News

Owners of the wedding saloons in the capital of Chechnya were imperatively advised, at a meeting at the city Mayoralty, to stop selling wedding dresses, made not in the traditional Chechen style. The city authorities assure that this measure is of only "recommendatory character." However, the shop owners talk about "demand" and "prohibition" and are afraid of going bankrupt.

Rustam Dzortov, who was killed during a special operation conducted in the Ingush village of Barsuki, was in command of all the militants in Ingushetia and one of the organizers of the murder attempt on President of the republic Yunus-Bek Evkurov. This was reported by a representative of the press service of the Department of the Federal Security Bureau (DFSB) for Ingushetia.

The Supreme Court of Kabardino-Balkaria has announced a two-week break in litigation on the Nalchik attack. The last court session on September 3 listened to evidences of Alik Shorov, an employee of the local Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), who was, on October 13, 2005, the head of the service of district militiamen.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) welcomes the decision to return the case of three suspects of murdering Anna Politkovskaya, an observer of the "Novaya Gazeta", to additional investigation before its repeated delivery to the court. This is said in the statement of Nina Ognianova, coordinator of the programme for Europe and Middle Asia, which has arrived to the "Caucasian Knot".

The family of the Georgian journalist Levan Gudadze, who criticized the regime of President of Georgia Mikhail Saakashvili, applied for political asylum in South Ossetia. This was reported by Murat Dzhioev, head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of South Ossetia.

In northeast of Moscow, an unidentified gunman shot dead Rasul Khalilov, a native of Azerbaijan, a student of the Moscow Institute of Economy and Culture and a figurant in the case about an attack in spring last year of a group of nationalists from the organization named "Black Hawks" on two Moscow students. This was reported by Sergey Loginov, advocate of one of the defendants.

In Kazbegi, on Georgia's border with Russia, the renovated check point "Kazbegi-Verkhniy Lars" was opened. It was modernized with the financial help of the United States of America under the programme "Strengthening of Safety of Georgian Borders".

The actions of the Novorossisk Court in the case of appealing against the acts of the prosecutor's office, which had passed at the same time a presentation, a caution and a warning to the supporters of cancellation of the "children's law" in the Krasnodar Territory, were accompanied by rough violations; therefore, the human rights activists' complaint was denied. This was stated by Stanislav Gorlov, a lawyer of the Moscow ANO "YURIX", who defended the interests of the Novorossisk human rights activists.

Said Yashuev, an employee of the office of the Ombudsman in the Chechen Republic, is accused of an attempt to bribe an officer of the UFSIN (Federal Administration for Punishment Enforcement) for the Novosibirsk Region. Friends and colleagues of the detainee believe that his detention was a provocation.

Today, the Sabail District Court of Baku, under chairmanship of Judge Araz Guseinov, opened a preparatory session on the case of young bloggers Adnan Gadjizade and Emin Milli, accused of hooliganism and rendering of bodily injuries.

Terror acts are committed in Russia, because the state cannot prevent them. This is the opinion of Ella Kesaeva, head of the All-Russian Public Organization "Voice of Beslan".

In the evening on September 3, one of the republic's TV channels showed a report about the young men detained in the southeast of Chechnya, who planned to commit terror acts by self-explosion. The report caused contradictory reaction of the population and local observers.

Today, cities of Russia mark the Solidarity Day in the war on terror. Russian temples held requiems in memory of the victims of the acts of terror committed in Beslan and Moscow.

Mariam Mamedova, the widow of Novruzali Mamedov, head of the Talysh Cultural Centre and editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Tolyshi Sado" (Voice of Talysh), who dyed in Azerbaijan in imprisonment, believes that he was killed. The woman has filed a complaint to the General Public Prosecutor of Azerbaijan Zakir Garalov.

Elmira Suleimanova, Ombudsperson of Azerbaijan has addressed the Sabail District Court of Baku in the context of the end of investigation of the case of young bloggers Adnan Gadjizade and Emin Milli and arrival of the materials to the court.

The court of general jurisdiction of the Vaik and Ararat Regions of Armenia has satisfied the petition of the inspector of the Military Prosecutor's Office asking to arrest Captain Andok Galstyan, who beat to death private Aram Mkrtchyan.

The Court of the Alekseev District of the Volgograd Region has sentenced the obstetrician-gynaecologist of the central district hospital for using a technique at delivery, forbidden by the WHO (World Health Organization), which entailed death of the newborn to 18 months of conditional punishment.

Kidnapping and subsequent murder in July of the well-known Chechen human rights defender, employees of the HRC "Memorial" Natalia Estemirova and a similar later crime against the leader of the youth public organization "Let's Save the Generation" Zarema Sadulayeva and her husband Alik Dzhabrailov could be accomplished by one and the same group. This is the opinion of some Chechen NGOs, which are convinced that true organizers and customers of these murders will be never punished.

Murad Musaev, an advocate of one of the defendants, said that the Supreme Court of Russia has recognized lawful the cancellation of the "not guilty" verdict in the murder case of Anna Politkovskaya, observer of the "Novaya Gazeta".

The Moscow GUVD (Chief City Interior Department) has refused to open a criminal case against Oleg Orlov, head of the Society "Memorial", under the article of "Slander" in the context of his statements that connection with its{his} statement that President of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov is responsible for the murder of human rights defender Natalia Estemirova. This was reported by Andrei Krasnenkov, Kadyrov's advocate.