News

Arshaluis Akopyan, a photo journalist of the website of the Helsinki Association and a member of a human rights NGO, who acted as an observer at election of Yerevan Mayor on May 31, was arrested on June 5 in Armenia and charged under Article 316, part 1, of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia (CC RA): "Resistance to power officials".

Today, at the regular session of the Supreme Court of Kabardino-Balkaria considering the criminal case dealing with the attack on Nalchik on October 13, 2005, a dispute burst out between accusers and defenders in the course of interrogating a witness about the procedure of announcing witnesses' evidences in the course of preliminary investigation.

The Central Electoral Commission (CEC) of Armenia has refused to consider the application of the opposition demanding to recognize the outcomes elections to the Board of Elders of Yerevan null and void.

A four-level apartment block has collapsed in the Vaki District of Georgian capital. As a result of the accident, Makvala Bitsadze, 68, who happened to be inside the house at the moment, was killed.

Minister of Internal Affairs of Dagestan Adilgerei Magomedtagirov was not going to visit the wedding party on June 5, where he was killed, and, most likely, people linked with the customers of the murder urged him to go there. This was stated today by President Mukhu Aliev.

President of Georgia Mikhail Saakashvili has stated that the report presented by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon in May at the UN Security Council was drafted under the influence of Russia.

The international scientific and practical conference "Genealogy of Caucasian Nations. Traditions and Contemporaneity" was held on June 6 in the North-Ossetian Institute of Humanitarian and Social Researches (known as "SOIGSI").

The World Bank (WB) expects stabilization in Armenian economy by the end of 2009. This was stated by Aristomene Varudakis, head of the Yerevan-based WB's office.

The "Olympstroy" has decided to give up its plans to build the second seaport in Sochi, as reported today by Vice-Premier Dmitri Kozak, supervisor of preparation for 2014 Winter Olympic Games, to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

The general court of Yerevan communities Centre-Nork-Marash has passed a decision to partially satisfy the claim lodged by the family of ex-President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan against the oppositional newspaper "Armenian Time"; that is the paper shall pay 3.62 million drams (about 10,000 US dollars) to Kocharyan family, instead of claimed 16 million drams (42,000 US dollars).

The assassinated Minister of Internal Affairs of Dagestan Adilgerei Magomedtagirov had plenty of enemies: members of illegal armed formations (IAFs) and thousands of criminals. It was reported by President of Dagestan Mukhu Aliev at an emergency sitting of the antiterrorist commission.

The Armenian opposition has demanded that the Republic's Central Electoral Commission (CEC) recognize null and void the outcomes of voting on May 31 for the Board of Elders of Yerevan, according to which the ruling Republican Party of Armenia proved to be the winner.

Seda Safaryan and Andrannik Kocharyan, members of the fact-finding group set up to investigate the opposition's clashes with the police on March 1, 2008, in Yerevan, who had been nominated to the group by the opposition, told journalists that purposeful actions to disrupt their work began after their decision to publish the final report on May 19.

Relatives of Idris Tsizdoev, 28, who was kidnapped by unidentified persons on May 26 in Malgobek, still know nothing about his whereabouts. On that very day they informed law enforcement bodies about the incident; however, so far, they failed to learn anything about Tsizdoev's further fate.

This week in Abkhazia the issue of the independent newspaper "Chegemskaya Pravda" failed to appear, and another paper - the "Wanted Paper" - was forced to be printed by means of a risograph. According to editors of the editions, which position themselves as independent, the printing house named "Alasharbaga", where the papers used to be printed for a couple of years already, suddenly rejected them, saying that small circulations are unprofitable for them.

Gagik Dzhangiryan, an activist of Armenian opposition and former Deputy General Public Prosecutor, convicted for rendering resistance to power officials, is against amnestying political prisoner, saying that they had committed no crimes; therefore, the concept of amnesty is inapplicable to them.

Amendments to the law aimed to restrict the stay of minors in public places late in the evening and at night, adopted at the federal level were supported by deputies of the Volgograd Regional Duma. The bill is ready and planned for adoption on June 11.

Albert Dzhussoev, director general of the "Stroyprogress" Company, has stated that ecologists' accusations of his company, engaged in laying the Tskhinvali-Dzuarikau gas pipeline, are groundless, as before the construction the object of international value had undergone all the required numerous checks.

In the Grozny District of Chechnya, power agents have detained a woman, a suspected member of an illegal armed formation (IAF). Local law enforcers think that last autumn for a short period of time she was with one of militants' groupings.

Today, the Tsentralny District Court of Sochi has postponed for the third time the preliminary hearing of the claim lodged by oppositional politician Boris Nemtsov with a demand to cancel the outcomes of the election of the city Mayor. The hearing failed for absence of respondents from the electoral commission and Mayor Anatoly Pakhomov.