News

Yakub Kartakaev, born in Dagestan, accused of murdering a militiaman in the Moscow's district of Kuntsevo, has stated today in the Zamoskvoretsk district court of Moscow that he shot in self-defence in response to the abuse of power by MIA officers.

Nikolai Volkov, ex-deputy of Volgograd regional Duma, is suspected of raping under-aged children. The militia arrested the influential businessman but he managed to escape. A criminal case has been initiated on the fact of the Volkov's flee.

In Astrakhan, a number of local deputies and journalists have gone on a hunger strike. In this way they protest against "political repressions and framed criminal cases against opposition activists."

Opposition plans to hold meetings on March 20 and 21 in the South Ossetia capital.

The prosecutor's office of Krasnodar Territory has enforced payment of outstanding wages to the builders of Olympic facilities in Sochi, reports Marina Gridneva, official representative of RF General Prosecutor's Office.

On March 16, on the eve of the sitting of the Committee on Monitoring of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, an action of protest was held in the capital of Armenia attended by more than ten thousand people.

The opposition Social-Democratic Party of Sweden has filed a lawsuit against Prime-Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, who has assured his Turkish counterpart that the resolution on genocide of Armenians adopted by the Swedish parliament is not going to be effective as law.

Today, Jose Manuel Barroso, chairman of the European Commission, has expressed his concern to the Georgian Prime-Minister Nike Ghilauri in connection with the report of the "Imedi" TV channel broadcast on March 13 about the alleged invasion of Russian troops.

On March 12, Nikolai Trotiuk, the former chair of the "Taganrog" local religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses (Rostov region), was summoned to the deputy prosecutor of the city. The believers fear that this fact may be the start of criminal prosecution of the organization followers. This has been reported to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by Grigory Martynov from the press service of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia.

The Pervomaiski district court of Krasnodar has denied Alexei Dymovskiy, the former militia major, to consider the lawsuit filed with the region internal affairs department to invalidate the order on his dismissal and reinstatement at work. This has been reported by Valeri Melnikov, representative of the plaintiff.

Today, Ilham Aliev, president of Azerbaijan, has signed a decree on granting pardon to 72 convicts, including Ganimat Zakhidov, editor of an opposition newspaper. The pardon is linked with the Novruz holiday marked on the day of the vernal equinox.

Chechnya law enforcement agencies investigate the murder of a 49-year-old resident of the Martan-Chu village, Achkhoi-Martan district, who was captured by armed persons while picking up wild leek in the forest and later found killed in the mountain forest area several kilometres from the village.

Five years after death of Ichkeria President Maskhadov; Dagestan records for Guinness Book; detentions of journalists and rallies against kidnappings in Ingushetia; oil projects in Azerbaijan; religion-motivated persecutions in the south of Russia; visit of Georgian oppositionists to Moscow and scandal with report on Russia's attack on Georgia, - look up these and other events in the review of the week of March 8-14, 2010, in Caucasian regions prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

In Dagestan, Criminal Case No. 96892 dealing with appeals to murders and grave crimes (the so-called "execution list") was transferred to Basyr Magomedov, an inspector on especially important cases of the investigatory committee at the prosecutor's office of Dagestan. This was reported by Isalmagomed Nabiev, chairman of independent trade union of drivers and entrepreneurs of Dagestan.

In Sochi, the builders of the dwelling complex for resettlers from the Imereti Lowland went on strike and addressed their complaint to President Dmitri Medvedev against many-month delays of wages by the General Contractor - the Open Joint-Stock Company (OJSC) "Moskonversprom".

On March 15, in the foothill Achkhoy-Martan District of Chechnya, an explosion of a land mine and shelling wounded a Russian military man and a Chechen militiaman. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent learnt about it in law enforcement bodies of Chechnya.

From March 14 on, employees of law enforcement bodies of Chechnya and the local Department of the Federal Migration Service (DFMS) are running broad-scale actions aimed at revealing illegal migrants. A respective order was given by President of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov.

In South Ossetia, on March 15, the premises of the Tskhinvali City Court hosted a judicial session on the case of Alla Dzhioeva, ex-minister of education, accused of abuse of office, bribery and forgery of documents of the Ministry of Education of the Republic of South Ossetia (RSO). Under request of the public prosecutor, the process was reappointed on March 19.

Aslan Zhukov, one of the leaders of Circassian youth, killed on March 14, was buried on the following day - on March 15 in Karachai-Circassia. Having returned from the cemetery, his friends and supporters immediately organized a protest action. They demanded from law enforcers to find and punish Zhukov's killers.

In Georgia, Giorgiy Arveladze, Director General of the "Imedi" TV Company, treated the record of his alleged telephone conversation with his assistant on the eve of the scandalous programme put on air on March 13 as a "forgery" prepared by Russian special services. The record appeared in the Internet and was promulgated by many mass media.