News

Today, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg fined Russia for 100.000 euros, acknowledging that the Russian authorities were responsible for the death of a Chechen Walid Dzhabrailov in 2003.

The Moscow City Court has found lawful the extension till November 28 of the custody of Timur Kartoev, accused of blowing up the "Neva-Express" train in November 2009, having upheld the decision of the Basmanny Court of Moscow.

The self-made land mine that blew up in Grozny in the evening on May 17 was remotely triggered, as the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed by a source in the Chechen militia. According to his version, law enforcement bodies of the republic continue searching organizers of this terror act, which killed Lieutenant Colonel Lom-Ali Khadjiev, head of the operative search of the Republic's MIA, and wounded two more high-ranking militia officers.

The fifth report prepared by the two members from the opposition of the Factfinding Group about events on March 1, 2008, says that the armed forces of Armenia were illegally involved in the events that took place in Yerevan two years ago. According to the report, the secret order of the ex-Minister of Defence AN-0038 of February 23, 2008, was completely contradictory to the Constitution and the Law of Armenia "On Defence".

Today, ten residents of the Imereti Lowland, whose houses get into the Olympic construction zone, dissatisfied with the actions of the "Olympstroy" and local authorities, have gone on hunger strike.

At the meeting with human rights activists, President Dmitry Medvedev was convinced that the human rights movement in the North Caucasus exists, Svetlana Gannushkina, chairman of the Civic assistance committee, board member and head of Migration and Law network of Human Rights Centre "Memorial", a member of Human Rights Council under the President of the Russian Federation, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Today, activists of the Azerbaijani civil society have handed their appeal over to international organizations and expressed their concern of the expanded practice in recent years to torture defendants and inmates. The text of the appeal was drawn up on May 15.

Dmitry Medvedev intends to consider the possibility of eliminating unnecessary checkpoints in the North Caucasus, a Public Chamber member Maxim Shevchenko stated, following today's meeting of the Presidential council on civil society institutions.

Today in the Kremlin, Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev held a meeting with the activists from non-governmental organizations. During this meeting, Medvedev backed out of a creation of the council of elders in the North Caucasus and specified the problems of his particular concern in the region. At the meeting, the human rights activists, who were engaged in monitoring of human rights violations in the region, presented their reports - previously posted in the "Caucasian Knot", voicing criticism of the government actions in the North Caucasus.

Lyubov Tsechoeva, a resident of the Plievo Municipal District of Nazran, told about illegal actions of power agents against her family.

Today, the Supreme Court of Dagestan started considering the criminal case on the murder of Magomedgadji Abashilov, Director of the State Radio and Television Company (SRTC) "Dagestan", committed on March 21, 2008, in Makhachkala, with interrogating the victims and prosecution's witness. The trial is held with participation of a board of jurymen.

Not everybody in the republic supports the recent appeal of the Russian MIA Department for Ingushetia urging to apply extreme measures to those drivers whose cars have excessively tinted windows.

Leaflets appeared in the territory of Makhachkala and other Dagestan cities containing threats to alcohol and drug dealers, fortune tellers, and owners of gambling halls and saunas.

Georgian lawyers have addressed the Prosecutor's Office asking to open a criminal case against the policemen, had not allowed the protesting lawyers to set up their tents in front of the Parliament building. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent learnt about it from lawyer Vakhtang Gagnidze, one of the protesters.

In Volgograd, the parents of Sasha Kolokoltsev who was killed last June, was officially informed by the investigative bodies that crime components were not found in the actions of former prosecutor Elena Ivanova, who knocked down their son by her car. The expertise conclusions are conflicting though.

In Georgia, torrential rains, hail and hurricane caused great damage in Kvarelsky and Gurjaani districts, in particular, villages of Balgodzhian, Tsitskanaantseri, Eniseli and Vazisubani. The elements destroyed about 30% of the harvest, vineyards and spring crops.

Co-chair of Pravozaschita NGO Gulnara Rustamova has informed today that families of the local residents Akhmed Akhmedov and Karib Vagabov, who were abducted on 8 May in Derbent, approached her with information about the detainees being assaulted.

In Azerbaijan, despite certain progress in the freedom of access to information, the situation remains unsatisfactory, said Khaled Agaliev, project coordinator of the Institute of Media Rights (IMR) on May 17, when presenting the progress report on the situation in Azerbaijan with the freedom of information.

In the end of last week, a meeting was held in Grozny dedicated to the outcomes of the work of the republic's Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) for the first four months of this year. Minister Ruslan Alkhanov stated that relatives of the members of the armed underground are accomplices of their crimes; therefore, they should bear the same responsibility as militants.

The dispersal of the peaceful action of the "Azadlyg" (Freedom) Block and administrative arrests of its participants are rough violations of citizens' constitutional rights and freedoms. This opinion was expressed by Alesker Mamedli, an independent lawyer and an expert of the American NGO "IREX Pro Media", in his conversation with the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, when he made his comments on the arrest of the participants of the protest action held by the "Azadlyg" Block in Baku on May 15.