News

Today, the Court of the Krasnodar Territory has considered the cassation complaint filed by the defenders of businessman Sergey Kolesnikov, who is kept in the SIZO (pre-trial prison) against another rejection of the petition asking to change his custody for a more lenient freedom restriction measure.

In the village of Pusyan, Sharur District of the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic (NAR) of Azerbaijan, the relatives of the former candidate for the 2nd Sharur Constituency Sakhavat Aliev, who were beaten on December 10 by local policemen, are still without adequate medical help. This is stated both by the victims and human rights activists, while the authorities deny the fact of beating.

Russia does not admit involvement of state officials in the death of two pupils from a shell in Chechnya in 2000. The Strasbourg Court (ECtHR) is accusing the Russian Federation of inefficient investigation of this case.

She asserts that the unreliable data about her son Aslan Cherkesov, suspected of murdering Yegor Sviridov, was presented by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on December 21, when he met representatives of football fans.

Representatives of the Balkar elders, who held their hunger strike in Moscow, will be able to take part, in early 2011, in a public forum and discuss issues of inter-village territories with the Russian President's Plenipotentiary in the North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD) and President of Kabardino-Balkaria.

At its session held on December 22, the Supreme Court of the Chechen Republic upheld the ruling of the first instance court regarding the cassation appeal filed by Svetlana Estemirova, sister of the assassinated human rights activist Natalia Estemirova.

Azamat M. Abazov, a resident of Kabardino-Balkaria, claims that a criminal case was fabricated against him; and after his detention on November 24 militiamen beat him and tortured with electric current demanding confession evidences.

The law enforcement agencies of the Krasnodar Territory got interested of the brochure "Situation with Former USSR Citizens in Krasnodar Territory", published by the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" and the Youth Group for Tolerance named "ETnIKA", because the publication contains criticism of local authorities. This was stated by Ramil Ahmetgaliev, legal analyst of the Interregional Human Rights Association "AGORA" and advocate of Anastasia Denisova, head of the "ETnIKA".

Russia can no longer live with the republics of Northern Caucasus in one state - this was stated by Ilya Lazarenko, a co-chair of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and one of the organizers of the picket near the Ostankino TV Centre, sanctioned by Moscow authorities.

Riots with nationalist context continue in the cities of Russia; Geneva discussions on the Caucasus achieve stalemate; Armenian Government sees serious reshuffling, - look these and other events in the review of the week of December 13-19, 2010, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

During the first 11 months of 2010, the Republic of Kalmykia saw about two hundred audits of financial and economic activities of public institutions and federal state unitary enterprises. They revealed financial violations in the sum of 2.135 billion roubles.

On December 20, Oleg Kichikov, the Chairman of the Government of Kalmykia, sent a letter to the Parliament of Dagestan, asking Deputies to deal with the issue of high accident rate with transit buses, driven by drivers from Dagestan, which happen in the territory of Kalmykia.

The criminal case initiated against a Duma Deputy of the Municipality Formation Mikhailovsk, accused of 21 sexual crimes against underage girls, was sent to the court.

Today, on the Poklonnaya Mount in Moscow, an opening ceremony was held of the monument "In Fighting Fascism We Were Together", which is an analogue of the Glory Memorial, exploded in Kutaisi.

The crew of the ship "Vasilios N", sailing under the flag of Georgia, asks for help because of detention of the seamen for several months in Misurata Port in Libya. According to sailors, they have nothing to eat and are on the brink of committing suicide.

In the Astrakhan Region, the prosecutor's check of compliance with the environmental legislation of the "Elitprom" Company, which owns petrochemical production facilities in the Nariman District of the Region, detected many serious violations, which may lead to suspension of the work of the Company.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg has fined the Russian Government by 137,500 euros for disappearance of a resident of Chechnya and for ineffective investigation into the death of two children from Chechnya at missile attack.

Tarkhan Ozdoev, a suspect of murdering his cousin and her two daughters confessed of the crime and said that he found the women's behaviour as immoral.

As reported by activists of the "Ecological Watch for Northern Caucasus", the construction of the Inter-Regional Highway "Cherkessk-Sukhumi" across the territory of the Teberda State Biosphere Reserve is illegal and could cause irreparable harm to the ecosystem of Northern Caucasus.

Law enforcement authorities of Volgograd have stopped an attempt of nationalist-minded youth to hold a march in the city centre on December 18. 193 would-be participants were detained. No retaliatory actions by the members of the Caucasian Diaspora were registered.