News

On Thursday, June 10, Evgenia Khasis, a figurant in the murder case of lawyer Stanislav Markelov, refused to take prison food in protest against keeping in the same insulator with one of militants' leaders of Northern Caucasus Ali Taziev, also known as Magas.

The Chief Investigatory Department of the Investigatory Committee at the Prosecutor's Office (ICPO) of the Russian Federation has completed investigating the murder of the Hero of Russia and former State Duma Deputy Ruslan Yamadaev and attempt on Sergey Kizyun.

Khizri Shikhsaidov, Deputy of the Russian State Duma from Dagestan, does not support the idea of the LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky who offered to release young men from military service for one million roubles. The Dagestan MP was supported by his colleagues who believe that commercialization of conscription will make bribes still higher.

Lately, the capital of Chechnya saw almost two dozens attacks made from paintball rifles on girls without headscarves. One of the victims of these attacks lost her eye as a result of a paintball shot. According to human rights activists, local militiamen may be involved in the attacks.

In Chechnya, in the city of Gudermes, leaflets appeared on posts near the city bus station and in the vicinity of the marketplace calling Chechen girls to wear headscarves, eyewitnesses report.

Today at a press conference, relatives of Egle Kusaite, a native of Klaipeda, said that her confession about intention to commit a terror act in Chechnya was "drawn out" of the girl by means of psychological and physical violence.

Movlat Tsechoev, uncle of brothers Adam and Beslan Tsechoev, who were detained on June 8 in Sagopshi village (Ingushetia), is sure of their non-involvement in the terror act in Sagopshi. Movlat told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent about the events that preceded detention and about a spontaneous rally in front of the GUVD (Chief Interior Department) of Malgobek.

The federal agents who took away in 2002 brothers Magomed-Salekh and Magomed-Ali Ilyasov failed to present their IDs, behaved rudely and aggressively and threatened their family members. This was reported by their mother Zhugurkhan Ilyasovа, who was defined as victim by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).

The Tbilisi City Court has satisfied the petition of the Prosecutor's Office of Georgia and sentenced in absentia Malkhaz Gulashvili, President of the media holding "Georgian Times" and leader of the Georgian public organization "National Orthodox Movement", and his son David Gulashvili to two months of pre-trial custody.

From early June, unidentified persons are driving in central Grozny in cars with tinted glasses and shoot from paintball rifles (the so-called "markers") at the girls who go along the street with uncovered heads. This is reported by the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial".

Eight out of fifteen detained participants of the protest action (dispersed by the militia) with demand to clear out the fate of Ahmednabi Nazhmutdinov, a resident of Cherniayevka village, Kizlyar District, who disappeared on May 30, have been set free.

Residents of the capital of North Ossetia continue holding pickets with a demand to close the "Electrozink" factory. Another protest action held on June 9 had only nine participants, as the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

During 22 years of presence in Northern Caucasus, the Internal Troops (IT) of the MIA (MIA) lost 2984 persons as casualties and 9000 more as wounded soldiers. This was stated by Army General Nikolai Rogozhkin, IT Commander-in-Chief, when he spoke to the Operative-Purpose Independent Division.

In Stavropol, lawyer Evsei Osinovskiy, who is defending Aslan Patiev, a native of Ingushetia and a suspect of committing an explosion in central city on May 26, said that his client is at large: the inquiry has no claims against him.

Today, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has passed a decision in favour of the religious organization of Jehova's Witnesses in Russia on the case about liquidation of its community in Moscow in March 2004, and obliged the authorities of the Russian Federation to pay 70,000 euros to the applicants.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg has fined Russia by 430,000 euros for kidnapping eight residents of Chechnya in 2001, 2002 and 2005.

The Moscow City Court (MCC) has refused to regard the data published in the book by Vladimir Zhirinovsky "LDPR. Last March to the South" as doubtful or discrediting the Azerbaijanis.

Timbora Kutogov, a resident of the city of Chegem, Kabardino-Balkaria, is trying for two years to punish the doctor, for whose guilt, in father's opinion, his son of 13 had died. Today, by the decision of the public prosecutor, exhumation of the child's body was appointed.

In Malgobek, physicians have confirmed that in the evening on June 8 an ambulance was called to the GUVD (Chief Interior Department) to render emergency aid to detainee Beslan Tsechoev. This was reported by Magomed Khazbiev, head of the organization "Fair Ingushetia" who yesterday visited the GUVD of Malgobek.

On June 8, Vardan Avetisyan, head of the department for supervising application of punishments and other compulsion measures of the General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) of Armenia, addressed his written petition to the head of the corrective establishment (CE) "Nubarashen" asking to recalculate the remaining term of imprisonment of Nikol Pashinyan, editor of the oppositional newspaper "Aikakan Zhamanak".