News

Members of the Volgograd-based UNESCO Club named "Child's Dignity" Irina Molovichko, Ulyana Ilyakhina and Tatiana Zagumennova, accused of plundering grant money in the sum of 18,000 roubles in 2006-2008, received conditional custody terms. The convicts refused to plead guilty, asserting that the court has passed an unfair sentence.

Experts explain the coloured snow that fell on March 9 in the Krasnodar and Stavropol Territories by the presence of dust, sand and clay particles in precipitations brought by the wind from Northern Africa, and state that the deposits are harmless.

The political crisis in Armenia that stemmed from essential violations in the course of the 2008 presidential election is not over, and the atmosphere in the country continues to remain tense. This was stated in the report of the United States' Department of State (DoS) published on March 11.

At night on Saturday, March 13, the Dagestan city of Buinaksk suffered from a powerful landslip. Rescuers evacuated 82 persons, including 26 children, the local Ministry for Emergencies (MfE) reports.

The international human rights organizations "Committee to Protection Journalists", Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have made statements on the refusal of the Baku Appeal Court to cancel the verdict to bloggers Adnan Gadjizade and Emin Milli, convicted to 2 and 2.5 years of imprisonment respectively.

On March 11, Hilary Clinton, State Secretary of the USA, presented another regular report on the situation in the sphere of human rights in the world. The document published in the official website of the US Department of State (DoS), dedicates 73 pages to criticism of the situation with human rights in Russia.

The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (CE) has reminded the government of Armenia about the need to enforce the decision of the European Court on Human Rights (ECtHR) on the "A1+" TV Company. According to the verdict, Armenia should give chance to the Company to take part in the tender for broadcasting frequencies and for its return on air.

Schools teachers of several districts of the Chechen Republic see no salaries for two months already. The issue was discussed on March 11 in Grozny at a sitting with participation of the head of the Ministry of Education, city and regional departments of education and school directors. The authorities promise to solve the problem in the near future.

On March 11, Federal Judge of the Sovietskiy District of Makhachkala Gasankadi Dzhunaidiev rejected the application lodged by Natalia Krainova, a journalist of the local weekly "Novoe Delo" (New Business), who asked to revise the verdict of April 22, 2009, prescribing her to pay, together with her colleague Svetlana Anokhina, 24,000 roubles in equal shares to Zaur Gaziev, a journalist of the newspaper "Free Republic".

Today in Moscow, in Chistye Prudy, at the monument to Alexander Griboedov, a picket was held in memory of the leader of Chechen separatists Aslan Maskhadov.

In Dagestan, experts have established the type and power of the bomb that was triggered in the evening on March 11 on the railway in Makhachkala. The power of the bomb was 2 kilos of trotyl equivalent.

Today, another hearing was held in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, on the criminal case initiated against journalists of the local weekly "Chernovik", accused of kindling national, racial and religious enmity.

Today, competitions were held in the Dagestan village of Khadzhalmakhi, where three persons have broken world records in lifting weights attacked to hair, pulling up on a horizontal bar on one hand and keeping a 24-kilo weight by one leg.

Lawyers do not believe, while waiting for the Constitutional Court (CC) of the Russian Federation to consider the conformity to the Constitution of the amendments made by the State Duma in the end of 2008 in the Russian Code of Civil Procedure (CCP) and concerning the trial by jury for those accused of especially grave crimes, that the right to be tried by jurymen will be returned.

In the afternoon on March 11, house No. 2 in the Tsoroev Street in Nazran, belonging to the Ingush oppositionist Magomed Khazbiev, was visited by Ibragim Aushev, an inspector of the GOVD (Chief Interior Department), with reinforcement of power agents. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent learnt about it from Mr Khazbiev himself.

Editors of mass media, ready to provide room to candidates for the Sochi City Assembly (SCA), and city dwellers gave their comments on the way the election campaign was covered. Both groups noted restriction of the freedom of speech and opinion in the course of campaigning.

In the city of Argun, Chechen Republic, Akhyad Musanigov, head of the territorial militia district, was wounded by an explosion. This was reported today by the Republic's Department of the ICPO.

The planned today's session on Fatima Margieva, a teacher of the South-Ossetian State University, accused of firearm and explosive illegal purchase and storage, has been postponed till March 18. The reason is in the problems with the stay in Tskhinvali of Margieva's lawyer, who is from Vladikavkaz (North Ossetia).

As stated at a press conference on March 11 by Grigol Tabatadze, ambassador of Georgia to Armenia, by having reopened the border check point "Verkhni Lars", Georgia sacrificed a lot and did it, first of all, to preserve good neighbourhood relations with Armenia.

Employees of the Tsentralny ROVD of Sochi returned the application lodged by the Sochi community of Jehovah's Witnesses on the fact of an attack on the hall for religious assemblies. They explained their refusal to open a case by the absence of data about material damage.