News

Relatives of Ruslan Kostoev who was sentenced for blowing up a bus in the city of Nevinnomyssk, Stavropol Territory, object to the court verdict and are going to appeal against it, as Ruslan's mother - Tamara Kostoeva - said to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

On September 9, one of the republic's TV Channels showed a report with participation of a former member of an illegal armed formation (IAF). The ex-militant told about the panic reigning among the members of the armed underground and called his former comrades-in-arms to come back home.

Under the claim of Zarui Postandzhyan, an MP from the oppositional faction "Heritage" of the National Assembly of Armenia, the police has initiated a criminal case against the newspaper "Free Thinking" under the article of "insulting and compromising a person". The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told about it by Stepan Safaryan, another deputy from the same faction.

The Krasnodar Territorial Department of the Federal Service of Court Marshals (DFSCM) has decided to fight against dishonest parents by using social advertisements. Banners calling to pay the alimonies appeared in the streets of the territorial capital.

President of Ingushetia Yunus-Bek Evkurov intends, with a complete support of Russian President Dmitri Medvedev, to repair Ossetian-Ingush relations; according to his version, this should start with addressing the issue of human rights violations. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports that Mr Evkurov spoke about it on September 8 at the roundtable in Ingushetia, where a delegation from North Ossetia also took part.

Young Azerbaijan bloggers Emin Milli and Adnan Gadjizade will not be imprisoned, as stated by Miklos Harasti, special representative of the OSCE on freedom of the media, after his meeting with Ali Gasanov, head of the public-political division of the Administration of the President of Azerbaijan. According to Mr Harasti, Azerbaijan should stop its widespread practice of persecuting oppositional journalists on forged charges.

Under the amnesty act, passed this June under the initiative of President Serzh Sargsyan, the authorities of Armenia have released 1208 persons from custody in the country's criminal-corrective establishments. This was reported by Alina Engoyan, press secretary of the Cassation Court of Armenia.

The "execution list" compiled by the grouping of "relatives of lost militiamen", which is disseminating leaflets in Dagestan, contains the lawyers involved in the trials on so-called "Wahhabite cases" and the journalists, who covered the problems connected with kidnappings and torture of people, said advocate Bakanai Guseinova.

Sergey Shamba, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Abkhazia, has named the recognition by Venezuela of independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia to be a significant decision, since it will push, in his opinion, a lot of other countries to similar decisions, as Venezuela is the leader in the Bolivarian Union, which includes several states.

On September 25, the Tver Court of Moscow will start considering the claim lodged by President of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov against Oleg Orlov, head of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", on defence of his honour, dignity and business reputation.

The miners-pensioners detained yesterday by militiamen near Federal Highway No. 4 in the Rostov Region, are at large and plan to picket the building of the administration of the city of Zverevo. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told about it by Valery Dyakonov, a deputy of the municipal duma of Zverevo.

Two huge terror acts to be committed by terrorists-suicide bombers have been prevented in Moscow; now the names of their potential executers are known - cousins Bekkhan Ospanov, 29, and Islam Bataev, 30. It was planned to bring the explosive to the terror act venue not only in shahid belts, but also in jogging shoe soles.

Today, the Board of Elders of Balkar People (BEBP) held a sitting of the organizing committee of the pedestrian march to Moscow.

On September 8, the Baku-based "Park Inn" Hotel hosted a conference "National Movement of South Azerbaijan", organizer by the Congress of Azerbaijanis of the World (CAW). The event was on the problem of ensuring national rights of ethnic Azerbaijanis in Iran.

According to a local resident, in the end of last week, employees of unidentified power agencies kidnapped four residents of Roshni-Chu village, located in the foothill Urus-Martan District. The Chechen militia did not confirm the fact of kidnapping.

The international organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called President of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov to withdraw his claim lodged against Oleg Orlov, head of the HRC "Memorial".

The "Combat Organization of Russian Nationalists" (known as "BORN") has disseminated the information that it takes the responsibility for a series of neo-Nazi crimes, committed in Moscow in 2008 and 2009, including the attack on two figurants in the case of the "Black Hawks" grouping, as a result of which Rasul Khalilov, a native of Azerbaijan, was assassinated.

Experts have finished identification of the bodies of the casualties of the explosion at the ROVD building in Nazran. It was reported by a representative of the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) for Ingushetia.

Some of the local businessmen, who were selling wedding dresses in Grozny, now plan to leave Chechnya in order to sell their goods and payback the debts; and to close up their business in fear of repressions from local authorities.

The Chechen leadership does everything possible for establishing the whereabouts of the people, who had disappeared or had been kidnapped in the course of counterterrorist operations (CTOs). This was stated by President of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov during his meeting with Thomas Hammarberg, Commissioner of the Council of Europe for Human Rights.