News

As reported today to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by Svetlana Isaeva, head of the NGO "Mothers of Dagestan for Human Rights", Gyulnara Rustamova, one of the activists of the NGO, has left it aiming to create a new human rights entity.

Remains of two residents of Chechnya captured by Russian militaries in the course of "zachistka" (cleanup operation) in spring 2002 were found in the Shali District. The Prosecutor's Office of Chechnya has restarted the criminal case, which was suspended several years ago because of non-establishment of the persons involved in this crime.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Russia has again rejected the entry visa to Dalai Lama XIV, spiritual leader of Buddhists. This was reported by Shadzhin Lama (Supreme Lama) of Kalmykia Talo Tulku Rinpoche at his regular quarterly press conference for republic's mass media. Buddhists had earlier stated that they would perceive such refusal as violation of their rights.

In the city of Budyonnovsk, Stavropol Territory, the worship building of the local community of Jehovah's Witnesses was set on fire. Examination has established that it was arson; besides, traces were detected of numerous previous attempts to burn the building down. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed about it by Grigory Martynov, representative of the press service of the Administrative Centre of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia.

Issues of improving the efficiency of and supporting the recently organized Russian system of public control over detention places were discussed on April 21 in Moscow at the international conference on defence of prisoners' rights.

On April 21, the members of the initiative group "Electrozink. Do we breathe?" in the website "Odnoklassniki.Ru" conducted a picket in the city of Essentuki with the aim to draw attention of the public and power bodies of the Russian Federation to the problem of poisoning of residents of Northern Caucasus with emissions of the "Electrozink" Factory, operating in North Ossetia.

Today, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has found Russia guilty of disappearance of three residents of Chechnya - Sultan Khatuev, Louisa Mutaeva and Vakhit Dzhabrailov - in 2003-2004, while the inquiry into these disappearances was found inefficient.

On April 21, Georgi Tugushi, People's Defender of Georgia (Ombudsman), presented to the parliament his report for the second half of 2009. Most human rights organizations gave positive estimates to the Ombudsman's report having noted, however, that formulations of the recommendation part could have been tougher.

On April 21, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) announced its decision on the complaint of Einullah Fatullaev, editor-in-chief of the "Real Azerbaijan" newspaper, convicted in Azerbaijan, and found illegitimate all the verdicts of the Azerbaijani courts, which had imprisoned the journalist. The Azerbaijani authorities plan to challenge the decision at the High Board of the Strasbourg Court.

On April 21, the press centre of the RIA of "Novosti" held a TV space bridge "Moscow-Yerevan" dated to the 95th anniversary of Armenians' genocide in the Ottoman Turkey. The main debated topic was in the reasons why the modern Turkey refuses to recognize the fact of genocide.

The today's session of the Baku Appeal Court under chairmanship of Abid Abdinbekov on the case "MIA of Azerbaijan versus Eyub Kerimov, editor-in-chief of the 'Femida-007' newspaper" lasted just for a couple of minutes. The reason was the intention of the respondent to lodge a cassation complaint against rejection by the Baku Appeal Court of his petitions put forward at the preparatory session and asking to return the case to the first instance court for running a repeated investigation.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has found the complaint of Maria Fanzieva, 65, a resident of Nalchik, eligible for consideration. The response of the Court addressed to her reports that "the complaint fits to be considered both for the eligibility and circumstances of the case on the merits at the same time in conformity with Article 29, paragraph 3 of the Convention."

Judge of the Supreme Court of Dagestan Baimurza Gadjiev has rejected the complaint lodged by Khaibula Khaibulayev, a resident of Karat village, Akhvakh District of Dagestan, against the actions of the magistrate and federal judges of the Botlikh District, who had fined him.

One of the bombs triggered yesterday, on April 20, in the evening in the capital of Dagestan, blew up under a BMW car, when Mirza, son of Colonel of Dagestan FSB Kamil Etinbekov, assassinated in 2004, was trying to get in.

A message appeared in the website of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) that five out of seven complaints initially accepted right after the 2008 August war from residents of South Ossetia against Georgia have been withdrawn from consideration. A group of judges in Strasbourg made this decision on March 23.

The MIA of Chechnya has summed up its achievements in the first quarter of 2010. According to the official data, as a result of special operations conducted from the start of the year in the territory of the republic, 20 suspected militants were killed, 54 more members of illegal armed formations (IAFs) and their helpers were detained.

The Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" believes that the evidential base in the case about the militants' attack on power structures of Kabardino-Balkaria on October 13, 2005, is invalid, and demands to stop the criminal case against Kazbek Budtuev and release him from custody. This is stated in the message of the Centre, which had provided an advocate to defend Kazbek Budtuev and Rasul Kudaev.

The video report, in which the attempter on Isa Yamadaev names President of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov to be the customer of the crime is a provocation. This was stated by Andrei Krasnenkov, Mr Kadyrov's advocate.

Tonight in Makhachkala, in the Imam Shamil Avenue, two explosions were triggered one after another. Several persons were wounded; one man lost his legs torn off by the explosion, as the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports from the place of the incident.

A journalist from Armenia Ernest Vardanyan is in custody in Tiraspol, the capital of the Transdniestrian Moldavian Republic. He is accused of high treason and espionage in favour of Moldova. These charges assume from 12 to 20 years of imprisonment.