News

Arsen Ambartsumyan, Minister of Labour and Social Matters of Armenia, has reported to the session of the National Assembly that according to the Ministry, by the end of January, because of the global economic crisis, about 3500 person lost their jobs in the country.

The Kabardino-Balkarian Human Rights Centre has hosted a presentation of the memoirs of Konstantin Chkheidze entitled "General Dautokov-Serebryakov in Civil War".

In the highway in the Kaspskiy District of Georgia, unidentified persons have attacked a car and kidnapped a referee who was making his way to a match of the National Football Championship.

In the city of Malgobek, Ingushetia, unidentified persons have heavily wounded the art director of the children's dancing ensemble "Zori Ingushetii". He received a wound in his abdominal cavity, and is currently operated on.

Today, an explosion of utility gas in a private house located in Valerik village, Achkhoy-Martan District of Chechnya, has injured seven persons, including six children.

The Georgian party has handed over to Russia a list of 32 militaries, who disappeared in the course of Georgia's conflict with South Ossetia and Abkhazia in August 2008.

Anna Lauren, a Finnish journalist and a correspondent of the state-owned TV and Radio Company "Yuleisradio", has come to Ingushetia with the aim to make reports; she is now writing a book about Northern Caucasus and warfare during the Russian-Georgian conflict in 2008, willing to help residents of her country "to have a sober look at the Caucasus."

The Moscow District Military Court has completed the court investigation on the murder case of journalist Anna Politkovskaya, as the presiding judge Evgeniy Zubov announced on February 6.

The authorities of Chechnya want to promulgate restrictions on sale of alcoholic products in the territory of the Republic. The respective ideas were announced by Islam Vazirkhanov, head of the Republic's Department of the Federal Tax Service for Chechnya.

The Committee to Protect Journalists, the Union of Journalists of Russia and the Centre of Extreme Journalism are concerned of the attempt to intimidate the head of the "Echo Moskvy" Radio by expressing a veiled threat to Alexei Venediktov, editor of independent radio station "Echo Moskvy". They link the fact that an axe and a video camera were found at the journalist's apartment with his professional activities.

On February 5, 2009, the Scientific-Information Centre "Memorial" in St-Petersburg hosted a meeting in memory of victims of the tragedy in Novye Aldy village - of the "zachistka" (clean-up) conducted on February 10, 2000, by the Petersburg OMON. To correct the opinion of Chechen residents about St-Petersburg, the organizers of the action offered to invite children from the village to their city.

Boris Bairamkulov, disappeared businessman from Dombai (Karachaevo-Circassia), director of the "Bars" Tourist Agency, has not been found yet. After the last rally held in Cherkessk, Bairamkulov's relatives received no new information about the progress in the case.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is indignant with the murder of journalist Anastasiya Baburova, who was shot dead together with advocate-human rights defender Stanislav Markelov, and asks President of Russia Dmitri Medvedev to ensure a careful investigation of the crime.

On February 5, in the course of his meeting in Grozny with Ramzan Ampukaev, representative of the Chechen Diaspora in Europe, Ramzan Kadyrov invited former militants, now living in Europe, to come back home. The Chechen President also rejected his any involvement in the recent murder in Vienna of refugee from Chechnya Israilov, who had earlier worked for his security service. The Kadyrov's meeting with Ampukaev was shown by local television.

In the Czech city of Brno, a demonstration took place against political murders in Russia. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed about it by Oksana Chelysheva, one of the organizers of the action and deputy head of the Finnish organization "Society of Russian-Chechen Friendship".

In Voznesenskaya village, Malgobek District of Ingushetia, power agents have kidnapped a local resident, Meskhetian Turk, and took him away in an unknown direction. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed about it by local residents. The incident happened at about 8:00 p.m.

In the west of Moscow an unidentified person has opened fire at a man, who died in situ from the received wounds, as reported by a source in the law enforcement bodies of the capital of Russia.

Today, the Baku Appeal Court, presided by Judge Rizvan Safarov, considered the complaint of poet-satirist Mirza Sakit (Sakit Zakhidov) against the non-satisfaction of his petition on early release from custody by the Nariman District Court.

The European Court on Human Rights in Strasbourg has found Russia guilty of disappearances of Chechen residents and torturing residents of Ingushetia.

According to the Federation of Human Rights Organizations of Azerbaijan (FHROA), in total, there are now 66 political prisoners in Azerbaijan. This was stated by Leila Yunus, Director of the Institute for Peace and Democracy, in her interview to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent in the context of the forthcoming discussion at the spring PACE session of the issue of appointing a special rapporteur on political prisoners in Azerbaijan.