News

The excavation of the city of Tigranakert, founded in the 1st century BC in Artsakh (Karabakh) by Armenia Tsar Tigran the Great, resumed in mid-July, will last till the end of August.

The residents of Dagestan, with whom the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent managed to talk, have expressed their discontent with the statements of Nadira Isaeva, editor-in-chief of the Dagestan-based newspaper "Chernovik", that the population approves the actions of the militants who shot dead 11 persons in Buinaksk.

One hundred thousand hutchlings of vyrezub – a fish from the Red Book of Russia were let out into the Medveditsa River, Volgograd Region. Scientists not only managed to save the precious species from disappearance, but also to learn to farm vyrezub in ponds. Until now, it was believed that vyrezub cannot be reared by fish-farms.

On August 14, Abkhazia marked the 17th anniversary of the start of the 1992-1993 Georgian-Abkhazian conflict, know in this republic as the Patriotic War of Abkhazian nation. Georgia also marks every anniversary of the start of this conflict.

Alexander Bastrykin, Chairman of the ICPO, has stated that witnesses are afraid to evidence on murder cases of human rights activists in Chechnya.

In the Grozny District of Chechnya, power agents have severely beaten and tortured two residents of Pervomaiskoe village, located in this district, a father and his son. The reason was that the son received a call to his mobile phone his former friend who had joined militants a year ago.

In Dagestan, the republic's Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) has informed that law enforcers know the names of several militants from the grouping that committed, in the evening on August 13, an attack a militia post and a sauna killing 11 persons. According to militiamen, the bandits, from 10 to 15 persons, were commanded by Nabi Migitdinov.

The end of the preliminary investigation of the case on the attack on Mikael Danielyan, a well-known human rights activist and chairman of the Helsinki Association, committed by Tigran Urikhanyan, former leader of the pro-governmental Progressive Party of Armenia (PPA), was unexpected - both parties were regarded innocent. Mr Danielyan himself told journalists about it.

In the opinion of Liudmila Alekseeva, chair of the Moscow Helsinki Group, the murders in Chechnya of Zarema Sadulayeva and Alik Dzhabrailov - leaders of the NGO "Let's Save the Generation" - is a result of the vertical of power, built at different levels.

At a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the outcomes of today's talks, President of Russia Dmitri Medvedev has stated that the recently committed murders of human rights activists and politicians have the aim to destabilize the situation in the Caucasus.

Arshaluis Akopyan, a member of the Helsinki Association, is still illegally kept in prison, as human rights activist Mikael Danielyan said to journalists and reminded that Akopyan's custody was extended till September 5.

In the course of last year's August events, in total 162 residents of South Ossetia were lost and 255 more wounded, and 48 Russian militaries perished, including 10 peacemakers, and 162 servicemen were wounded. These figures were presented by Gregory Karassin, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia.

Alexander Cherkasov, a member of the Board of the of the HRC "Memorial", believes that the recent statements of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov that Natalia Estemirova, assassinated in Chechnya, "had never had honour, dignity and conscience", are, first of all, self-evidencing.

On August 13, in the Pushkin Square in Moscow, 35 persons held a picket in memory of Zarema Sadulayeva, leader of the NGO "Let's Save the Generation", and her husband Alik Dzhabrailov, who were found assassinated on August 11 in Chechnya, and journalist Malik Ahmedilov, who was shot dead in Dagestan.

Ruslan Amerkhanov, Minister of Construction of Ingushetia, shot dead on August 12 in his study in the city of Magas, is already the third high-ranking official of Ingushetia killed during this summer.

The murder of Alik Dzhabrailov, husband of Zarema Sadulayeva, committed in Chechnya, may, probably, stem from the days, when he was a member of the grouping subordinated to Shamil Basaev.

Today, the office of the Ombudsperson for the Stavropol Territory has reported that the check conducted in Corrective Colony No. 11, located in the Shpakovskiy District, Stavropol Territory, failed to reveal any violations of prisoners' rights.

The fate of the arrested young bloggers and heavily sick prisoner Novruzali Mamedov is still in the focus of attention of the international community. In these last days, these issues were discussed during the meetings of members of western diplomatic missions with the Azerbaijani Ombudsperson Elmira Suleimanova.

The criminal case and trial of journalists of the Dagestan-based newspaper "Chernovik" will most probably result in closing the edition and conviction of its employees; and this is the problem of the current Russian anti-extremist legislation. This is the opinion of Alexander Verkhovskiy, director of the Information-Analytical Centre "Sova" and expert in wrongful application of the anti-extremist legislation.

The Tver Court of Moscow has initiated a civil proceeding under the claim of President Ramzan Kadyrov against Oleg Orlov, head of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", on defence of honour, dignity and business reputation.