News

Today, the Ministry for Matters of Youth, Physical Culture and Sports of North Ossetia has opened an office with the aim to render assistance to the victims of the earthquake in China.

Agvan Ovsepyan, General Public Prosecutor of Armenia, has ruled to change former vice-speaker of the National Assembly Karapet Rubinyan's freedom restriction measure. He was released under recognizance not to leave.

Today, the Baku Appeal Court has upheld the verdict of the first instance court - 4 years of imprisonment - to Ganimat Zakhidov, editor-in-chief of the "Azadlyg" newspaper.

A native of Chechnya who is now living in Moscow accuses Badrudi Yamadaev - brother of the commander of the "Vostok" battalion - of kidnapping and extortion.

Should till June 20 the authorities go on denying the opposition's right to hold rallies, people will rally, in response to appeal of the Centre of All-National Movement, in the Freedom Square of Yerevan. This was stated by Levon Zurabyan late on May 12 in the "Europolice" programme at the Public TV of Armenia.

Today, the Azerbaijani General Prosecutor's Office has made a statement asserting an attempt of journalist Agyl Khalil to go out of the country as evasion from investigation. The information that he was twice attacked in recent weeks was treated by prosecutors as ungrounded.

Today, following their statement made earlier, 15 participants of the war in Nagorno-Karabakh have launched a termless hunger strike in the city of Gyumri with a demand of immediate release from custody of Ashot Zakaryan, head of the Gyumri branch of the combatants' public organization "Union of Erkrap Volunteers", and other political prisoners.

The state prosecution demands from two years to life imprisonment for the defendants in the case on the explosion committed in the Cherkizovo marketplace in Moscow, where 14 persons, including two children, were killed.

International organizations have resolutely criticized another attack on the reporter of the "Azadlyg" newspaper Agyl Khalil in Azerbaijan, accomplished on May 7.

The Vanadzor Branch of the Helsinki Civil Assembly has sent a letter to Lluis Maria de Puig, President of the PACE, stating that from the moment of passing PACE Resolution No. 1609 "Operation of Democratic Institutes in Armenia", almost a month has expired, however, the citizens arrested for their political views, are still in custody.

Sulim Yamadaev was dropped from command of the "Vostok" (East) battalion of the 42nd Motorized Rifle Division of the Ministry of Defence of Russia. This was stated today by President of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov at the meeting with representatives of law enforcement bodies in Grozny.

The General Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation is going to check up the legality of releasing from custody of two defendants in the criminal case on the murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya.

Villagers in Balakhani, Untsukul District of Dagestan, express their discontent with actions of employees of power agencies who are conducting a special operation in the vicinity. People say that uncontrolled fire is killing cattle and provoked a fire in the adjacent forest.

Today, a little more that five months prior to the regular presidential election in Azerbaijan, the social and political situation in the country remains depressively stable. There are all the attributes of unconditional domination of the existing power and absence in the society of any worthy opposition, Azerbaijani political scientist Rasim Agaev asserts.

According to Matthew Bryza, assistant of the US undersecretary of state, who is now in Tbilisi, "a certain progress can be noticed in Georgia towards free and fair elections."

This night, an attack was accomplished on the pre-election office of the Georgian ruling party "United National Movement", located in Varketili district of Tbilisi.

In the opinion of Matthew Bryza, assistant of the US undersecretary of state, no military alternative of settling the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict can ever exist, since it will only aggravate the fundamental disagreements that make the core of the conflict.

In St-Petersburg, a man who committed a crime on the motive of national hatred against natives of Azerbaijan is sentenced to five years of prison. The verdict was passed by the Kalinin District Court of the city.

In Georgia, the pressure on oppositionists is still exerted. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed about it by Kakhaber Dzaganiya, ideological secretary of the Labour Party of Georgia.

David Petrosyan, a political analyst of the News Agency "Noyan Tapan", told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that Armenia de facto fails to follow the requirements of the recent PACE session as presented in Resolutions No. 1609.