News

Today in the afternoon, journalists were removed from the courtroom, where the Supreme Court of Kabardino-Balkaria is considering the criminal case on the events on October 13, 2005, in Nalchik.

On August 9, a local resident aged 16 was kidnapped by unknown persons in the Shali District of Chechnya. At night on August 10, he was found assassinated.

After the amnesty, 21 political prisoners are still in custody in Armenia. The greatest bewilderment in human rights activists is aroused by holding behind bars of a French citizen Sarkis Atspanyan, a veteran of the Karabakh War. This was emphasized at a press conference on August 11 by Vardan Arutyunyan, a member of the Committee in Defence of Political Prisoners' Rights.

The international organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) has expressed its serious concern of the murder in Chechnya of two activists of the NGO "Let's Save the Generation".

The international human rights organization Amnesty International (AI) does not believe that Russia is ever capable to open the murder in Chechnya of the leader of the NGO "Let's Save the Generation" Zarema Sadulayeva and her husband Alik Dzhabrailov.

President of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov said that, according to the authorities, the husband of the murdered Chechen human rights defender Zarema Sadulayeva, had earlier been a member of illegal armed formations (IAFs), which could be the motive of the double murder.

The kidnapping of Zarema Sadulayeva and her husband Alik Dzhabrailov, leaders of the NGO "Let's Save the Generation", who were found murdered today, was staged as an official detention by power agencies. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told about it by Alexander Cherkasov, a member of the Board of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial".

The Zheleznodorozhny District Court of Voronezh has found Alexander Chalenko, 22, guilty of causing heavy health damage to a native of Armenia and sentenced him to 4 years and 10 months of imprisonment.

Prime Minister Rashid Gaisanov, acting President of Ingushetia, believes that the opposition is "heating up" the situation around the actions of the Chechen militia in their republic. He thinks that there is no pressure from Chechnya.

Today, President of Ingushetia Yunus-Bek Evkurov was discharged from the Vishnevskiy Surgery Institute, where he took his treatment after the attempt on June 22. In a week, he plans to get back to work.

Resignation of Government and appointment of new Prime Minister in South Ossetia; closing of Georgian-South-Ossetian border; first anniversary of 2008 August War in Transcaucasia and related Russia's and Georgia's loud statements on the occasion; start of dialogue between the authorities and opposition in Georgia; new details about the attempt on Isa Yamadaev, - look up these and other events in the review of the week of August 3-9 in Caucasian regions prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

Last Friday, August 7, Veronica Kotek, Special Representative of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe (CE) in Azerbaijan, visited Novruzali Mamedov, a linguist, head of the Talysh Cultural Centre and editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Tolyshi Sado" (Voice of Talysh) in the hospital of the Penitentiary System.

An employee of the MIA of Chechnya has received a heavy wound as a result of explosion of a trip wire mine in the high-mountainous Nozhay-Yurt District of the republic, as reported by the law enforcement bodies of the republic. The victim was hospitalized.

On August 10, Judge of the Sabail District Court of Baku Nuraddin Bagirov rejected the claim of bloggers Emin Milli and Adnan Gadjizade against the MIA and the State Office of Public Prosecutor of Azerbaijan.

Today, at about 5:30 p.m., in Verkhnie Achaluki village, Malgobek District of Ingushetia, near his house No. 61 in the Bekova Street, Kureish Evloev, whose shop was selling alcohol, was shot dead from a sub-machine gun. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed about it by Vakha Chapanov, head of the "Maximum" Information Agency in Ingushetia.

Relatives of Mussa and Adam Khautiev, who, according to the official statement of the Department of the Federal Security Bureau (DFSB) of Russia for Ingushetia, were killed on August 6 as a result of a special operation in Kantyshevo village, Nazran District, and residents of this village told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that in fact employees of power agencies had committed an extrajudicial execution.

Human rights defenders of Chechnya have stated kidnapping of two activists of the local NGO named "Save the Generation" - the NGO leader Zarema Sadulaeva and her husband.

The words of Chechen President that the prominent human rights activist Natalia Estemirova, who was kidnapped and murdered on July 15, "had never had honour, dignity and conscience," pronounced by Ramzan Kadyrov on air of Radio Liberty on August 8, caused resolute criticism among members of local NGOs. Some of them perceive this statement as scoffing at the memory of the victim, others - as a warning to all those who try to oppose the ruling power.

A museum of genocide opened in Tskhenval today. Its exhibits include photographs of victims in August 2008, pictures of the war, fragments of exploded shells.

Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili has announced that he is prepared to sacrifice "the parts of his body for which Vladimir Putin hunts" in order to restore the territorial integrity of his country and return South Ossetia and Abkhazia to Georgia.