News

"Kuschevskaya tragedy" raised the problem with situation in the Krasnodar Territory as a whole; CEC of Azerbaijan partially annuls results of parliamentary elections; future of journalism in Northern Caucasus worries Plenipotentiary Khloponin, - look these and other events in the review of the week of November 15-21, 2010, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

Today, Musheg Sagatelyan, an activist of the opposition and a member of the "Republic" Party, was let free from the criminal-correction institution "Nubarashen" after having served half of his sentence.

At the republic's shopping centre "Berkat" in Grozny, employees of the Centre of Spiritual and Moral Education and Development held an action with an appeal to fair trade. Traders in the marketplace were given letters; and sermons were read on the issue of fair trade.

One of the four soldiers, who were wounded in the incident in the Gadrut unit of the Nagorno-Karabakh Army - Manvel Azroyan - has been charged of murder one or more persons. His arrest was chosen as a freedom restriction measure, reports the Investigatory Service of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of Armenia.

On Monday, November 22, Andrei Smaga, head of the section of Russia's interests at the Swiss Embassy in Georgia, visited the Russian citizens accused of espionage. Neither the Russian nor the Georgian parties make any comments on the meeting.

At the session of the Lefortovo District Court held on November 23 on selection of the further freedom restriction measure for Issa Khashagulgov, suspected of organizing the terror act in Vladikavkaz, extension of his custody was defined well in advance, his advocates assert.

On November, 23, a ceremony of awarding the laureates of international prize "Free Press" 2010 by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) was held in New York, a thirty-one-year-old journalist from Dagestan, Nadira Isayeva, Editor-in-Chief of "Chernovik" ("Draft") weekly among them.

One more suspect of having committed the mass murder in the stanitsa of Kuschevskaya, Krasnodar region, was detained tonight. This is Igor Chernikh by alias of "Amur", born in 1965, previously convicted.

An armed attack upon the servicemen of a unit of federal military forces took place tonight in Urus-Martan foothill district of Chechnya. One of the servicemen got wounded in his head. Security officials are currently in search of the attackers.

During the inspection carried out by the republican Public Prosecutor's Office serious financial violations have been discovered in the Ministry of Interior Affairs of Ingushetia which may result in imposing penal sanctions.

The Head of a unit of the Center of Counteraction to extremism of district Department of Interior Affairs in the stanitsa of Kuschevskaya, Krasnodar region, is suspected of abuse of authority, Marina Gridneva, official representative of General Prosecutor's Office, reported on November, 23.

The main culprit of the tragedy in the Army of Nagorno-Karabakh became Manvel Azroyan, who shot at seven of his colleagues; then tried to commit suicide but survived. Azroyan was hazed and bullied by his comrades-in-arms. This is reported today by the Armenian newspaper "Aikakan Zhamanak" (Armenian Time).

On November 22, the first United Day for Personal Reception of Citizens, Alexander Khloponin, Plenipotentiary of the Russian President in the North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD), held a meeting with residents of the region.

Alla Golovina, advocate of Sergey Tsapok, a suspect of organizing the massacre in the village of Kuschevskaya, Krasnodar Territory, has reported that she could not contact her client for five days.

Magomed Magomedov, a resident of the village of Chernyaevka, Kizlyar District of Dagestan, said that his cousin Sheikhulislam Abusupyanov, who was considered missing since November 18 and was found assassinated two days later, had been shadowed by unknown persons.

As reported by the spokesman of the Investigatory Department of the ICPO of Russia for Ingushetia, today in central Nazran, unidentified persons shelled a car and killed a man.

On Monday, November 22, in Brussels, officials of the European Union and Georgia signed the Readmission Agreement, which establishes mutual procedures for repatriation of illegal migrants.

In Georgia, full pardon on the occasion of St George's Day ("Giorgoba") was granted to 182 inmates; 32 other prisoners had their sentences halved; three others have their terms reduced; and for three more the conditional imprisonment was replaced by public works.

By November 22, practically all the regions of Russia's South, as well as the rest of the country, opened reception offices of Russian President Dmitri Medvedev. The only exception is the Chechen Republic, where the building, appointed for the reception office, has not been repaired yet.

Speaking to the session of European Parliament, President of Georgia Mikhail Saakashvili has stated that his country will no longer try returning Abkhazia and South Ossetia by using military force, and asked the European Union (EU) to recognize occupation of his country by Russia.