News

The chair of the European Union represented by the Sweden Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued a statement condemning the arrest of young activists in Azerbaijan. "The European Union is deeply concerned with the arrest and imprisonment of young activists Adnan Gadzhizade and Emin Milli in Azerbaijan", states the document submitted to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent at the EU office in Baku.

The Armenian court of appeal has upheld the decision of the court of first instance on arresting Tigran Arakelian, an 18-year old opposition activist accused of beating a policeman, as a measure of restraint. The court dismissed the petition of lawyer Vardui Elbakian on releasing the young man on bail.

Most functionaries and businessmen of the Republic of Ingushetia "pay kickback" to militants, claims Magomed Khazbiev, leader of Ingushetia opposition. According to him, civil servants continue to pay militants in the same way they were doing it under Murat Ziazikov, the previous president.

20 people, including seven children under 10, have been taken to hospital with food poisoning in Novopavlovsk (Stavropol Krai).

In the last two days, in Ingushetia, two armed attacks of unidentified persons on shop owners were registered, as a result of which two persons were lost.

Maskhud Abdullaev, son of one of the leaders of Chechen militants Supyana Abdullaev, who has the status of a UN refugee, has managed to get over from Chechnya to Azerbaijan, and therefrom - immediately to a third country. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told today about it by a representative of Chechen refugees who referred to Maskhud Abdullaev's relatives.

In early July, resettlement of the refugees from the Prigorodny District of North Ossetia, living in Ingushetia, should have begun. However, it did not happen, as reported by Ingush oppositionist Magomed Khazbiev. The reason was in the attempt on President Yunus-Bek Evkurov. His Administration says that the agreement on resettlement existed, but particular dates were not specified.

One of the main versions of the house downfall in Astrakhan is an illegal reconstruction with rearrangement of hostel rooms into apartments with violation of safety rules at civil works, which resulted in damaging the integrity of load-bearing walls. Today, this was reported by the Investigatory Committee at the Prosecutor's Office (ICPO).

Today, Sergey Nazarov, Vice-Governor of the Rostov Region, has informed the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that a day of mourning was announced in the region to commemorate 21 casualties in the accident near Samarskoe village, Rostov Region.

Chechen people feel indignant of the actions of the republic's authorities, who not just ignored the farewell ceremony with Natalia Estemirova on July 16, and then tried to hamper her colleagues and friends to see her off for ever, but also organized celebrations near the office of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" in Grozny.

Today in Strasbourg, the decision on the case "Mutsaeva versus Russia" was announced, in which the European Court on Human Rights (ECtHR) has recognized Russia's violation of a whole range of articles of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in relation to Khizir Tepsurkaev, detained by power agents in 2001 in Chechnya and missing since.

On July 22, the Day of National Press of Azerbaijan, a protest action against suppression of rights and freedoms in this country was held in Paris in front of Azerbaijani embassy. The action was organized by the "Reporters without Borders", an international organization in defence of journalists, with participation of a group of young Azerbaijanis.

After the picket in Russian capital aimed to commemorate Natalia Estemirova, an employee of the Grozny office of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", its organizer Victor Sakirko was detained by the militia.

Experts of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) will not be able to hold their own independent investigation into the murder of human rights defender Natalia Estemirova, as it is contradictory to the Russian legislation. This was stated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of the Russian Federation.

In the opinion of Yamadaevs' relatives, the trial of the two persons, accused of an attempt on the former commander of the "Vostok" special-purpose GRU battalion, Hero of Russia Sulim Yamadaev, who by official data was assassinated in Dubai on March 28 this year but by statements of his relatives is alive and under protection of the police, will allow making responsible both the executors and organizers, and the direct customer of this crime.

On July 22 in Sochi, Rank III Captain Evgeniy Tsapko, a serviceman of the Military Unit 2159, stopped his protest hunger strike that he conducted since June 22, because of a sharp aggravation of his health condition.

The kidnapping of the resident of Ingushetia Batyr Albakov, who was then killed on July 21 during special operation in Sunzha District of the republic, was imitated by his accomplices with the aim to conceal the fact of his departure to militants. This is the opinion of the Department of FSB for Ingushetia.

In the nearest ten days, the Chechen Republic is planning to set up special groups for demining farmlands. The respective decision was passed upon agreement with the Ministry of Emergencies (MoE) of Russia.

Today, the Sabail District Court of the city of Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, under the chairmanship of Famil Nasibov, rejected the complaint submitted by young bloggers Adnan Gadjizade and Emin Milli against the actions of the Sabail District Police.

Armen Arutyunyan, Armenian Ombudsman, has addressed Gevork Danielyan, Minister of Justice, with a request to help in organizing medical examination of Arman Babadzhanyan, now imprisoned editor-in-chief of the oppositional newspaper "Zhamanak" (Time), whose health condition has sharply worsened.