News

Today, Goneri Badzagua, 70, a resident of the village of Nabakevi, Gali District of Abkhazia, who was kidnapped on November 22, was set free. Under preliminary information, the kidnappers extorted money from Mr Badzagua.

An organization named "Ossetian Jama'at Kataib al Khoul" has proclaimed itself to execute the murder of Vitaly Karaev, Mayor of the city of Vladikavkaz. A respective statement appeared in one of Chechen separatists' websites.

About 60 residents of Beslan refuse to leave the building of the Leninskiy District Court of Vladikavkaz until the chair at the trial meets them. The reason is in the permanent postponement of the court sessions. Today's one has also failed.

Yesterday, on November 26, ahead of the sitting of the Moscow Regional Military Court, where the murder of the observer of the "Novaya Gazeta" newspaper Anna Politkovskaya is now considered, Murad Musaev, advocate of one of the defendants, had stated that some big Russian politician is a figurant in the case.

The Armenian National Congress (ANC) possesses an audio record from the place of tragic events on March 1 in Yerevan. According to some evidences, one can hear in the record not only machine-gun shots, but also fire from other weapons. In the opinion of the opposition of Armenia, the record should be sent to audio examination.

Russian soldiers, whom human rights activists met in their visit to the Leningor District of South Ossetia, complained of heavy conditions of their service. For a long time they had to sleep in entrenchments under clear sky and sometimes even to starve. This was told to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by Ekaterina Sokiryanskaya, employee of the Human Rights Centre "Memorial".

Today, ex-ambassador of Georgia Erosi Kitsmarishvili has re-confirmed his assertions made earlier. As he said, President of Georgia Mikhail Saakashvili had long lusted and strived for war.

Not only ecologists, but also law enforcement bodies have registered the facts of forest felling in the territory of the object of the World Natural Heritage (WNH) "Western Caucasus" in Adygea. In the next few days, criminal cases will be initiated on these facts.

Today Evgeniy Zubov, Judge of the Moscow Regional Military Court, has refused to self-disqualify from the process on the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, journalist of the "Novaya Gazeta" newspaper.

Boris Kuznetsov, former advocate of Levon Chakhmakhchyan, ex-senator from Kalmykia, who was convicted to nine years of deprivation of freedom, has filed a claim against Russia to Strasbourg to the European Court for Human Rights.

On November 21, 2008, Russian human rights activists made a visit to the Leningor District of South Ossetia bordering on Georgia. Ekaterina Sokiryanskaya, a representative of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", who took part in the visit, told the "Caucasian Knot" in her interview about the distress of the villagers in the District.

The topic of Holodomor (also known as Famine-1933) in Ukraine is being excessively politicized, however, the position of Ukrainian President on the issue deserves understanding, Azerbaijani politicians and political scientists believe.

On November 24, Elsie Hastings and Benjamin Cardin, co-chairs of the US Congress Commission for Security and Cooperation in Europe, sent a letter to President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliev with expression of their concern with the plans to stop in 2009 access of foreign radio companies, in particular Voice of America and Radio Liberty, to the frequencies controlled by the country's government.

Back in April 2008 the Georgian leadership was preparing the warfare in Abkhazia, having invited trainers from Israel; this was announced today by Erosi Kitsmarishvili, former ambassador of Georgia to Russia, at a sitting of the ad hoc parliamentary commission, which was set up for studying the August crisis in the Caucasus.

Today, President of Ingushetia Yunus-Bek Evkurov has signed appointment decrees to various top positions in the Republic. Thus, Magomed-Sali Aushev, a well-known oppositional politician of Ingushetia, has been approved as the Deputy Chairman of the Government (Vice-Premier).

The litigation on the case on the murder of the "Novaya Gazeta" correspondent Anna Politkovskaya will be held in the open regime. The board of jurymen has reiterated their statement that they do not object to run the trial in the open regime. The state prosecution has supported the jurymen's statement. As a result, Judge Zubov made a respective decision, the "New Gazeta" reports.

In Moscow, at about midnight, a fight burst out between the natives from the Caucasus and those from Central Asia, in which some 15 persons took part. About ten persons suffered, and four were knifed.

Ekaterina Sokiryanskaya, employee of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", has stated in the press conference in Moscow on November 24, dated to one year anniversary of the murder of Dagestan human rights activist and oppositional politician Farid Babaev, that armed conflicts in Dagestan have religious character.

After the "Caucasian Knot" published a news item about the protest action of municipal workers in the Iki-Burul District of Kalmykia, they were visited by representatives of various media and power bodies. The hunger-strikers told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent about it.

President of Poland Lech Kaczynski asks not to blame anybody for the incident in Georgia when unknown persons opened fire near the cars, which carried himself and President of Georgia Mikhail Saakashvili. According to Mr Kaczynski, it was he who asked to change the route of the presidential cortege.