News

As reported by Manana Salukvadze, an activist of the People's Forum, in Batumi the police have dispersed a rally of supporters of the oppositional Forum with application of truncheons.

In Volgograd, 30 women, whose children have no places in kindergartens, have joined the three-day nationwide hunger strike in defence of children's right to free preschool education.

The Georgian Public Television has provided live broadcast to the oppositionists, who gathered today in Tbilisi with a demand of resignation of President Mikhail Saakashvili.

At the moment of receiving a bribe of 10,000 roubles, employees of the Department of Own Security of the GUVD (Chief Interior Department) of the Astrakhan Region detained a GIBDD (traffic police) inspector.

The capital of Kabardino-Balkaria hosted an almost a thousand-strong rally near the monument to victims of the Caucasian War, dedicated to the 147th anniversary of the end of the War.

Deputies of the oppositional "Heritage" Party are holding an action of civil protest in Yerevan with participation of ecologists and residents of adjacent areas. The aim of the action is to stop illegal, according to its participants, construction works in the capital and to restore green plantations.

On May 20, the Standing Commission on State and Legal Affairs of the National Assembly of Armenia passed a positive opinion on the proposal of President Serzh Sargsyan "On Declaring Amnesty".

Now in Georgia, inmates may contact their relatives through video conferencing. Since May 19, this service is available for juvenile offenders; and in the near future the innovation will be gradually introduced in other penal institutions.

On May 20, the Parliament of Georgia amended the Law "On Legal Status of Foreigners" and introduced a simplified visa regime for five countries. At entering Georgia for up to 360 days, visas are cancelled for citizens of Albania, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Iraq.

Today, the People's Forum, which unites several oppositional forces, has started its actions in the Georgian capital. The Freedom Square has housed about 10,000 people, who demand resignation of Saakashvili and improvement of living standards.

Today, Moscow hosts an event dated to the 20th anniversary of the adoption by the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation of the Law No. 1107-1 "On Rehabilitation of Repressed Nations". The event is held by the Ingush public living in Moscow.

When speaking at a press conference on the outcomes of his visit to Azerbaijan, Jerzy Buzek, head of the European Parliament, called the Azerbaijani authorities to advance with reforms, ensure democratic rights and freedoms and hold dialogue with the civil society and the opposition.

Yesterday, on May 20, the central Astrakhan was a venue of a series of solo pickets, organized by the Astrakhan regional branch of "The Other Russia" with the aim to attract public attention to the problem of rising prices on fuel and lubricants.

On May 20, after the first day of the conference "Andrei Sakharov: Concern and Hope of 2011", dedicated to the 90th birthday of Andrei Sakharov, Russian rights defenders laid flowers at the place, where lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasia Baburova were shot dead.

The first official football match at the new Akhmad Kadyrov Stadium, opened on May 11 in Grozny, passed peacefully. Grozny "Terek" beat Makhachkala "Anji" 1:0. Football fans note that security measures at the stadium were unprecedented.

Today, the Akhmad Kadyrov Stadium, opened on May 11 in Grozny, which is the largest sports complex in Northern Caucasus, will host the first official football match between "Terek" Grozny and "Anji" Makhachkala. Some residents of Grozny claim that, same like on May 11, thousands of people will be driven in the "voluntary-compulsory" manner to the stadium.

The investigatory bodies of Kabardino-Balkaria have initiated a criminal case against two officials of the administration of the Prokhladnensky District. They are suspected of frauds with the housing facilities intended for resettling people out of dilapidated housing stock.

The main goals of the May 17-19 visit of Antonio Guterres, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, to Azerbaijan were to study the living conditions of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and to attract the attention of the world community to the unsettled Karabakh conflict and its heavy humanitarian consequences.

Today, the International Conference "Andrei Sakharov: Concern and Hope of 2011" dated to the 90th birthday of Andrei Sakharov was opened in Moscow. Its participants have already stated the relevance of Sakharov's ideas for the modern Russia.

Lack of proper inquiry into crimes committed in Northern Caucasus may create a dangerous precedent for future generations, Thomas Hammarberg, the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, said at a briefing held within the Moscow Sakharov Conference.