News

In the Staropromyslovskiy District of the capital of Chechnya, members of unidentified power agencies have kidnapped Salambek Omarov, 20, a local citizen and a third-year student of the Law Department of the Gudermes Branch of the Makhachkala Institute.

In November, Russia deported more Georgian citizens that during three previous months altogether.

Today, the North-Caucasian Regional Military Court (Rostov-on-Don) has started a trial on Ulman's case.

Operation of the ANS TV and Radio Company will restart in Azerbaijan. The Company itself has informed the correspondent of the "Caucasian Knot" about the fact. In the words of Ms. Sevil Nurieva, one of the leading journalists of the Channel, the decision has been made today by the National Board for Television and Radio Broadcasting (NBTRB).

Teimuraz Chedzhemov, advocate for the victims of Beslan school seizure in September 2004, has stated that most of his clients find the sentence to Nurpashi Kulaev to be just and fair.

On December 10, Nagorny Karabakh held a referendum on its constitution, which was attended, as of the data on 7:30 p.m. of December 10, by 83.71 percent of those eligible for voting.

The relatives and friends of Alexander Litvinenko who live in Great Britain are ready to meet the investigators of the Russian Prosecutor-General's Office, but only provided their safety is guaranteed.

Russian human rights activists will strive for cancellation the Law on Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) as being non-constitutional. The decision was made on Sunday at the 2nd Congress of Human Rights Activists in Moscow.

The Russian Public Prosecutor's Office plans to send its investigators engaged in the case of the death of Alexander Litvinenko, ex-FSB employee, to Great Britain.

Early on Saturday, December 9, more than 70 Georgian citizens deported from Russia were brought by a special air flight of Georgian Airways to Tbilisi.

On December 8, the Internet Hall of the Central House of Journalists hosted a press conference of the Coalition of Russian Human Rights Organizations dedicated to publication of final recommendations adopted by the UN Committee Against Tortures.

Vladimir Lukin, human rights commissioner (ombudsman) in the Russian Federation, has held today, on the eve of the International Day for Human Rights Defence, a decoration ceremony with his medal "Hurry Up to Make Good."

The International Helsinki Federation (IHF) is concerned with illegal detainment and initiation of a criminal case against Mokhdan Elgakaev and Myukhdi Aslambekov, residents of Ingushetia who were acquitted from criminal responsibility.

The correspondent of the "Caucasian Knot" has learnt from unofficial sources that the prosecutor's office of Nalchik, capital of Kabardino-Balkaria, has initiated a criminal case against unidentified employees of the "T" Centre under Article "Excess of official powers with application of violence and special means."

Statement by Akhmed Zakaev, emissary of Chechen separatists in London, about use by Russian special agencies of radioactive materials in Chechnya is a parcel of rubbish, Nikolai Patrushev, FSB director, has declared.

The State Duma has made an amendment to the Code of Criminal Procedure in the third and final reading to postpone introduction of the court of jury in Chechnya till 2010.

The FSB (Federal Security Bureau) of Russia has decoded the archives of Jordanian mercenary Abu Havs, one of Chechen separatists' leaders. He was killed in Khasavyurt.

The Supreme Court has appointed to consider on December 26 possible cancellation of the verdict passed to Nurpashi Kulaev, the only survived participant of Beslan school seizure.

The Russian Prosecutor-General's Office has initiated a criminal case on the fact of assassination in London of Alexander Litvinenko, ex-FSB employee.

The International Press Institute (IRI) has awarded the title of the "World Free Press Hero" to Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya posthumously.