News

The Azerbaijani Committee in Defence of Journalists named "Ruh" has held a poll aiming to reveal the attitude to responsibility for defamation among ministries, state bodies, establishments, enterprises and organizations.

All the chief physicians of medical establishments in the capital of Chechnya will have to pass re-attestation in the near future; and on the outcomes thereof decisions will be made on their service match. This decision was made by the authorities after on December 7 the city Mayor Muslim Khuchiev checked the first aid station.

Representatives of the public of Abkhazia express their concern of the recent situation in Kabardino-Balkaria and demand to stop attacks on the leaders of Adyg organizations.

The Karabulak Court of Ingushetia, which runs the process on the murder case of Magomed Evloev, an oppositionist and the owner of the site "Ingushetia.Ru", plans to announce the verdict on December 11.

Relatives of three residents of Ingushetia, supposedly kidnapped by power agents, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that they were still unaware of their fate.

The check conducted by the prosecutor's office of Karachai-Circassia jointly with the local department of the Federal Service for Supervising Public Health and Social Development revealed violations by chemist's entities of the Federal Law "On Pharmaceuticals".

The WiMax-operator named "Skartel", working under the brand of Yota, blocked for several days the access of its users to a number of Internet-based resources. Messages of indignant users started to appear in the Internet on December 2. Some subscribers from different Moscow districts failed to load several oppositional websites.

President of Ingushetia Yunus-Bek Evkurov has dismissed Vladimir Borschov, head of his administration. Under the official version, the bureaucrat had asked for resignation himself, having referred to poor health. By another version, Mr Borschov has retired because of his conflict with Alexei Vorobyov, head of the republic's government.

Tsotne Gamsakhurdia, the son of the first President of Georgia, arrested on the charge of a murder attempt, has decided to stop his protest hunger strike because of sharp deterioration of his health.

The Board of European Bars and legal societies, which unites over 0.7 million lawyers of the European Union, has posthumously awarded their 2009 prize to lawyer Stanislav Markelov, assassinated this January.

The residents of the Imereti Lowland (Sochi, Krasnodar Territory), whose houses are within the Olympic construction zone, have held a rally in protest against a significant decrease of the earlier declared prices on their bought-out real estate, and against the absence of reliable and timely information about their forthcoming resettlement.

According to Hasan Tsoroev, father of Beslan Tsoroev, a resident of Ordzhonikidzevskaya village, Sunzha District of Ingushetia, assassinated today, his son fell victim of extrajudicial execution.

Today, the Oktiabrskiy District Court of Novorossisk has held a preliminary session on the claim lodged by the bosses of the city UVD (Interior Department) against Major Alexei Dymovskiy, known for his video appeal with criticism of his bosses placed in the Internet.

In Volgograd, the FSB bodies investigate the criminal case initiated against the managers of the Open Joint-Stock Company (OJSC) "Plastcard". The factory was disposing its Hazard Class 1 wastes as Class 3 wastes, having caused harm estimated as 370 million roubles. Ecologists assert that the main harm was rendered to human health. Defenders of the factory, on the other hand, assert that all the factory operations were coordinated with the "Rostechnadzor" (Federal Agency for Technical Supervision).

On December 5 in the evening, a combat clash of militiamen with a group of militants burst out in a large forest in the territory of the Sergokalin District of Dagestan. A militiaman perished, and another one was wounded.

As stated by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Georgia, the deployment by the Russian Federation of frontier motor boats in Abkhazian waters is qualified as piracy and pursues the aim "of strengthening of the occupational military contingent."

In Armenia, on December 5, at the sitting of the Central Electoral Committee (CEC), a decision was made to register the inmate Nikol Pashinyan, an activist of the opposition and editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Armenian Time", accused of organizing mass disorders on March 1, 2008, as a candidate for deputy.

Now, in the Rostov Region, children in the age under 16 have no right to appear without adults at night in public places. The respective law was passed on December 3 by the regional parliament.

Sasun Mikaelyan, an activist of the opposition, who was deprived of his deputy's mandate after the charges moved against him of organizing mass disorders on March 1, 2008, was urgently transferred from prison "Yerevan-Centre" to the Republic's Hospital of Armenia because of sharp deterioration of his health condition.

Georgian journalists will now be able to receive theoretical and practical knowledge on how to properly cover conflicts and how to behave in extreme situations. These subjects will be taught at a special school.