News

The Gagarin Court of Moscow has found the Chechens Magomed Gorchkhanov and Zarema Dataeva guilty of kidnapping Maxim, son of Mikhail Stavskiy, deputy boss of the "Rosneft".

The Public Prosecutor's Offices of the Russian Federation and South Ossetia have checked the way the funds allocated from the Russian budget were spent on restoration and social and economic development of South Ossetia; as reported by the Russian General Prosecutor's Office, 11 criminal cases have been initiated.

Today, the Supreme Court of Azerbaijan has rejected the cassation complaint lodged by young bloggers Emin Milli and Adnan Gadjizade, convicted to 2.5 and 2 years of imprisonment on charges of hooliganism and causing bodily injuries.

On August 18, agents of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) and FSB Department for the Republic of Adygea conducted searches in the house and office of Zaur Dzeukozhev, deputy chair of the Adyg Social Movement "Circassian Congress" and confiscated PC hard drives, documents relating activities of the "Circassian Congress" and several religious books.

Today, the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of the Stavropol Territory has started payments from the regional budget of lump sum compensations to victims of the terror act in Pyatigorsk. The regional treasury has allotted 835,000 roubles for the purpose, while 7.4 million roubles more will arrive from the federal budget.

On July 26, in the city of Akhaltsikh (administrative centre of the Samtskhe-Dzhavakheti District of Georgia), Suleiman Barbakadze, a citizen of Russia and president of the "Vatan", international organization of Meskhetian Turks, was arrested. This was reported today by the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial".

The abnormally hot weather in Volgograd caused increase by 50-80 percent of the number of citizens' calls to the medical first aid service.

From August 15 on, Russia officially bans any export of grain crops; this decision resulted in material losses of most of the market actors. Exporters lost their market shares, and grain producers lost their profitable contracts. Rostov agrarians are going to hold their grains till the last moment, waiting for exports reopening. However, only financially sound enterprises can afford it.

After May 15, 2009, when the first terrorist-suicide bomber blew himself up in Chechnya after cancellation of the counterterrorist operation (CTO) regime, Northern Caucasus saw 25 terror acts against civilians committed in crowded places. As a result, at least 11 peaceful residents were lost and 159 more were wounded. From the start of 2010, 23 explosions were triggered and one terror act was committed by a suicide bomber.

Today at night, near Kendelen village, Elborus District of Kabardino-Balkaria, in a large forest, four unidentified persons in camouflage and masks came up to six tourists and opened fire from sub-machine guns.

On August 17, five persons were detained in the city of Grozny as suspects of helping the members of the armed underground, liquidated on August 8 in the Chechen capital. Another suspect was detained by operative agents in the Sunzha District of Chechnya.

This year's entrance exams to higher schools of Armenia have shown a reduced level of corruption in the sphere of education. The main reason was in increased number of vacancies for students by 6000. This was stated at a press conference by Armen Ashotyan, Minister of Science and Education of Armenia.

As reported by a source in power bodies of Nalchik, a man was killed and two women - passengers of a fixed-route taxi - were wounded in a shelling.

Nino Tsindeliani, 79, a woman-refugee from Abkhazia, who remained homeless, has gone on hunger strike in Heroes Square in central Tbilisi, at the memorial of perished fighters for territorial integrity of Georgia.

On August 17, in the Gdlan isolation facility in Tbilisi, Melor Vachnadze, founder of youth social movement "Shemogviertdi" (Join Us), announced a protest hunger strike. Today, Vakhtang Maisaya, convicted for espionage, has joined him.

The investigation has established the main suspect in the case about the explosion in central Pyatigorsk. As reported by local law enforcement bodies, this is Alexander Kim, 42, a native of Chechnya.

On Tuesday, August 17, the Transparency International (TI) published its Corruption Perception Index (CPI). It is noted that Georgia is least corrupted from among all Russia's neighbours.

On August 13 in Stavropol two residents of Ingushetia - Islam Evloev, 24, and Ahmed Gazdiev, 21, - were kidnapped; until now there whereabouts are unknown, their relatives assert.

In the course of the check conducted at the Chechen State University, employees of the local prosecutor's office revealed facts of using faked certificates on secondary education by entrants to the University. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent learnt about it from a source in local law enforcement bodies.

The law enforcement bodies of Dagestan assert that they have solved the murder of Yunus Khulataev, deputy chief of the division of the investigatory department at the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) for the Republic of Dagestan. His son - Gadjimurad Khulataev - was named as the crime customer; he had got "under the influence of extremists" and is already giving confessional evidences.