News

Ruslan Khalidov has come back from Norway to Chechnya; earlier he accused President of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov of organizing murders of his political opponents. In particular, Khalidov asserted that Kadyrov had personally instructed him to liquidate Magomed Ocherkhadzhi, leader of the Chechen Diaspora in Norway. Now Khalidov has returned to Chechnya and publicly refuted all his former statements.

The mass fight that burst out in Lenin Square of Maikop, the capital of Adygea, at night of June 10, was initiated by a well-known sportsman, champion of Russia in hand-to-hand fighting. Later, among instigators was an international master of sports in boxing. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed about it by one of the victims, who preferred to name him for safety reasons. According to his story, there was no direct reason for the fight. The attackers did not like the nationality of someone from his group.

The court of Novorossisk (Krasnodar Territory) is considering the claim lodged by the Independent Non-Commercial Organization "Novorossisk Committee on Human Rights", which challenges the decisions of the prosecutor's office, which had accused the NCO of extremism. Vadim Karastelyov, an expert of this organization, complains of pressure, exerted by the prosecutor's office on him and his wife Tamara Karastelyova with the aim to force them to stop their actions demanding cancellation of the "curfew" for children.

On Tuesday, June 16, the Promyshlenny District Court of the city of Stavropol sentenced a local resident named Tamara Konova, a local resident, who tried to sell a newborn child for 100,000 roubles.

The International Human Rights Organization named "Freedom House" has called the parliament of Azerbaijan to reject the draft of amendments to the legislation of the country, which, in the opinion of human rights activists, will restrict the opportunities of national and foreign nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).

According to the Investigatory Department (ID) for Ingushetia of the Investigatory Committee at the Prosecutor's Office (ICPO) of the Russian Federation, in the first half-year of 2009, three facts of kidnapping were registered in the territory of the republic. Investigation of them continues.

On June 16, in Makhachkala, a rally was held of resettlers from Georgia who had earlier lived in Tivi village of the Kvarel District of the republic. Participants of the rally prepared an appeal to President of Russia Dmitri Medvedev, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President of Dagestan Mukhu Aliev with a request for help; otherwise the migrants want to raise the issue of their return to Georgia.

Dozens of persons were eyewitnesses of the kidnapping of a young woman committed on June 8 by workers of unidentified power agencies near the bus station of the "Berkat" shopping in Grozny. They were shocked by the manner the "special operation" was conducted. They treat the actions of power agents as inadequate.

The amnesty will cover 90 percent of figurants in the case about events on March 1, 2008. Some of them will get at large; the prison terms for the rest of them will be reduced. Victor Dallakyan, Deputy of the National Assembly, told journalists about it today after the closed sitting of the parliamentary commission on state and legal matters.

Today, a group of independent youth organizations of Azerbaijan have adopted an appeal to the country's president, parliament and broad public, and to international organizations, calling them to prevent the changes in the legislation, aimed to restrict the activities of NGOs.

Activists of public organizations and human rights activists, who work in Northern Caucasus, are exposed to serious risk. This is the opinion of Aslambek Apaev, a Chechen human rights activist, expert of the Moscow Helsinki Group for Northern Caucasus and chairman of the Committee in Defence of Rights of Forced Migrants.

On June 15, in the presence of journalists, Ramaz Aroniya, a native of the Gali District of Abkhazia, sewed up his mouth and eyes.

On June 15, the Oktiabrskiy District Court of Novorossisk held a session on the case related to planned introduction of "curfew" for children and teenagers. Representatives of broad public were not admitted. Under petition of the prosecution, the session was postponed till June 18.

The Organization in Defence of Rights of Human Rights Activists, International Organization against Torture and Norwegian Union for Human Rights have addressed the General Public Prosecutor of Armenia with a demand of immediate release of Arshaluis Akopyan, representative of the human rights organization named "Helsinki Association".

The founder and the editorial board the newspaper named "Chernovik" (Blueprint) plan to submit to the Supreme Court (SC) of Dagestan their arguments on illegitimacy of the claim filed by "Rossvyazkomnadzor" (Russian Federal Agency on Supervising Communications) and asking to close the edition; they also want to demand dismissal of Shamil Magomedov, acting head of the Republic's branch of "Rossvyazkomnadzor".

On June 19, the National Assembly (NA) of Armenia will hold its extraordinary session to discuss the proposal of President Serzh Sargsyan to announce amnesty. The corresponding decision was signed by Ovik Abramyan, chairman of the NA.

Miasnik Malkhasyan, one of the defendants in the former "Case of Seven" and a Deputy of the National Assembly of Armenia, has stated in his last plea at the trial that would not ask for a pardon, and his only demand is acquittal as an innocently condemned victim.

Today in the afternoon, the Tbilisi-based oppositional TV channels "Maestro" and "Kavkasia" resumed their broadcasting interrupted yesterday in protest against actions of the police. This was reported by Mamuka Glonti, Director General of "Maestro".

Irakliy Kordzai, leader of the movement named "Why?", reports that in Tbilisi unidentified persons kidnapped one of the activists of the opposition - Shalva Goginashvili, 21, a member of the organization "April 9".

The Chechen Republic is one of three places in Russia, where in 1993-2007 none of the killers of journalists was ever made answerable. This was stated at presentation of the report "Selective justice. Investigation into journalists' deaths in Russia, 1993-2009", prepared by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ).