News

On March 3, President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan received Peter Semneby, Special Representative of the European Union for South Caucasus. During the meeting, they discussed the post-election processes in Armenia, in particular, the situation in Yerevan and possible ways out of it.

At night on February 26, in the village of Ignatovka, Mainovskiy District, Ulyanovsk Region, two villagers committed a murder of a Gipsy aged 24 and his daughter of 18 months. On February 26, the killers were detained, and they pled guilty. However, three days later one of them was released.

The Parliament of South Ossetia has addressed the UN Secretary General, the President, Council of the Federation and State Duma of Russia, as well as the heads of the CIS states and parliaments and EU countries with a request to recognize the independence of the Republic of South Ossetia.

Today, Nizam Radzhabov, senior assistant for public relations of the head of the Investigatory Department for Dagestan of the Investigatory Committee under the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation, has officially confirmed the fact of detention of the persons suspected of murdering Farid Babaev, leader of the Dagestan Branch of the "Yabloko" Party.

On March 12 in Ingushetia, leaders of the opposition plan to bring their supporters to a new rally in protest against corruption in power bodies and violations of human rights in the Republic.

Committee to Protect Journalists: Armenian authorities should immediately lift restrictions on independent news reporting and the censorship of independent news Web sites, steps imposed when President Robert Kocharian declared a state of emergency on Saturday, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

The voter turnout at presidential election in Ingushetia made 92.3%. This was reported by Mussa Evloev, head of the Central Electoral Commission of Ingushetia, during a videoconference with the information centre of CEC of Russia "Election-2008".

In Chechnya, Dmitri Medvedev, the official "successor" of Vladimir Putin, was a confident winner of the presidential election.

On March 2, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent visited three polling stations of Volgograd and talked to voters. Many respondents said that they had voted for Dmitri Medvedev, for having no other choice.

The General Prosecutor's Office of Armenia has identified the personalities of all the eight victims in the clashes between supporters of Levon Ter-Petrosyan and the police and OMON on March 1 in Yerevan.

The State Office of Public Prosecutor of Armenia has informed that Levon Ter-Petrosyan, ex-candidate for the president and leader of the opposition, is a figurant in the case about mass disorders in Yerevan on March 1.

Today in the morning, in front of the Galskiy UN Office, a protest rally was held by relatives of David Sigua, a citizen of Abkhazia and head of the local electoral commission who was kidnapped on February 3, 2007, by Georgian special agencies.

Today, a group of Abkhazian journalists have addressed the President of Abkhazia Sergey Bagapsh with a request to release the Georgian journalists detained in the Galskiy District.

Armenian police on March 1 used excessive force and violence to disperse demonstrators protesting peacefully against recent election results, Human Rights Watch said today.

The Armenian government should launch a prompt and independent investigation into the use of lethal force by security forces to quell demonstrations and rioting overnight on March 1, 2008, Human Rights Watch said today.

Today, Svetlin Sergeyenkov, an employee of the Sukhumi UN Office for Human Rights, has addressed the Service of the State Security of Abkhazia with a request to have a meeting with detained journalists from Georgia Malkhaz Basilaya and David Tsotsoriya.

On February 28, employees of the FSB could have shot dead two men and a woman who had been kidnapped earlier, having simulated a skirmish and planting the weapons.

As of 11:30 p.m. local time, the rally in the centre of Yerevan continues, despite the state of emergency introduced by President of Armenia, according to official information, because of disorders in the capital.

The Chairman-in-Office of the OSCE, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Finland Ilkka Kanerva has condemned the use of force against peaceful demonstrators in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia.

On February 29, in Makhachkala, well-known Dagestan journalist and publicist Zaur Gaziev was beaten by unknown persons.