News

"Yes, the ruling to refuse the grant of parole has been passed by the court. But the trouble is that neither me nor Sergey Brovchenko, the other lawyer of Trepashkin, could attend the hearing, and we sent a telegram to Sverdlovsk court to this effect in advance," stated Elena Liptser to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. "I have just talked with the Trepashkin's local lawyer and she has told me that the court had an intention to consider the case today."

In the evening of March 7, 2006, officers of the local power authorities captured and took to an undisclosed location Islam Esinbayev, born in 1979, resident of the village of Prigorodnoye, Grozny District, Chechnya.

Mikhail Trepashkin, former FSB officer, serving his term at Nizhni Tagil colony for disclosing a state secret, has gone on a hunger strike. "In protest against what is being done with regard to Trepashkin, he has resorted to extreme measures and gone on hunger strike," states Elena Liptser, the convict's lawyer. According to her, Trepashkin's health is not good and the hunger strike may only deteriorate his condition, "there is even a threat to his life."

As has been found out by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, the parents of the deceased Rasul Tsakoev have addressed a complaint to Vladimir Lukin, RF Ombudsman, in which they report about the death of their son and the fact that the Prosecutor's Office in Kabardino-Balkaria is unwilling to investigate the circumstances of the crime and hold the guilty persons responsible.

A roundtable discussion "Combating terrorism. Power and people" has been held in North Ossetia. The roundtable has been initiated by the "Beslan Mothers." The event has been attended by victims of the terrorist act in Beslan, leaders of the Republic's parliament and government, representatives of political parties and public organizations, and also by employees of the FSB, MIA, Ministry of Emergencies, and the prosecutor's office, who directly deal with combating terrorism.

On March 9, ten unknown persons wearing camouflage and armed with automatic guns entered flat No 76 at Khmelnitski Street, 43 in Lenin District of the Chechen capital and took to an undisclosed location Borchashvili Mikhail Dzhaparovich, born in 1957. Nothing is known about his location now.

As the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent has been informed, the widow of Rustam Nafedzev, participant in the attack on the Nalchik power authorities on October 13 who had three children of pre-school age, filed a law suit in the Nalchik town court against the refusal by the Pension Fund to allocate a social pension to the children. Some other widows are also preparing similar suits.

"What they have been fighting against in Chechnya - Shariat, drop out from the unified legal space, neglect of the Russian laws on the Republic's territory – everything which Dudaev was accused of, and also Maskhadov after the Khasavyurt agreement, now reigns in the republic under the patronage of Moscow," stated Lev Levinson, expert of the Institute of Human Rights, to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent while commenting on the recent Ramzan Kadyrov's orders with regard to mandatory wearing of kerchiefs by women. "Even a child can understand that it runs counter to the Constitution or the Russian laws. He has no authority to issue this kind of instructions, orders, directions, etc. "

On March 14, 2006, the representative office of the Chechen Republic in the Republic of Ingushetia (RI) sent an address to the RI President M. Zyazikov, RI parliament speaker M. Sakalov and minister of internal affairs B. Khamkhoev, containing a request to take appropriate measures against illegal actions by law enforcement officers of the Republic of Ingushetia. This has been reported to the "Caucasian Knot" by the "Chechen Committee for National Salvation."

The "Caucasian Knot" has been handed over an open address to the ambassadors of G7 in the Russian federation about the situation threatening the life of political prisoner Mikhail Trepashkin. The document is signed by Liudmila Alekseeva, Chair of the Moscow Helsinki Group; Elena Bonner, human rights activist; Svetlana Gannushkina, "Civil Assistance" Committee; Lev Ponomaryov, movement "For Human Rights"; Yuri Samodurov, director of the Andrei Sakharov museum and public centre; Ernst Cherniy, secretary of the Public Committee to Protect Scholars; clergyman Gleb Yakunin, Committee for the Protection of Freedom of Conscience.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports that law enforcement officers in Kabardino-Balkaria go on looking for teenagers at schools who tend to practice non-traditional Islamism. The panic started after the inscription "Jihad is freedom" appeared in one of the schools of Nalchik.

"In 2005, serious problems existed in Armenia with regard to human rights." This is contained in the Report on Human Rights of the US State Department annually published early in March.

At dawn of March 7, the vicinity of the village of Katyr-Yurt of Achkhoy-Martan district, Chechnya, was subjected to artillery shelling from the places where federal forces are located. The incident is reported in the press-release of the Russian-Chechen information agency, handed over to the "Caucasian Knot." There are no victims among the local residents. However, the blast wave broke glazing and damaged the roofing of some houses.

The chief editor of the "Pravo-zaschita" newspaper, sentenced for publishing the address of separatists Maskhadov and Zakaev, has filed a new petition to the RF General Prosecutor's Office with a request to bring Vitali Bondarenko, judge of the Soviet district court in Nizhni Novgorod, to criminal responsibility for hampering justice and abuse of power. This is contained in the press-release of the Society of Russian-Chechen Friendship handed over to the "Caucasian Knot." On the previous day, complaints against the illegitimate actions of the judge were filed to the Judges' Qualification Panel and Sergey Kanevskiy, chair of the Nizhni Novgorod Regional Court.

In the opinion of representatives of public in Ingushetia, Ossetia continues its attempts to have the law "On Rehabilitation of Repressed Nations" amended.

On February 25, 2006, Alvaro Gilles-Robles, Council of Europe Commissar on Human Rights, visited the camp of "Chernokozovo" in the Chechen Naur district where he got acquainted with the conditions of holding prisoners among whom was Murdashev Vakhid Lakaevich sentenced to 15 years of prison, who had been with Aslan Maskhadov on the day of his death. After a talk with Murdashev, Alvaro Gilles-Robles stated that the "Chechen General demonstrates firmness and conviction" in asserting his principles.

Anna Chochieva, deputy chair of the public human rights movement "Law above Power," editor of the independent magazine "Amaga", accuses the South Ossetia authorities of failure to investigate the beating in Tskhinval of her husband Alan Parastaev, coordinator of the Caucasus NGO Forum representing South Ossetia.

It was held on March 4 on the Theatre Square of Rostov-on-Don and gathered about two thousands of participants. As had been announced by the meeting organizers, it was part of the All-Russia action against the "housing and communal choker."

The Volgograd garrison military tribunal has sentenced junior sergeant Alexander Sobolevskiy, accused of causing his comrade-in-arms to commit suicide, to three and a half years of imprisonment at a minimum security penal colony.

Today, representatives of the Society of Russian-Chechen Friendship have been handed over the decision on the withdrawal of the criminal case on tax evasion by the SRChF, dealt with by the tax offence investigation department under the Nizhni Novgorod oblast Directorate of Internal Affairs. The case was withdrawn on January 27, 2006 due to lack of corpus delicti.