to amnesty them. Kadyrov made this unexpected statement on July 7 during his meeting with the leaders of the Republic's power agencies.

The participants of the conference, where a decision was passed to establish a new human rights organization in Dagestan, adopted an open letter to President of Dagestan Magomedsalam Magomedov, listing the measures, which, in the opinion of the authors of the document, should promote cardinal changes of the situation in the republic in the sphere of human rights and return people's trust in the authorities.

The Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" regards the words pronounced on July 3 by President of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov in his interview to the "Grozny" TV Channel as a direct and obvious threat addressed to the Centre. Mr Kadyrov named the people involved in the "Memorial" as enemies of the people, enemies of the law and enemies of the state.

Today, the Independent Press Centre has hosted a press conference: "Investigation of Natalia Estemirova's murder: questions to investigation."

Today in Baku several youth organizations of Azerbaijan have held a protest action dated to the first anniversary of the arrest of the bloggers Adnan Gadjizade and Emin Milli.

General Sergey Kizyun, who suffered during the murder of the former State Duma Deputy Ruslan Yamadaev in September 2008, asserts that he has identified one of the defendants as Ruslan's killer by his eyes.

The struggle for the minds and the hearts, for a common system of values which could embrace North Caucasus and integrate it in Russia is a big and serious topic which should be started with telling the truth, with a wish to understand one another, says Ella Pamfilova, head of the council under the Russian President on facilitating the development of the institutions of civil society and human rights, chair of presidium of the all-Russia public movement "Civil Dignity".

Collection of signatures continues in Krasnodar Krai in support of Elvina Tsogoeva, 36, resident of North Ossetia, who killed a 19-year-old young man, thinking that he had raped her three-year-old daughter. Part of signatures have been sent to the Russian President.

A burnt car was found with the bodies of, possibly, two persons in the outskirts of Dagestan capital during the night of July 7.

The Chechen authorities intend to address the federal center with a request to increase the quotas for implementing the program of pulling down old and repair houses, and building new ones. Within Grozny alone, 843 houses are recognized to be in the state of emergency and hazardous for living. Grozny residents express dissatisfaction with the quality of construction works and report that the repair performed is often a facelift.

Nana Gagua who, together with her husband Malkhaz Gulashvili, is the owner and editor of the newspaper "Georgian Times" in Tbilisi, in her statement addressed to international organizations states that, due to opposition orientation of the newspaper, she, her husband and sons live under permanently extreme conditions.

Maxim Gvindzhia, minister of foreign affairs of Abkhazia, calls the statements by US State Secretary Hillary Clinton and representatives of Georgian authorities to the effect of occupation of Georgia by Russian troops as fantasy.

Zalina Kairova, leader of the initiative group ""Electrozinc" - what do we breath?", says that she and her supporters insist on implementing the court ruling on closing down the metallurgical works "Electrozinc" in Vladikavkaz, the North Ossetia capital, because its exhausts not only contaminate the atmosphere but also directly harm people's health.