News

Maksharip Aushev, a member of the Expert's Council of the office of Russian Ombudsman, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent the details of the attempt of his kidnapping, undertaken on September 15 in Ingushetia.

The Spiritual Department of Moslems (SDM) of North Ossetia has disseminated a statement running that the ammunition found in the Beslan mosque in the days of sacred Moslem month of Ramadan is a provocation.

In Makhachkala, in the course of dispersal by militia of a non-authorized rally, convoked in protest against changing custody conditions of two convicted citizens, special means were applied - electric shockers. As a result, a woman was taken away by an ambulance. This was reported to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by Gasan Aigunov, chairman of the public observation commission of Dagestan under the Public Chamber of Russia.

The European Court on Human Rights (ECtHR) has addressed the authorities of the Russian Federation asking them to present, before September 21, 2009, information about details of the inquiry into the kidnapping of Sirazhudin Minatulaevich Shafiev, a resident of Dagestan.

So far, the law enforcement bodies of Chechnya have not managed to identify the woman who blew her up yesterday, on September 16, in the morning in central Grozny near an RPS patrol car of the MIA of Chechnya. According to latest data, there are no casualties, eight persons were wounded: two militiamen - heavily.

Today at night in Ingushetia, as a result of explosions of two unidentified bombs planted near a militia patrol car, two militiamen, sent to this republic from the city of Kemerovo, received minor injuries.

Maksharip Aushev, a member of the Expert's Council of the office of Russian Ombudsman, whom, according to his version, unidentified power agents tried to kidnap in Ingushetia, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that today together with law enforcers he took part in withdrawal of video records from the outdoor surveillance cameras, located in the place of the incident; however, it turned out that non of them had recorded his failed kidnapping.

Chechnya sees more and more kidnappings, as reported by the HRC "Memorial". The "Mashr" human rights organization, in its turn, reports that the count of kidnappings has decreased, but the number of murders is on the rise. This is the conclusion of experts, based on the data as of end of August 2009.

Initiation in Georgia of a criminal case against Russian citizen Besik Pipiya, head of the representative office of the RIA "Novosti" in Tbilisi, is politically motivated. This was stated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Russia.

Human rights activists assert that the process of inquiry into the murder of the well-known Chechen human rights defender Natalia Estemirova is under pressure. As reported today by Alexander Cherkasov, a member of the Board of the HRC "Memorial", they had to take one of the witnesses - an employee of the "Memorial" - away from Chechnya for this reason.

Maksharip Aushev, a former leader of the opposition, has informed the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent about an unsuccessful attempt to kidnap him in Ingushetia.

Today, the Sabail District Court of Baku has started judicial hearing on the case of young bloggers Adnan Gadjizade and Emin Milli, accused of hooliganism and application of bodily injuries.

Magomed Gandarov, advocate of three figurants in the so-called "Case of Twelve", is going to appeal against the decision to cancel the court of jurymen on his clients to the supervisory instance of the Supreme Court of Russia. Mr Gandarov himself told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent about it.

On September 15, the Press Centre of the RIA "Novosti" in Moscow hosted a roundtable on the role of the civil society and mass media in confronting terrorism and prevention of extremism. However, its main topic was in fact the statement of the authorities' defeat on the front of media war on terrorism.

The information about the terror committed today before afternoon in the centre of the capital of Chechnya remains contradictory. According to some sources, two militiamen were killed by the explosion, by other ones - some six-eight persons suffered.

Priest Vissarion Apliaa, leader of the Abkhazian Orthodox Church, believes that the decision on independence of the local church was historically motivated. "We just want to restore the historical justice; and nobody can challenge our decision. We've made a lawful canonical decision, and we've invented nothing," Father Vissarion said to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

President of Russia Dmitri Medvedev is satisfied with how President of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov is working, and asked foreign political scientists not to depict him as a "bad boy".

Yesterday, on September 14, in Khattuni, a village of the mountainous Vedeno District of the Chechen Republic, as local residents assert, a broad-scale "zachistka" (mopping-up) was conducted, during which a local resident was kidnapped. The republic's power structures refuse to make any comments.

After the news appeared that the Prosecutor's Office of Novorossisk had sent a petition to the court on suspension of the activity of the Novorossisk Committee on Human Rights (NCHR), a number of Russian NGO voiced in defence of human rights defenders: AGORA, YURIX, MHG (Moscow Helsinki Group) and Foundation "Public Verdict". The Movement "For Human Rights" has made a statement; and another statement is prepared, which will be soon open for signing-in. This was reported by Vadim Karastelyov, an expert of the NCHR.

On the opinion of advocate and human rights defender Ivan Pavlov, director of the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI), the war on corruption in Ingushetia should start with ensuring citizens' free access to about the operation of state bodies.