News

Georgia is ready to take serious steps to have the three Georgian students seized by Abkhazian separatists on March 1 in Shamgona village of the Zugdidi District released, Dmitri Kitoshvili, parliamentary secretary of the President of Georgia, has declared today on behalf of the latter.

The Freedom House Human Rights Organization has made public its report on the freedom of mass media worldwide. In the rating by the level of mass media freedom Russia has shared position No. 164 with Azerbaijan, still ahead of Brunei, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Swaziland.

The Supreme Court (SC) of North Ossetia has satisfied the complaint of the Russian State Office of Public Prosecutor on cancellation of the decision on non-initiation of a criminal case in relation to the members of the operative headquarters for saving the Beslan hostages.

Militia has dispersed a non-sanctioned "Disagreement March" in Nizhni Novgorod.

In Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) met the leaders of the Republic.

The last November execution in Moscow of Movladi Baisarov, ex-commander of the FSB's "Gorets" (Mountaineer) operative and fighting regiment, who had joined the opposition to the then prime minister and today's President of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov, got its logical outcome on April 27.

On April 27, students of Georgian higher schools held another protest action near the Russian peacemaking post on the border with Abkhazia.

A roundtable on the topic "Integration Problems of Migrants into Local Community - Russian and Swiss Experiences" was held in Stavropol Territory.

A model Mi-8 helicopter of Ministry of Defence that was transporting rangers fell down in Chechnya.

Today, the working group has finished its regular acceptance session of forced resettlers in Novy settlement of the Prigorodny District, North Ossetia.

A briefing was held in Nalchik, at the Chief Department for Fighting Terror of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of the Russian Federation for the South Federal District (SFD) (Centre-T), on the activities of the employees of Centre-T to counteract kidnappings and capture of hostages in the south of Russia.

At the judicial debates of the parties that took place in Pyatigorsk (Stavropol Territory), the defence of Roman Koyushev, accused of murdering the imam of the Kislovodsk mosque, asked the court to acquit him of all the charges.

The Russian government has asked for another delay - till May 22 - for preparing answers to the "communication" of the European Court for Human Rights on the complaint lodged by the relatives of the militants, who perished on October 13, 2005, in Nalchik (Kabardino-Balkaria), concerning refusal to give out their bodies for burial.

The fact that the authorities of Georgia are funding new media outlets in the regions is creating serious problems for the existing newspapers - they have not only stopped to develop in order to gain independence in the local market, but in many cases get bankrupt.

Today, members of the EU Parliament have criticized the violations of human rights in Russia, Iran and China and demanded that the EU Government should raise this issue at cooperation negotiations in Moscow.

The forced resettlers from the Prigorodny District of North Ossetia, who inhabit the refugees' camp located in the suburb of "Maiskiy" settlement, were awarded with another warning.

On April 25, in Novy village of the Prigorodny District, North Ossetia, a meeting was to take place of forced resettlers with representatives of the FMS (Federal Migration Service) and employees of the passport and visa service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of North Ossetia (RNO)-Alania.

Quite recently the "Caucasian Knot" wrote that Russia was a source of 20 percent of the cases currently under consideration at the European Court for Human Rights.

Svetlana Gannushkina, member of the Council under the RF President for Promoting Development of Civil Society Institutes and Human Rights, thinks that Boris Yeltsin was a strong and flexible person.

Militiamen have beaten inmates of the pre-trial detention facility (SIZO) No. 1 of the City of Krasnodar.