News

Yuri Ugryumov, a correspondent of the federal NTV Channel was beaten on April 20 in the city of Budyonnovsk, Stavropol Territory, in the course of filming a report about a rape of a nine-year-old girl. The child was abducted by unidentified persons from the ENT ward of the district hospital of Budyonnovsk and raped.

On April 20, the Big Hall of the Central House of Writers hosted a party in memory of victims of the Armenian genocide of 1915. The event dedicated to the 96th anniversary of the tragic events in Turkey was held by the organization "Russian-Armenian Commonwealth" in cooperation with the Embassy of Armenia in Russia.

Margarita Efremova, a journalist of the newspaper "Yuzhny Federalny" (Southern Federal), was detained in one of Rostov cafes. She is suspected of extorting money from the administration head of the head of the ROVD (District Interior Division) of the Morozov District.

Today, at the court session on the events of October 13, 2005, in Nalchik, one of the defendants, Azamat Akhkubekov, asked the court to ensure his safety in connection with his announced hunger strike, while the defendant Khabas Emkuzhev lost consciousness.

On April 20, the court, which considers the murder case of lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasia Baburova, satisfied the petition of the state prosecution to show to the jury the video record of interrogation of the accused Nikita Tikhonov at the scene of the crime, filmed in November 2009 in Prechistenka Street.

Officials from the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) refute the data that residents of the Caucasus will not be drafted into the army. It also reported that the Chechen Republic has much more potential recruits to the army and military schools than required by the delivered quota.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed by the Lithuanian journalist Thomas Chivas, who is monitoring the trial, that at the Regional Court of Vilnius, Egle Kusaite, a citizen of Lithuania, accused of preparing a terror act in Russia, was arrested.

The independent commission on conditional early relief (CER) has decided to satisfy the petition lodged by the advocate of the opposition activist Aram Baregamyan. This was reported by the press service of the Armenian National Congress (ANC).

Yesterday in the evening, on April 20, Arsen Kanokov, head of Kabardino-Balkaria, visited the temporary detention facility (also known as SIZO - pre-trial prison) of the Department for the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR) of the Federal Punishment Service (FSIN) of the Russian Federation. The reason for the visit was in complaints of the figurants in the Nalchik attack case against toughening of their custody conditions, which was reported by the "Caucasian Knot".

On April, 20, the fourth anniversary of imprisonment of Azerbaijani journalist Einullah Fatullaev, his colleagues and representatives of international journalists' organizations held actions of protest in Baku, Paris and London.

During the week from April, 4, to April, 10, no less than three people were killed and minimum seven wounded in the smouldering armed confrontation in Northern Caucasus. These are the totals of the calculation by "Caucasian Knot" based on its own materials and information from other open sources.

The Nizami District court of the city of Gandzha, chaired by Judge Emin Akhundov, began hearings of the case of activist Bakhtiyar Gadjiev, accused of evading military service. The activist rejects the accusation; his supporters also believe that he is accused for political reasons, for his active civil position and his actions in social networks.

As stated by Massimo Bonfatti, head of the public volunteer association "World in Motion", at the conference held in Italy, it is necessary to convey to journalists and public figures from different countries the present realities of Northern Caucasus, to tell the truth about the wars in Chechnya; we need readiness of people from different parties to stop military confrontation; and it is also necessary to disclose the default information about the Beslan tragedy.

Residents of the city of Argun report that within the large-scale reconstruction and building of new objects the authorities intend to demolish part of the city cemetery. This causes hidden discontent among the people, although there were no open protest actions on this occasion in the city.

Sabitbai (Sabitbi) Amanov, assassinated in Makhachkala, was an associate of Said Buryatskiy, militants' ideologist, who had been murdered earlier in Ingushetia; Amanov actually headed the Makhachkala subversive and terrorist grouping. This was reported by the National Antiterrorist Committee (NAC). The counterterrorist operation (CTO) regime was introduced in the district.

Nikolai Zakharov, Military Commissar of the Chelyabinsk Region, has stated that now the army will not draft residents and natives of the Caucasian republics who live in other regions of Russia; however, this information is not confirmed by the group of informational support of the Central Military District of the Russian Ministry of Defence.

Provocative leaflets in Ingushetia forced law enforcers to strengthen; avalanche blocks communication between Russia and Georgia over "Verkhni Lars"; police disperses another protest action of opposition in Azerbaijan, - look these and other events in the review of the week of April 11-17, 2011, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

Human rights activists state systemic sabotage on the part of Chechen law enforcement bodies and inability of the Investigatory Committee to fulfil its immediate duties to investigate crimes in the republic, especially kidnappings. These are the topics of the ongoing press conference in Moscow.

The militants liquidated in a counterterrorist operation in Northern Caucasus had planned to make a film and publish a glossy magazine about terrorists' lifestyle. Also, layouts and maps, and various methodology-training literature on how to prepare terrorist acts were confiscated from them. This was reported by the Russian National Antiterrorist Committee (NAC).

Azamat Sizhazhev, 26, one of those involved in the attack on Moscow tourists in Kabardino-Balkaria, was killed in the city of Baksan at rendering resistance. It was reported today by the Investigatory Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF).