News

Valery Giorgobiani, a candidate for a majority deputy from the party in power of Georgia - the United National Movement - is blackmailing people. This was stated today by Kakha Kukava, one of the leaders of the Conservative Party and a member of the United Opposition, in a press conference, having made public an audio record of the sitting held in the administration of the Tsager District.

Tina Khidasheli, one of the leaders of the oppositional Republican Party of Georgia, asserts that nothing special is taking place in Abkhazia today, and the situation is deliberately stirred up by Georgian authorities before the elections.

Zaurbek Bolataev, a resident of the city of Beslan (North Ossetia), has addressed human rights organizations of the country for help because of criminal prosecution of his son Nikolai Bolataev, a student of the Novosibirsk Higher Military Command School.

Today, the first-instance court of the Yerevan community Kentron-Nork-Marash has ruled to extend by two months the custody term of Alexander Arzumanyan, ex-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia and head of the pre-election office of Ter-Petrosyan.

Today, Georgia has served a note to Russia informing the Russian party about its exit from the antiaircraft defence cooperation agreement.

The Georgian "Imedi" TV Company has resumed its technical broadcasting. Now, the TV Channel, which stopped its operation last December, is putting movies on air. Information programs are planned from June on.

According to Ramiz Mekhtiyev, head of the Azeri president's administration, the allocation by the USA of more than 3 million dollars for supporting election in Azerbaijan in October 2008 is an interference by USA into the internal affairs of Azerbaijan.

Tinatin Khidasheli, one of the leaders of the "Republican Party" and a majority candidate to deputies from Saburtalin district in Georgia, claims that members of the youth wing of her party have been threatened while she is under permanent watch.

About 15 persons came to the square in front of the cinema hall "Avrora" in Krasnodar to hold a picket. Half of them are journalists. The picketers protested against the interference of functionaries into the mass media activity, and also called on their colleagues to work on the principles of objectivity and truth.

The court of Azerbaijan passed a decision to arrest Yusup Nagayev, a refugee from Chechnya, for two months, report Nagayev's relatives to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The implementation of the plan to hold an Olympics in Sochi is under question, and the IOC should think over an alternative, Austrian daily Standard writes in its May 1 issue.

On May 1, during a festive concert in the south-west of Moscow, on the territory of the Russian University of Friendship of Peoples (RUDN), a mass fight was prevented between students from Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Trials over opposition activists in Erevan, Gyumri and other cities are held with overcrowded court rooms, amidst pickets and other actions of protest. Several judges decided to adjourn the court sessions.

Georgi Topadze, leader of the opposition party "Industry will Save Georgia" stated that the tragedy in Abkhazia will be repeated if Georgia acts aggressively.

On May 1, an event to commemorate victims of Holocaust was held in Tbilisi in the Georgian Ombudsman's office.

The block "Right-wing Alliance - Topadze, Manufacturers" may refuse to take part in the parliamentary elections to be held on May 21 in Georgia, Georgi Topadze, leader of the "manufacturers", announced today at the press-conference.

From April 26 to 28, a charity action of assistance to victims of Beslan tragedy was held in North Ossetia. It was organized by representatives of the "Novye Nivy" foundation created in the USA by emigrants from the former Soviet Union.

The owner of the bookstore "Sunna" in the capital of Dagestan, which sells Islamic literature and souvenirs, complains against illegal searches and arrests of goods by law enforcement officers.

Today, the jury of the Moscow city court has passed a guilty verdict on the case of an explosion at Moscow's Cherkizovo market in August 2006.

The parliamentary faction "Heritage" which about a week ago started to collect signatures in the Armenia's National Assembly under the address to the Prosecutor General with a request to change the measure of restraint with regard to the deputies arrested in connection with the March 1 events, has already handed the petition to the prosecutor's office.