News

For several days already Elman Abbasov, regional correspondent of the Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety in the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic, is abused and threatened by telephone. The journalist links these threats with his human rights activities.

The statements of President of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov about the work in the republic of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", made by him in his interview to the newspaper "Zavtra" (Tomorrow), can entail a suit against him, Oleg Orlov, the leader of the HRC, believes.

Today in the midday, the organization for Karabakh liberation and the "Union for Democracy", which unites a number of oppositional parties, have held a protest action in front of the building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan.

On September 23, 1999, President of Russia Boris Yeltsin signed a decree "On Measures to Improve Efficiency of Counterterrorist Operations in the Territory of the North-Caucasian Region of the Russian Federation".Practically on that very day mass bombardments of Grozny and other cities and settlements of Chechnya began. On September 30, federal forces entered the republic.

Malakhat Nasibova, a journalist from Azerbaijan, has received an award of the Norwegian human rights organization named "Rafto Foundation". She was rewarded for her coverage of the events in Nakhichevan.

The Moscow Prosecutor's Office has cancelled its earlier refusal to initiate a criminal case against Oleg Orlov, head of the HRC "Memorial", under the suit lodged by President of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov. This was announced by Andrei Krasnenkov, Kadyrov's advocate.

Advocates of Elimpasha Khatsuev, accused of participating in the murder of Ruslan Yamadaev, have announced disappearance in Chechnya of his younger brother suspected Ilyas.

President of the Republic of Ingushetia Yunus-Bek Evkurov will, most likely, offer his Parliament a nominee to the post of the national Ombudsman in the course of the week to come. On September 17, the former Ombudsman Karim-Sultan Kokurkhaev was dismissed from the post ahead of term.

The Georgian oppositional party named "New Right-Wingers" has again refused from their deputy mandates, which the party won at the latest parliamentary elections on May 21, 2008. This was stated at a press conference by party leaders Mamuka Katsitadze and Pikriya Chikhradze.

On September 22, the Dorogomilov Court of Moscow resumed hearings on the case about attacks of the nationalist grouping, the so-called "Black Hawks", on two Moscow students. The beak was caused by the murder of one of the defendants.

Today, in the Chistoprudny Boulevard of Moscow, a rally was held on the occasion of 10 years after the exercises of the FSB in the city of Ryazan. About 150 participants were surrounded by some 300 militiamen.

The Supreme Court of Kabardino-Balkaria has acquitted Michel Krilaans, a journalist from the Kingdom of the Netherlands, chief-editor of the Moscow bureau of the NRZ newspaper, who was earlier accused of breaching the migration accounting regulations and sentenced to a fine of 2000 roubles and extradition out of Russia.

For several days the nature is storming in Kakheti - the winery area of Georgia. As a result of rains, apartment houses and vineyards were flooded; roads and bridges were damaged. The damage is still computed.

In the village of Bavtugay, Kizilyurt District of Dagestan, 35 local residents, including 19 children, fell sick with sharp intestinal infections, presumably, after using poor-quality potable water. The poisoning episodes have been registered from September 10.

The authorities of Georgia are going to submit a claim to the International Maritime Court in the context of the situation in the Abkhazian section of territorial waters, where Russian military ships appeared.

On September 22, it became known about kidnapping of three young men in Makhachkala; however, in spite of the witnesses present in the case, none of them is ready to testify, as reported by Svetlana Isaeva, an activist of the NGO "Mothers of Dagestan for Human Rights".

The Investigatory Committee at the Prosecutor's Office (ICPO) of the Russian Federation has presented a charge of murdering Hero of Russia, ex-deputy of the State Duma Ruslan Yamadaev to Aslambek Dadaev. According to the investigation, Dadaev was the direct gunman.

The murder of Ismail-Hadji Bostanov, Deputy Chair of the Spiritual Department of Moslems of Karachai-Circassia and Stavropol Territory and Rector of the Islamic Institute, committed on September 20 in Cherkessk, can be connected with Mr Bostanov's visit to Istanbul this summer, where he agreed on the visit of the Supreme Mufti of Turkey to his republic. This is the opinion of a source, close to Bostanov.

On September 22, the participants of the regular five-sided meeting in the city of Gale (Abkhazia) discussed up to 10 various agenda points within the mechanism on prevention and reaction to incidents. The meeting lasted for about four hours, but no particular decisions were adopted. Both the Georgian and Abkhazian parties found the event fruitless.

Sozar Subari, whose term of office of Ombudsman of Georgia expired in September, and who was replaced in that post as of September 16 by Georgiy Tugushi, started active political life and will stand for the Tbilisi local government body.