News

Five years after death of Ichkeria President Maskhadov; Dagestan records for Guinness Book; detentions of journalists and rallies against kidnappings in Ingushetia; oil projects in Azerbaijan; religion-motivated persecutions in the south of Russia; visit of Georgian oppositionists to Moscow and scandal with report on Russia's attack on Georgia, - look up these and other events in the review of the week of March 8-14, 2010, in Caucasian regions prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

In Dagestan, Criminal Case No. 96892 dealing with appeals to murders and grave crimes (the so-called "execution list") was transferred to Basyr Magomedov, an inspector on especially important cases of the investigatory committee at the prosecutor's office of Dagestan. This was reported by Isalmagomed Nabiev, chairman of independent trade union of drivers and entrepreneurs of Dagestan.

In Sochi, the builders of the dwelling complex for resettlers from the Imereti Lowland went on strike and addressed their complaint to President Dmitri Medvedev against many-month delays of wages by the General Contractor - the Open Joint-Stock Company (OJSC) "Moskonversprom".

On March 15, in the foothill Achkhoy-Martan District of Chechnya, an explosion of a land mine and shelling wounded a Russian military man and a Chechen militiaman. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent learnt about it in law enforcement bodies of Chechnya.

From March 14 on, employees of law enforcement bodies of Chechnya and the local Department of the Federal Migration Service (DFMS) are running broad-scale actions aimed at revealing illegal migrants. A respective order was given by President of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov.

In South Ossetia, on March 15, the premises of the Tskhinvali City Court hosted a judicial session on the case of Alla Dzhioeva, ex-minister of education, accused of abuse of office, bribery and forgery of documents of the Ministry of Education of the Republic of South Ossetia (RSO). Under request of the public prosecutor, the process was reappointed on March 19.

Aslan Zhukov, one of the leaders of Circassian youth, killed on March 14, was buried on the following day - on March 15 in Karachai-Circassia. Having returned from the cemetery, his friends and supporters immediately organized a protest action. They demanded from law enforcers to find and punish Zhukov's killers.

In Georgia, Giorgiy Arveladze, Director General of the "Imedi" TV Company, treated the record of his alleged telephone conversation with his assistant on the eve of the scandalous programme put on air on March 13 as a "forgery" prepared by Russian special services. The record appeared in the Internet and was promulgated by many mass media.

Today, from early morning repair crews have left for the place of the accident, where electricity power lines got broken; however, they could not reach the point named Dzomag, where one of the most serious accidents in these two days happened. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told at the press service of the Ministry for Emergencies (MfE) of South Ossetia, the search of broken places would restart on March 17 from 6 in the morning.

The "Chronicle" simulated by the "Imedi" TV Company could destabilize the situation in conflict zones in Georgia. This was stated today by the Observation Mission of the European Union in Georgia.

The litigation against the newspaper "Chernovik" (Blueprint) in Dagestan should affect the enforcing practice of Article 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation "Kindling hatred or enmity and humiliation of one's dignity". This was stated by Angela Sineok, Director of the Rostov Regional Centre (RRC) "Law and Mass Media". In her opinion, at present the authorities use this article to suppress the freedom of speech.

The US embassy in Azerbaijan has apologized for incorrect data in the report of the Department of State (DoS) on the situation with drugs in this country. On March 2, the DoS reported that Azerbaijan has about 100,000 students-drug addicts.

Georgian communications regulator found the hoax report about invasion of Russian troops into Georgia broadcast by the "Imedi" TV Company to be a breach of journalistic ethics; however, decided not to cancel its license. The scandalous report was criticised by politicians and journalists in the West and in Russia, as well as the Georgian opposition.

Relatives and friends of the Ingush human rights activist Maksharip Aushev who was assassinated last October in Kabardino-Balkaria are conducting their investigation of the crime and have announced a reward for any information about his murderers. The sum of the reward makes 500,000 US dollars. In the opinion of Musa Pliev, advocate of the Aushevs, the investigation is inactive.

Several villages of Eastern Georgia have been flooded as a result of showers incessant for several days. Floods and rains caused electricity supply problems in the area: 122,000 residents are without power, while today the high-mountainous Onsk District in Western Georgia was cut off from the outer world by a landslide, which rushed down on the 11th kilometre of the Kutaisi-Altana-Mamisoni highway. As reported by the "Imedi" TV Company, the landslide was caused by heavy showers.

Experts of the United Nations have published a special report summing up the January inspection held by the UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) mission and accusing Russian officials of protracting with their decision-making on mitigating negative effects of Olympic preparations on the ecology.

Within the Project "Cinema Dialogues", the city of Stepanakert hosted a presentation of films dedicated to the conflict in the region and created by young journalists - authors of documentaries from Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan.

On March 13 and 14, in Kabardino-Balkaria, two attacks on law enforcers were committed; fortunately, without victims.

A powerful hacker's DDoS attack on the Chechen forum named "Adamalla.com" and opened in Europe lasted for several days. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed about it by an E-mail sent by the administration of the website.

Russian information resources will go to court against the "Imedi" TV Channel for the illegal, in their opinion, use of their materials in the scandalous report about alleged invasion of Russian troops into Georgia and assassination of President Saakashvili.