News

According to Russian political scientist Sergey Markedonov, the problems of the Caucasus are political, not economic, but Alexander Khloponin, plenipotentiary of the North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD), should be "loaded" with the political functional, which is "under-loaded" in him. In the opinion of Polish analyst Wojciech G?recki, creation of the NCFD is a manifestation display of a new Moscow's tactics for Northern Caucasus.

Today, the Coordination Board of Adyg NGOs of Kabardino-Balkaria has disseminated a statement treating the scientific conference held in Tbilisi on Circassians' genocide as a "scandal" arranged by Georgian leaders with the aim "to draw attention of international public."

As reported by the US Department of Justice, the States have delivered three former inmates of the prison located in the Guantanamo military base. The prisoners whose names are not disclosed were sent to Georgia yesterday, on March 23. Some of Georgian politicians and experts were positive towards this delivery.

The militants liquidated in a special operation in Ingushetia were members of the "Surkhakhi bandit grouping", which planned to commit a series of terror acts in the territory of the republic. This was reported by the PR group of the Department of the FSB for Ingushetia.

The high water is stronger in the Volgograd Region; already 12 settlements are in the flooding zone. As reported by the regional branch of the Ministry for Emergencies (MfE), 469 houses were damaged, and hundreds of residents were evacuated.

At the court session on March 23 dealing with the militants' attack of on power agencies of Nalchik on October 13, 2005, the judge announced the ruling about extension of defendants' custody by three more months. The court argued that all of them are accused of grave and especially grave crimes as members of an organized group. Also, in the course of the session, defendants blamed the court of being biased, and one of them, Anzor Mashukov, petitioned for challenging the judges.

On March 23, the court of the city of Budyonnovsk, Stavropol Territory, announced a verdict on the criminal case of a rural teacher Valentina Neumyvakina, accused of driving a senior pupil to suicide. She was sentenced to 1 year of deprivation of freedom.

On March 23, the Board of Judges of Ingushetia disseminated its statement passed back on February 12 asserting that President of the republic Yunus-Bek Evkurov interfered with the work of judges demanding to pass verdicts to his liking. The document was sent to President of Russia Dmitri Medvedev.

Today, the Ministry of Justice of Lithuania has recalled its European Arrest Warrant issued in relation to natives of Chechnya - spouses Malik and Khadizhat Gataev, - convicted for violence over children, who had been given them for rearing. The married couple is now in Finland.

Russia has no policy for Northern Caucasus - only an attempt to use bayonets that leads to numerous victims only. This was stated by Svetlana Gannushkina, a human rights defender, chair of the committee "Civil Assistance", a member of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" and a member of the Board on Human Rights at the President of the Russian Federation, last week in Moscow in the Andrei Sakharov Museum and Public Centre during expanded debates "Conflicts in the Caucasus" from the general cycle "War and Peace".

The Audit Chamber of the Russian Federation has sent a letter to the heads of the Federal Security Bureau (FSB) and Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of the Russian Federation reporting about the pressure exerted on the auditors of the Audit Chamber in the course of the check of use of budgetary funds and legality of disposal of land resources in Ingushetia. According to Mr Stepashin, in Dagestan figurants of a crime tried to bribe local employees of the Audit Chamber with 10 million roubles.

Today, on March 24 the Stavropol Territorial Court has sentenced four employees of the local branch of the Medical-Social Examinations Bureau, accused of bribe-taking for certification of citizens' physical inability, where the latter had legitimate right to get such certifications.

In the Astrakhan Region, the investigation is under way in the case concerning the extortion of bribes by the officers of the first company of Special Battalion No. 1 of the traffic and patrol service (TPS) of the Board of Interior for the Astrakhan Region.

In the Rostov Region, Rafik Jaffarov, 35-year old sergeant major serving in an infantry company received a monthly fee from soldiers for the permission to be absent from service. The bribe amount was from five to thirty thousand roubles per month.

In Nagorno-Karabakh, the representatives of the public have negatively responded to the statements made the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan concerning the deportation of the Armenian migrants staying illegally in Turkey, however, according to Gaguik Avanesyan, the Karabakh movement activist, these statements will not hamper the process aimed at normalizing the Armenian-Georgian relations. Political scientist Manvel Sarkisyan supports this opinion. Manvel Sarkisyan supports this opinion.

The Georgian Parliament has passed a resolution to start this week the discussion of draft legislation concerning the Freedom Charter initiated by the deputy Gia Tortladze.

On March 22, the Krasnodar Leninskiy District Court held a preliminary hearing of the case of human rights activist Anastasia Denisova, leader of the ETnIka civic organization.

At a court session held on March 22 to hear the case dealing with the attack by gunmen on law enforcement facilities on October 13, 2005, the participants of the court proceedings discussed the restraint to be imposed on the defendants as their retention in custody expires on March 27. The prosecution insists on applying the previously imposed restraint in the form of detention in custody whereas the defence lawyers demand that it should be changed referring to the defendants' health condition.

The Adyg public organizations of Kabardino-Balkaria see the conference held in Tbilisi as an intervention into Russia's home affairs and an attempt to use the tragedy of the Adyg nation as a tool of political pressure on the Russian Federation. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed about it by Zhelyabi Kumekhov, Chairman of the Coordination Board of the Adyg Public Organizations of Kabardino-Balkaria.

Despite the fact that restoration of housing facilities destroyed as a result of the war in August 2008 goes not so quickly as expected; and South Ossetia is already named a "black hole", where Russia's money infinitely disappears, today the situation is changing for the better. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent met those who already mark their housewarming and those who were less lucky.