News

Development of armed conflict in Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan; outcomes of the next round of Geneva consultations on conflict settlement in Transcaucasia; resonant trials in the regions of Northern and Southern Caucasus; events in economy, culture and sports, – look up these and other events in the review of the week of September 14-20 in the Caucasian regions prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

At the Sochi Investment Forum, Russian regions have signed contracts to the total sum of about 481 billion roubles. As reported by the organizers of the Forum, almost two thirds of all the investments will go to the Krasnodar Territory.

This year, the Uraza-Bairam ('Id al-Fitr) holiday that marks the end of the Moslem sacred fasting month of Ramadan falls on Sunday, September 20. The authorities of the republics of Northern Caucasus have declared days-off for the time of the holiday.

Today, a number of Georgian media placed information that businessman Boris Berezovsky secretly visited Tbilisi in September. The authorities deny this fact.

The ceremony of signing the agreement with the Volkswagen Automobile Concern on general partnership with the Olympic and Paralympic Games of 2014 took place at the Investment Forum in Sochi on September 18. The agreement was signed by Dmitri Chernyshenko, President of the Organizing Committee "Sochi-2014" and Dithmar Korcevka, Director General of the Company "Volkswagen Group Rus".

Three militants, one of the leaders of the armed underground among them, were killed in the course of an operative-combat action today in the morning in the Kizlyar District of Dagestan. This was reported by the Department of the FSB (DFSB) of Russia for Dagestan.

In the evening on September 18, Baku hosted the opening ceremony of the 11th International Film Festival named "East-West" with participation of prominent movie industry figures from many countries. The festival will last till September 23.

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) - the organizer of "Eurovision" - considers a possibility to put a ban to compete for the countries, where the information about the voters is disclosed.

The wife of Nariman Mamedyarov, who disappeared again in Makhachkala, said that her husband was kidnapped on September 10 according to the same scenario as last year - after his call home, on his way home from work in a fixed-route taxi. According to her story, before the kidnapping Nariman should have evidenced at the trial of Magomed Kurbanov, accused of participating in an IAF (illegal armed formation).

The State Office of Public Prosecutor of South Ossetia has opened an investigation on the fact of burning books from the library of the South-Ossetian State University (SOSU) in Tskhinvali.

The situation in economy, with democracy and observance of human rights, and in foreign policy of Armenia continues to be extremely unfavourable. This was stated by former President Levon Ter-Petrosyan, leader of the Armenian National Congress, at a rally in central Yerevan, where, by different estimates, from 5 to 25 thousand persons got together.

The chair of the trial on the case of Arshaluis Akopyan, and employee of the Helsinki Association, accused of applying violence to policemen, has rejected the petition lodged by advocate Gayane Khachatryan on changing the restraint of her client.

Yesterday, on September 17, a united detachment of the Ministry for Emergencies (MfA) of Russia came to Chechnya for demining the territory of the republic's state farm "Zarya" (Dawn). 31 specialists from the "Leader" Centre for Special-Risk Operations will work for six weeks in the Grozny District.

On September 17, a court sitting on suspension of the activity of Novorossisk Committee on Human Rights (NCHR) was held in the Krasnodar Territory. A repeated session was appointed. A number of Russian cities have launched solidarity campaigns with the NCHR.

So far, no preparation of the Georgian government to resettlement of Meskhetian Turks to Georgia is seen, as stated by Emil Adelkhanov, a representative of the "Caucasian Institute of Georgia".

Today, the Sabail District Court of the capital of Azerbaijan, chaired by Judge Araz Guseinov, continued judicial hearings on the case of young bloggers Adnan Gadjizade and Emin Milli, accused of hooliganism and infliction of bodily injuries. Evidences were presented by the victim and witnesses.

The European Union is concerned of the situation of national minorities in Georgia, which "are exposed to language, social and religious discrimination." This is the topic of the letter sent by the Deputy of the European Parliament Silvie Guillaume to Benita Ferrero-Waldner, EU Commissioner on External Relations.

The Board of Elders of Balkar People (BEBP) has defined the date of holding the march of Balkar people. The action intended to draw attention to the problems of the Balkar people will take place on October 4.

A year ago Ukrainian experts were busy in the territory of Georgia during the Georgian-Ossetian conflict servicing the "Buk-M1" antiaircraft-missile complexes, which had been earlier sold to this country. These are, under unofficial information, the conclusions of the audit held by the General Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine.

The Prosecutor's Office of the Leninskiy District of Makhachkala is holding a pre-inquiry check of the application filed by relatives of Nariman Mamedyarov, in which they report that on September 10, Mamedyarov, who had been earlier kidnapped by power agents and released from custody under recognizance not to leave after interference of human rights activists, disappeared again.