News

Under four last year's decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), the government of Azerbaijan was fined by 30,725 euros.

On April 15, a court session took place in the city of Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia, on the case of Fatima Margieva, an activist of the People's Party accused under Article 222 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Illegal purchase and keeping of firearms, ammunition and explosives").

Since early April this year, the case about kidnapping on December 27, 2009, in St Petersburg of four relatives of Maksharip Aushev, assassinated Ingush human rights activist, is in the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). In the meantime, the relatives of the kidnapped persons are still in the dark about their fate.

According to a source in Moscow power agencies, several persons have been detained as suspects of preparing and executing terror acts in Moscow metro on March 29. The Investigatory Committee at the Prosecutor's Office (ICPO) of the Russian Federation does not confirm this information.

Yesterday, on April 15, two explosions were triggered in the Achkhoy-Martan District of Chechnya, as a result of which, as reported by law enforcement bodies of the republic, three servicemen were lost and one more wounded.

The information widespread earlier that Federal Judge Eduard Chuvashov and lawyer Stanislav Markelov were shot dead with one gun has nothing to do with reality. This was stated by the Investigatory Committee at the Prosecutor's Office (ICPO) of the Russian Federation.

On Wednesday, April 14, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Georgia made a statement demanding to investigate the murder of a minor shepherd by frontier guards of Azerbaijan. Under the version of the Georgian party, the casualty had crossed the border by occasion, while the Azerbaijani party asserts that the violation of the border was deliberate and was accompanied by threats addressed to frontier guards.

While the number of commercial construction sites and erected fences in Sochi goes up, the city dwellers are holding their day-and-night defence of the general-use green zones in the Plane-Tree Alley.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) welcomes the successes reached by the organizers of the 2014 Winter Olympiad in Sochi, marking that all works are under the schedule.

Today the opposition, which holds a rally in front of the building of Georgian, made a half-an-hour blockade of traffic in the Rustaveli Avenue, demanding to stop politically-motivated prosecutions of citizens and release - after April 16 - all political prisoners.

In the Dagestan city of Kaspiisk, an explosive was triggered under the bottom of the bus of the Caspian frontier squad.

Today, the judicial session at the Supreme Court of Kabardino-Balkaria, which considers the events on October 13, 2005, in Nalchik, was again disrupted by the defendants who disagreed to replacement of an advocate.

On April 13 activists of the "Centre of Spiritual and Moral Upbringing and Development of Chechnya" and Patriotic Club "Ramzan" held an action, together with regional branch of the Russian Red Cross, under the motto "Save Life" and donated blood for victims of terror acts in Moscow, Dagestan and Ingushetia.

A youth rally-protest "Candle of Memory" dedicated to casualties of terror acts in Moscow, Dagestan and Ingushetia was in Uchebnoe village, Prokhladnoe District of Kabardino-Balkaria, under the initiative of young people of the village and students of the Terek Agricultural Technical School.

The project "Peace to the Caucasus" and the report of the Russian Public Chamber's working group on development of public dialogue and institutes of civil society in the Caucasus will give nothing in the practical sense, but will at least help to bring the materials to the knowledge of high-ranking officials. This is the opinion of candidate of philosophy, senior scientific worker Enver Kisriev, head of the division of sociology of the Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnography of the Dagestan Scientific Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

On April 11, the severely beaten Dagestan lawyer Sergey Kvasov was transferred from resuscitation to ordinary ward. Now, his condition remains stably grave. His colleagues come to act as blood donors for Sergey.

Today in Baku, the police have prevented a picket of activists of the "Musavat" opposition party in front of the building of the Baku Mayoralty with the demand for the freedom of assembly.

Refugees from South Ossetia who live in Khurvaleti village, Gori District of Georgia, complain of intolerable living conditions. Arina Tavakarashvili, a UN expert who is in charge of monitoring the refugees' living conditions, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that in Khurvaleti the situation for refugees was bad from the very start of building houses for them. Refugees from Abkhazia also speak about heavy living conditions.

As stated by Ekaterina Sokiryanskaya, an employee of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", the signatories of the petition in defence of the relatives of the perished Ingush human rights defender Maksharip Aushev are threatened by some unidentified persons. These relatives were kidnapped last December.

The Association of Young Lawyers of Georgia (AYLG) has filed a claim to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in favour of relatives of a Georgian soldier lost during the August events in South Ossetia in 2008. The claim refers to facts of torture and murder by Russian and Ossetian militaries of the Georgian soldier named Georgiy Antsukhelidze.