News

Pressure on Peter Vins, founder of the Sakharov Foundation Prize "For Journalism as a Deed" continues - at the moment, his business is captured in Russia, states Boris Timoshenko, secretary of the Prize, head of the monitoring service of the Foundation for Protecting Glasnost.

Mukhtar and Magomedrasul Magomedaliyevs, residents of the village of Novy Kostek, Khasaviurt district in Dagestan, kidnapped on April 29, have returned home, reports their father Bagavdin Magomedaliyev. The whereabouts of the third kidnapped son of Magomedaliyev remains unknown.

The investigation of a criminal case has been completed in Astrakhan against Alexander Larin, director of the private company "Lastra", his son Kirill Larin and driver Khagani Akhundov, who are accused of using slave labor of 16 residents of Uzbekistan.

Representatives of the management of colony No 12 in Azerbaijan who acted as witnesses during the trial of previously convicted journalist Einulla Fatullayev, accused of keeping drugs, made statements which, according to the defense lawyers, fully proves the innocence of the defendant.

Officers of the law enforcement agencies in North Caucasus have no special training, they are corrupt, while unresolved crimes are often attributed to killed militants - such conclusions are contained in the report of Yuri Chaika, RF Prosecutor General, on law and order in Russia in 2009, which he delivered to the Federation Council on April 28.

The annual number of kidnappings in Chechnya, cited by the Human Rights Center "Memorial", does not correspond to reality, states Chechen president Ramzan Kadyrov, but promises to check the information of the human rights activists if they provide him with a list of victims of kidnappings.

The law enforcement agencies have obtained a confirmation of the data on the involvement of Akhmet Rabadanov, resident of the village of Novy Kostek killed in Dagestan, in the terrorist acts in the Moscow metro on March 29.

The explosion of a suicide bomber near the traffic militia post in Kazbek district of Dagestan has resulted in two casualties, 17 people have been wounded, scores of cars damaged. These are the corrected data of the Investigation Committee under the RF prosecutor's office.

The Austrian state board on protecting the constitution and fighting terrorism (LVT) has recognized Chechen president Ramzan Kadyrov responsible for the organization of kidnapping and murder of his former body-guard Umar Israilov, runs the agency report made public by the Vienna prosecutor's office on April 27.

The weapons found in the house of Akhmed Rabadanov, killed on April 26 and subsequently announced militant, were planted by militiamen, claims Rabadangadzhi Rabadanov, uncle of the diseased, resident of the village of Novy Kostek, Khasaviurt district, Dagestan, to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

A cassation appeal has been filed at the Supreme Court of Azerbaijan against the ruling of Baku court of appeal of March 10 which upheld the ruling convicting young bloggers Emin Milli and Adnan Gadzhizade who had already been sent to prison.

Ashot Arutiunian, chief of Charentsavan criminal investigation department, and police detective Moris Airapetian, suspected of involvement in the death of Vaan Khalafian who died on April 13, have been arrested in Armenia.

The public in Sochi is very concerned about the attack on Arkadi Lander, chief editor of the "Mestnaya" newspaper which took place on April 26. Some supporters of the victim, who do not trust the investigation, have involved private investigators, former militia officers, into the search for the crime organizers and executors. The Sochi communists' leader and part of Lander's colleagues claim his beating to be politically motivated.

An international group of human rights activists has addressed an open letter to the Lithuanian authorities in protest against their refusal to permit further free communication for Khadizhat and Malik Gatayevs with their adopted children from Chechnya. The letter has been sent to Daliya Gribauskaite, president of Lithuania, chair of the committee on human rights in the Lithuanian parliament and the Lithuanian commissioner on the rights of children.

The family of Gayoz Odishelidze, 51, who died after watching the hoaxed "Imedi" TV report about the "Russian invasion", is going to apply to the Chief Prosecutor's Office urging to start inquiry into the accident.

The audio record of the telephone conversation of Giorgi Arveladze, Director General of the "Imedi" TV Company, with his deputy Eka Tsamalashvili, which was disseminated two days after the scandalous report about invasion of Russian troops into Georgia, is authentical, British experts have stated.

On Monday, April 26, at 3:00 p.m., in the entrance of No. 34 in the Pirogova Street in Sochi, an attack was committed on Arkadi Lander, editor-in-chief of the Sochi-based newspaper "Mestnaya" (Local); he was severely beaten. The journalist is sure that it was an attempt to kill him because of his professional activities.

Relatives of the persons accused of blowing up the "Neva-Express" train in autumn 2009 report facts of torture and psychological pressure applied to their relatives for almost two months.

In Moscow, a suspected killer of Dolgan Nikeev, a student from Kalmykia, was placed in custody. His name is not disclosed.

The Russian Federation continues keeping the first place by the number of new complaints lodged to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR): in 2009 every third complaint lodged there arrived from Russia.