News

Today, Kabardino-Balkaria marks the third anniversary of tragic events on October 13, 2005, when armed people made an attack on Nalchik. Parents of the casualties want to know where their sons were buried.

In Chechnya, early elections of deputies of national parliament of the second convocation are over. In the opinion of independent observers, the results of the "nation's will show" are no surprise.

On October 11, a wave of an earthquake rolled over a number of regions in North and South Caucasus. The underground shocks were felt in Chechnya, Dagestan, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, South and North Ossetia and in the Stavropol krai, as well as in Armenia and Georgia. The epicenter was in Chechnya, its magnitude was 8 points. The biggest damage was inflicted on Chechnya.

The underground quakes which have occurred in waves today across North Caucasus killed 12 persons in Chechnya. These are the data from the republic's Ministry of Health. No casualties are reported from the other regions.

The Afghanistan war veterans who entered their sixth day of hunger strike in the Dagestan capital do not intend to drop their demands, despite the death of one of the participants and hospitalization of another one.

The key issue in settling the Karabakh conflict is the status of Nagorny Karabakh, which must be resolved by a free declaration of will of the Karabakh people, states Eduard Nalbandian, Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Today, the forum of opposition parties has called on Azeri voters to ignore the October 15 presidential election. The opposition already considers the election undemocratic.

On October 10 around midnight, unknown persons exploded the shop "Baltika" selling alcoholic beverage in the village of Ordzhonikidze, Sunzhensk district, Ingushetia. No one suffered.

Ramzan Kadyrov, president of Chechnya, has called on the republic's population to be active in the course of October 12 election of the parliament of second convocation and expressed his confidence that the election will be held "on a high level".

By October 9, the European Court for Human Rights has received 2,729 applications of South Ossetia residents against Georgia.

The journalists of the Dagestan weekly magazine named "Nastoyaschee Vremya" (Present Time) have appealed against the decision of the Judicial Board on Criminal Cases of the Supreme Court of Dagestan on cancelling the criminal case against Rizvan Rizvanov, Director General of the enterprise-founder.

Today, the head of the press-service of Dagestanian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) has refuted the statements that the bodies of the terrorists, who had been liquidated during special operations, and not subject to issuance for burial, are sold by militiamen to relatives.

Today, the Moscow Independent Press Centre held a press conference - presentation of the report prepared by the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" and entitled: "Kabardino-Balkaria: On the Way to Catastrophe. Preconditions Armed Revolt in Nalchik on October 13-14, 2005". The report is based on 3 years of field work in Kabardino-Balkaria, interviews with local residents, power agencies and representatives of the authorities.

In Nazran, law enforcement bodies are searching the house of Maksharip Aushev, one of the leaders of the opposition in Ingushetia and owner of web resource "Ingushetia.Ru" (now "Ingushetia.Org"), as was reported today by Magomed Khazbiev, another Ingush oppositionist and human rights activist.

Today is the fifth day of the hunger-strike started by 50 Afghan war veterans in the capital of Dagestan, which have resorted to this measure to draw attention to their problems, first of all to provision of housing to them according to federal legislation. The hunger-strikers drink only water.

Witness Sergey Mozgalyov stated to the Supreme Court of Karelia, which is considering the case of Caucasian natives who had initiated a mass fight at the "Chaika" restaurant that during the disorders in Kondopoga militia kept close to the events but chose not to interfere.

In Kabardino-Balkaria, the suit of the participants of the attack on Nalchik on October 13, 2005, is protracted. According to defendants' relatives, many of them are already sick.

Elena Bairamkulova, lawyer of the Kabardino-Balkarian Bar, who is defending Rustam Karanashev, a resident of Kabardino-Balkaria, detained on September 24 in Stavropol Territory, has filed a complaint to the Predgorny District Court of this Territory on violation of the right for legal defence, as stipulated by the Russian Code of Criminal Procedure in relation to her client, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

Today, the European Court for Human Rights has passed its decision on the case "Albekov et al versus Russian Federation" and recognized Russia guilty of inability to enforce its liabilities to defend Russian citizens in Chechnya, who perish from antipersonnel (AP) landmines.

The Sunzha District Court of Ingushetia has refused to re-qualify the criminal case on the fact of death of Magomed Evloev, owner of the website "Ingushetia.Ru", from Article "Causing death by inadvertence" into Article "Murder".