News

Human rights activists accuse the military prosecutor's office of insufficient attention paid to non-statutory relationships in the Russian army. Representatives of the Russian national movement "For Human Rights" have addressed a letter to the Main Military Prosecutor's Office in which they request investigation of two cases of "dedovschina" in the relationships of conscripts. Lev Ponomaryov, chair of the Russian national movement "For Human Rights," reported to the "Novy Region", that human rights activists request initiation of criminal proceedings.

The appeal of the Russian office of the international organization of writers and poets PEN-club (Russian PEN-centre) against the decision of Moscow court of arbitrage to the effect that the PEN-centre must pay to the Tax Inspectorate about 2,000,000 roubles as a tax for the land occupied by the building of the centre, is appointed to be considered on March 27 in Moscow's 9th appellate court of arbitrage. This has been reported to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by deputy general director of the Russian PEN-centre today.

Khanifa Battayeva, resident of the town of Cheghem in Kabardino-Balkaria, addressed the "Caucasian Knot" to relate that her son Yusuf Battayev, born in 1972, was kidnapped on July 14, 2004 and nothing has been heard of him ever since. "We appealed to the public in the hope that the law enforcement agencies may find him, but the hope diminishes with every passing day," says the victim's mother.

Militia has managed to find an eye-witness of an attack on Marina Litvinovich, member of the UCF Federal Council, on the night of March 20. This is a resident of the house in Makarenko Street. The witness has not been interrogated by the investigating officers of Basman militia unit No 46 yet. The fact has been reported to the Kasparov.Ru correspondent by Litvinovich herself.

N. A. Mukhotorov, investigating officer of Crimea inter-district prosecutor's office, promises to bring to disciplinary punishment Vladimir Butenko, district militia officer, for persecuting human rights activist and leaders of ethnic minorities subjected to ethnic discrimination in Krasnodar Territory. This has been reported to the "Caucasian Knot" by the ANO "Novorossiysk Committee for Human Rights."

Natalia Sivyakova, mother of junior sergeant Alexander Sivyakov, one of the main persons accused of harassment of Andrei Sychov, soldier of Cheliabinsk tank school, intends to file a complaint to the Commission on the Rights of Accused and Convicted Persons under the State Duma and to the Commission on Human Rights. Natalia Sivyakova stated to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, "even before the trial, everywhere in the country my son has been declared criminal who harassed Andrei Sychov and made Sychov an invalid. My son was forced to sign evidence incriminating him although he never beat Sychov. Officers of the Prosecutor's Office have committed violations, now they are openly trying to get a confession from my son that he beat other soldiers, in order to save this notorious criminal case. But he never beat anyone and is not going to incriminate himself. The investigation of the case will be extended till June 8, but I will not be surprised if the prosecutor's office extends the investigation further in the hope to "dig up" something against my son. If the case goes to court, the prosecutor's office will be interested in a smooth trial without much publicity. But I am not going to keep silence and intend to do everything in order to save my son from undeserved accusations."

Today, Madina Ezhieva, the wife of Arthur Ezhiev held on the territory of the Argun town military commandant's office, has filed a complaint to the Chechen Prosecutor's Office in which she detailed the circumstances of kidnapping of her husband.

Arthur (Yakub) Ezhiev, activist of the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society, kidnapped on March 15 from his house in the village of Serzhen-Yurt, Shali District of Chechnya by officers of Chechen power authorities, has been released today, reports Zharada Kharipova, the wife of Arthur's uncle Imran Ezhiev, citing their relatives in Chechnya, to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by telephone from Germany. According to her, no circumstances of his release are known, so far.

Marina Litvinovich is inclined to connect the attack on her with her activity in the investigation of the terrorist acts in Moscow and Beslan.

Marina Litvinovich, assistant of Garry Kasparov, leader of the United Civil Front, and chief editor of the "Beslan's Truth" site, beaten the day before, on March 20 in Moscow, related the details of the attack on her earlier.

Georgian ombudsman Sozar Subari requests the release of Georgian TV journalists detained by Abkhazia militia in Ochamchir District early in March. On March 17, Subari, along with a number of Georgian human rights organizations, addressed a letter to the Georgian government and international organizations with a request to interfere and take measures. The ombudsman's staff has informed journalists that the authors of the address ask the government and the international organizations to facilitate the release of the detained persons as soon as possible.

Arthur (Yakub) Ezhiev kidnapped on March 15 from his house in the village of Serzhen-Yurt, Shali District of Chechnya is being held on the territory of the military commandant's office (the so-called commandant's office No 8) in the town of Argun. He is held by Magomed Israpilov, commander of commandant's office company. He relayed a request to the relatives, through an intermediary, to hand him over a Stechkin pistol in return to the release of Arthur. The commandant's office is located in the same yard with the town prosecutor's office and the town department of internal affairs. The information is contained in the press-release of the Russian-Chechen information agency handed over to the "Caucasian Knot."

The Moslem community of Piatigorsk (Stavropol Territory) has formed a Committee to Protect Imam Anton (Abdullah) Stepanenko arrested on January 25 in the building of the town mosque, reports IA "Islam-Info" correspondent.

Georgian President Saakashvili is proud with the Georgian deputies deported from Belarus, who, as part of the international OSCE mission, were to monitor presidential elections in Belarus.

The law enforcement agencies of Kabardino-Balkaria expand their fight with religious extremism. Now the power authorities have decided to switch over their attention to junior schoolchildren who are ostensibly permeated with ideas of Wahhabism from their senior colleagues. Additionally, the teachers of Nalchik schools are obliged to conduct talks with their pupils about attitude towards religion and observance of religious norms, as well as "to reveal and signal" cases of religious extremism among schoolchildren.

A group of Georgian MPs who flew to Minsk on March 16 for taking part in monitoring presidential elections in Belarus within the OSCE mission has been detained by the law enforcement agencies in Minsk airport. Zurab Kvachadze, consul of the Georgian embassy in Ukraine, has told journalists that the Georgian diplomats are not granted the right to meet with the detained MPs for almost a day. "According to the recent information, the deputies will be able to fly to Tbilisi on Saturday. They can not do it earlier because they have no visas of other states and the flight to Tbilisi is only scheduled for tomorrow," said Kvachadze, reports "Interfax."

Russian servicemen in North Caucasus are accused of desecrating Koran, the holy book for Moslems. One such incident in Dagestan has been reported by local journalists. Moscow's servicemen unofficially say that the case is serious.

In the course of the court trial on the case of Boliev which is under way now in Khasavyurt (Dagestan) the court declined the lawyers' petition to recognize the evidence of the prosecution illegitimate.

Today, the court hearing in the Khasavyurt town court of Dagestan has been resumed on the case of the human rights activist Osman Boliev accused of storage, acquisition and wearing of arms took place in Dagestan. The defence represented by lawyers Ahmed Umaev and Salimat Kadyrova filed an application to exclude from the list of evidences the report on Boliev's search because it had not been signed either by the persons conducting the search or by Boliev. Salimat Kadyrova stated that "it is obvious that the evidence was obtained with violations of legislative requirements and have no legal force. If the report is not signed it is not valid."

Today, the court hearing in the Khasavyurt town court of Dagestan has been resumed on the case of the human rights activist Osman Boliev accused of storage, acquisition and wearing of arms. Salimat Kadyrova, Sergey Brovchenko and Ahmed Umaev, the defendant's defence lawyers, report this to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. As lawyer Umaev has just related from the court room by telephone, the judge has declined the defence application to exclude from the case the evidence obtained with violations of the law. At the moment, arrival to court of witnesses for the prosecution is expected. Their interrogation will start the consideration of the case on its merits.