News

On March 19-22, the working group of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation for development of public dialogue and civil society institutes in the Caucasus is holding in North Ossetia a series of public debates within the Project "Peace to the Caucasus".

Tonight a meeting took place in Astrakhan of the members of the commission of the General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) of the Russian Federation with the participants of the political hunger strike. The commission leaders promised to study the protesters' claims, and the hunger strike was suspended.

The Georgian TV Company "Imedi" has asked pardon for the public and diplomatic corps for the hoax news programme "Chronicle" showing a simulated military invasion into Georgia, which was put on air on March 13 and caused panic among the population of the country.

The builders of Olympic objects in Sochi, who were on strike because of non-payment of their promises wages, also complain of impossibility to receive medical servicing.

The Frontier Department of the FSB in South Ossetia has stated detention by Russian frontier guards of four infringers of South-Ossetian frontier.

The Committee on Torture Prevention and Inhuman Treatment of the Council of Europe (CE) has called the authorities of Armenia, taking into account the seriousness of the events on March 1, 2008, to hold a public investigation of them. The Committee doubts the truthfulness of the inquiry held by the authorities.

On March 3, the militia of Azerbaijan detained two Jehovah's Witnesses and fined each of them by the sum equal to the average salary for three weeks that is, by 200 manats (about 250 US dollars).

Today, people in Azerbaijan start celebrating Novruz Bairam - a holiday of spring and New Year. In antiquity in the East, March 21-22 were considered to be the first days of New Year which came in spring. This year, according to the Shemakha Astrophysical Observatory, in the territory of Azerbaijan the spring arrives on March 20 at 9:31 p.m.

This May, the mayoralty of Volgograd plans to launch delivery of high-quality potable water to the village of Gumrak, where residents supper from its sharp deficit for several decades.

The building of the Tskhinvali City Court hosts the trial of Alla Dzhioeva, ex-Minister of Education of South Ossetia, accused of plundering money and bribery. On March 19, after a three-hour-long session, Judge Albert Gigolaev decided to announce a break till March 23.

The Assembly of Armenians of Europe (ААЕ) has condemned the statement of Prime Minister of Turkey Erdogan about deportation from his country, if required, of illegal labour migrants-Armenians, and called the European institutions to condemn the non-tolerant attitude to other nationals living in Turkey.

On March 19, a festival of Buddhist culture was started in Rostov-on-Don. Its central event is a unique exhibition "Treasures of Tibet", held under the aegis of the international public organization "Heritage of the Himalayas".

The Baptist community of the city of Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, has expressed its anxiety in the context of an article that appeared in an oppositional newspaper and in which Baptists were accused of standing "against the Allah and Islam," and treated as foreign spies.

A private radio company named "Radioeye" has provided its frequency for Radio Liberty's broadcasting in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Until now, the Jehovah's Witnesses, detained by the FSB on March 3 in Khasavyurt, cannot get back their literature, which had been recognized by the Bryansk examination as non-extremist, and believers' personal records; therefore, they filed an application to the prosecutor's office. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told about it by Grigoriy Martynov from the press service of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia.

On March 17, the court in Helsinki made a decision not to extradite Chechen refugees Gataevs to the authorities of Lithuania, having sent their application for refuge to a new consideration. This was reported by Oksana Chelysheva, a human rights defender and journalist, one of the heads of the Finland-based organization "The Society of Russian-Chechen Friendship".

Bondo Kurdadze, editor-in-chief of the Georgian newspaper "Chance", applied for political asylum to President of Ukraine Victor Yanukovich. In his letter to the Ukrainian leader Mr Kurdadze asserts that his family has been receiving telephone threats for a couple of recent days.

Today, Judge Olga Vereshchak from the Meschanskiy District Court of Moscow has ruled to reject the claim lodged by Shamil Sheikhov, a resident of Makhachkala, in defence of his honour, dignity and business reputation against Chairman of the LDPR and Deputy of the State Duma of Russia Vladimir Zhirinovsky and editorial board of the newspaper "LDPR". The claimant told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that he was shocked by the verdict.

Astrakhan sees the third day of the hunger-strike announced by deputies and activists of opposition parties. Today, it became known that Nazarbek Shnanov, head of the Pre-Volga Organization of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) has joined the action, increased its strength to seven persons.

The Kirov District Court of Astrakhan has arrested two employees of the city UVD (Interior Department), who, under the version of the investigation, had beaten a detainee forcing him to confess. In total, six persons figure in the case.