News

On April 27, the office of Ingush Ombudsman housed a roundtable "Legal status of certain categories of internally displaced persons (IDPs)". One of the main problems, according to its participants, is to resettle the people from their today's compact residence centres to homes with decent living conditions.

The results of the DNA assay did not confirm the death of the leader of the North-Caucasian armed underground Dokku Umarov, said the head of Ingushetia Yunus-Bek Evkurov. According to his story, there are now 50 members of illegal armed formations (IAFs) in the territory of Ingushetia.

Today, the Presnya Court of Moscow has extended till June 6 the arrest of Aslan Cherkesov, accused of murdering Yegor Sviridov, a fan of the "Spartak" FC at night on December 6, 2010, in Moscow, said Olga Sutyapova, the court press secretary.

Today, representatives of the democratic journalistic community of Azerbaijan marked the World Press Freedom Day by visiting the grave of Elmar Guseinov, editor-in-chief of the "Monitor" magazine, who was killed in March 2005 at the doorstep of his house.

Today, at a regular session of the Shamil District Court in Dagestan on beating of a 14-year-old boy by militiamen, Aishat Akhmedova, victim's mother, suffered an epileptic fit. The woman fell to the floor in the course of interrogation. Doctors of the ambulance that came after a while rendered help and eliminated the fit.

At the Sumgait City Court of Azerbaijan, at the trial of Jabbar Savalan, a youth activist of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), accused of illegal drug possession, the prosecutor Movlud Osmanov asked the court to appoint the maximum penalty under this article - three years of imprisonment - to the defendant.

Unjustified sums of compensation juridically demanded from a number of Armenian newspapers jeopardize the existence of these mass media and promote creating an atmosphere of self-censure in then, international organization "Reporters Without Borders" states.

As a result of a breakdown of service settlements of plain areas of Shelkovskoy district of Chechnya have been cut off power. Experts of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and "Nurenergo" company are working on the scene of the incident.

On visiting the 25th International Book and Press Fair going on in Geneva, President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan said that it was a very important event before the 500th anniversary of book printing in Armenia and declaring Yerevan the World Book Capital in 2012.

Head of Dagestan Magomedsalam Magomedov discussed the development of democratic institutions and activities of law enforcement bodies in the region with a delegation of European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (ECPT) in Makhachkala.

The Association of Political Sciences of Armenia (APSA) has addressed President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan asking to pardon political prisoners convicted on the case of March 1, 2008. According to the authors of the petition, this step will facilitate the internal political dialogue and strengthen the internal security of the country.

On April 29, a soldier, an Armenian citizen, killed two soldiers, who were born in the Martuni District of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), from his submachine gun, says the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of Azerbaijan in its statement. In its turn, the Armenian MoD accused Azerbaijan of killing the soldiers in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The organization named "European Union of Deportees and Displaced Persons" (EUDDP) plans to hold actions aimed to acquaint the European community with the Karabakh problem. As reported by Maximiliano Lakota, secretary general of the EUDDP, the first such event will be held this autumn in Italy.

Andrei Krasnenkov, representative of the head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov at the criminal trial on slandering Kadyrov, is misleading the court by trying to substitute the subject of the trial. This was stated on April 28 by Genry Reznik, advocate of Oleg Orlov, head of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", at the session at the Moscow City Court. This was Mr Reznik's reaction to Krasnenkov's demand to add Kadyrov's interview and video from his meeting with human rights defenders to the materials of the case.

Mr Iskenderov, head of the NGO "Promotion of Democracy Defence" and a member of the Civil Movement for Democracy "Public Chamber" was arrested on charges of violating the law during the parliamentary elections in 2010.

Aram Baregamyan, head of the Razdan branch of the Party "Armenian Nationwide Movement" (ANM) and a board member of the ANM, received his CER (conditional early relief) and left the penal institution "Sevan".

A corruption network has been revealed within the national football championship; several persons were detained. According to investigators, players agreed beforehand on the course and results of football matches with organizers of illegal totes, as reported at a news briefing by Soso Topuridze, Deputy Head of the Department of Constitutional Security of the MIA of Georgia.

Activists of several NGOs, youth organizations and oppositional parties have held a protest action near Tbilisi courts, where in May 2005 Zurab Vazagashvili and Alexander Khubulov were killed in a police special operation.

It is expected that since January 2012, the process of repatriation to Georgia of Meskhetian Turks from various countries of the world will begin.

Today, the international NGO Freedom House has issued a comparative analysis of the status with the freedom of press in 196 countries worldwide. Georgia is in the 118th place, which is the best among the countries of Southern Caucasus.