News

The authorities of the Polish city of Olsztyn have agreed to provide social habitation to the Dzhabrailov family from Chechnya, which has lost their three daughters in the mountains, when attempting to illegally cross the Ukrainian-Polish border.

In his final annual message to the Congress, US President George Bush has noted the success of the election in Georgia and treated it among "the tremendous events in the history of freedom."

The oppositional candidates for the President of Georgia, who have lost the election on January 5, have put forward their 17 claims to the authorities in the form of an ultimatum, and appointed the deadline on February 15, threatening with mass protest actions.

The authorities of Azerbaijan will have to release all political prisoners and journalists. Should the demand of the PACE be ignored, the Council of Europe will announce the name of a new Special Rapporteur on the problem of political prisoners in Azerbaijan.

On January 26, some 50 persons were brought to the city's OVD on suspicion of participation in the mass disorders, which burst out in the centre of Nazran; of them, 19 were brought to administrative responsibility in the form of fines.

On January 30, the French Court will start considering the case of Irakliy Okruashvili, former Minister of Defence of Georgia, who is kept in a Paris prison.

In Azerbaijan, Sakit Zakhidov, journalist-satirist of the "Azadlyg" newspaper, who was convicted and now in prison, continues his protest hunger strike started on January 26.

The Supreme Court of Dagestan has started a trial on the case about the murder of Dagir Kachaev, imam in one of Makhachkala mosques, who was shot dead on February 22, 2007.

Mikhail Tarantsov, Ombudsman for the Volgograd Region, has expressed, while assessing the operation of the Regional GUVD in 2007, his concern with the fact that the number of justified claims of Volgograd residents to the activities of law enforcement bodies does not go down.

The roundtable "Environmental Problems in Construction of Olympic Sites in Sochi - Ways of Settlement" held on January 23 in the most expensive Krasnaya Polyana (Red Glade) "Peak Hotel" had a number of acute issues.

The Board of Elders of the Balkar People has filed a cassation complaint to the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, which challenges the lawfulness of the decision to liquidate the BEBP passed by the Supreme Court of Kabardino-Balkaria on January 14.

The Human Rights Watch believes the detention of journalists and human rights activists during the rally in Nazran (Ingushetia) on January 26 to be an encroachment on independent coverage of events.

A decision was made in Nazran (Ingushetia) at an extraordinary sitting of the Organizing Committee of the nationwide rally, where Maksharip Aushev, Magomed Evloev and other opposition leaders were present, to hold another rally on February 23.

According to the Prosecutor's Office of the Republic Ingushetia, currently, the law enforcement bodies of the Republic keep detained over 20 persons suspected of involvement in mass disorders in Nazran.

According to Nikoloz Gvaramiya, former Deputy Public Prosecutor of Georgia, the broadcasting license of the "Imedi" TV Company will not be arrested; the arrest will be imposed only on the property of Badri Patarkatsishvili.

In the near future, the International Relations Committee of the House of Representatives of the US Congress will consider Resolution No. 102, which condemns the murder of Hrant Dink, evaluates his heritage and calls on Turkey to step towards defence of the freedom of speech by liquidating Article 301.

In 2007, 630 crimes of terrorist nature were committed in the South Federal District (SFD) - 83 percent of the total number committed all over Russia.

The participants of the rally have stopped their mass action in Nazran (Ingushetia) and now make their way to Magas, where Murat Zyazikov, President of Ingushetia, has his residence.

Today, in Nazran (Ingushetia), where a mass rally of oppositionists and their supporters was dispersed, two correspondents of "Echo Moskvy" Radio (Vladimir Varfolomeyev and Roman Plyusov), one of Radio Liberty (Danila Galperovich) and one of "Novaya Gazeta" (Olga Bobrova) were detained.

Residents of 12 subjects of the Russian Federation have addressed the International Olympic Committee with a request not to allow erection of Olympic objects in the Grushevy Ridge and within buffer zone of the Caucasian Reserve. The appeal was signed by 6,074 persons.