News

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.

The Orthodox worship cross installed in the memorial to the Cossacks who perished in the Civil War near Dakhovskaya village in Adygea, which was desecrated on March 5, will be restored. This was stated by the Maikop and Adygea Eparchies of the Russian Orthodox Church. So far, law enforcement bodies try to find out the circumstances of the crime.

On March 10, two residents of the Chechen Republic, earlier members of armed separatists' groupings, were convicted to long imprisonment terms for murdering three federal soldiers in 2002.

Khaibula Khaibulaev, a resident of Karat village, Akhvakh District of Dagestan, has received a letter from the department of own safety of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Russia saying that the fact of his beating on August 16, 2009, was not properly investigated by Labazan Derbishev, head of the investigation search of the Botlikh District; therefore, "an additional check was entrusted to the department of own safety of the MIA of Dagestan.

President of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov held a meeting in Grozny with Sultan Mirzaev, Chairman of the local Spiritual Department of Moslems, and Adam Shakhidov, Director of the Information-Publishing Centre "Puts" (Way) named after Ahmat Kadyrov. In the course of the meeting, Mr Kadyrov expressed his serious discontent that the call to pray (azan) is made in the mosques of the republic not at the same time, but with essential time gaps.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Georgia is actively negotiating with respective bodies in Germany aiming to take home the body of citizen of Georgia David Mardiani, 17, who committed suicide on March 7 in a prison hospital in Germany.

Today, President of Ingushetia Yunus-Bek Evkurov forbade the relatives of Mikail Pliev, 32, a resident of Plievo village, who was kidnapped on March 4 in Pyatigorsk, to continue their marathon rally with a demand to find Mikail's whereabouts. The relatives had been earlier invited to the President.

Magomed Mutsolgov, an Ingush human rights activist, a member of the Expert's Board at the Office of Russian Ombudsman, has stated that the cases of prejudiced attitude to natives from Northern Caucasus in army units have become more frequent recently. He told about two complaints lodged by residents of Ingushetia, who are concerned of the fates of their relatives.

The detainee, suspected of attacking Vadim Karastelyov, an expert of the Novorossisk Committee on Human Rights and representative of Alexei Dymovskiy, former Major of Novorossisk militia, asserts that he just tried to help, while the human rights activist beat him with a wooden block. According to Karastelyov, the suspect gave this evidence in the course of confrontation.

Liquidation of Said Buryatskiy, militants' ideologist in Northern Caucasus; trial of Fatima Margieva, an activist of the People's Party of South Ossetia; protests of residents of Ingushetia and Dagestan against continued kidnappings and torture, - look up these and other events in the review of the week of March 1-7, 2010, in Caucasian regions prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

On March 9-10, the trial continued in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, on the criminal case initiated against journalists of the local weekly named "Chernovik" (Blueprint), accused of kindling national, racial and religious enmity.

Today, Adilgerei Omarov, advocate of Shamsullah Borziev, a resident of Rakhat village, Botlikh District, and a detainee as suspect of the murder attempt on Adilgerei Magomedtagirov, Interior Minister of Dagestan, said that he had visited his client at the temporary isolation facility (known as "IVS") of the MIA of North Ossetia.

The body of the teacher of the local Medrese with two gunshot wounds in his head was found in his own house in Yasnaya Polyana village in Dagestan.

None of the detainees in the course of special operation conducted in Ekazhevo village in Ingushetia, suspected of taking part in blowing up the "Neva-Express" train, has pled guilty. All of them are arrested. According to the legislation, a charge of terrorism should be presented to them within 30 day after arrest.

Ombudsman in Chechnya Nurdi Nukhazhiev demands to bring the editor-in-chief of the Big Encyclopaedia to responsibility for the "anti-Chechen article" placed in the 58th volume of the edition.

As reported by the press service of the Moscow City Court, the leaders of a grouping of skinheads Arthur Ryno and Pavel Skachevskiy, earlier already sentenced to imprisonment for murders, have pled guilty of other nationalistic attacks.

Under inspector's statement, Murat Kardanov, a defendant in the case dealing with the events on October 13, 2005, in Nalchik, a resident of Zolukokoazhe village, was released to home arrest. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent has learnt about it from duly informed circles. Now, Murat Kardanov is taking his treatment at the Republic's Anti-Tubercular Clinic.

In the course of the space bridge held on March 9 by the RIA "Novosti" between Armenian, Georgian and Russian experts, who discussed the opening of the surface border between Russia and Georgia at the check points "Darial" and "Verkhni Lars", it became clear that the experts viewed the event differently. Alexei Malashenko from the Carnegie Institute treated the fact positively, while Georgiy Khaindrava, one of the leaders of the non-parliamentary opposition, found incompatible such factors like "occupation of Georgian regions" and simultaneous restoration of communication between the two countries.