News

Today, Azerbaijan's application for membership in the UN Council for Human Rights was rejected.

Rustam Mikailov, correspondent of the "Zerkalo" paper, lodged a complaint on the Police Administration of the Surakhanskiy District of Azerbaijan in the context of beating him during the yesterday's football match.

As the "Caucasian Knot" reported earlier, on May 1, 2006, a serious international incident happened in Chechnya. A delegation of the European Committee Against Tortures (ECAT) that was visiting the region was not let into the settlement of Tsentoroj.

The Human Rights Centre "Memorial" and "Caucasian Knot" already reported that in Chechnya about 12:00 a.m. at the federal highway "Kavkaz" in the crossroads Sernovodsk-Assinovskaya, unknown armed persons kidnapped and took to unknown place two young persons: Chilaev Bulat and Israilov Aslan.

Yesterday, on May 3, the Kizilyurt District Court released by its decision made under Article 79 of the CCRF on conditional early relief terms from the colony-settlement Gazimagomed Gairbekov, who was sentenced on August 9, 2005, by the Leninskiy District Court of the capital of Chechnya Grozny under Part 2 of Article 222 of the CCRF to 2.5 years of deprivation of freedom.

A new journalists' organization named "Reporters' Freedom and Safety Institute" has been founded in Azerbaijan.

In Dagestan, another participant of mass disorders that took place on April 25 in the Dokuzparinskiy District of the Republic died, Tagir Tagirov, physician on duty of the Akhtyn district hospital, where those wounded were taken.

Illegal custodies in Chechnya, according to mass media and human rights activists, are located also in the territory of the Operations and Search Bureau of the North-Caucasian Operations Department of the Chief Administration of the MIA of Russia in the South Federal District ("OSB-2") in Grozny and Russian Military Base in Khankala, and in some other places where power units are deployed.

Today, at the press conference in Moscow, human rights activists demonstrated video materials evidencing the shooting by the authorities of a peaceful demonstration in the Dokuzparinskiy District of Dagestan on April 25.

The deputies of the parliament of the Chechen Republic addressed the leadership of the MIA of Russia with a letter, in which they recommend to close the temporary isolator custody (TIC) at the Operations and Searching Bureau (OSB-2).

Information has appeared in Dagestan media that the Limited Liability Company (LLC) "RDR" resumes its work.

A delegation of the European Committee Against Tortures, headed by Mauro Palma, deputy chairman of the Committee, visited today the village of Tsentoroj - the family village of Ramzan Kadyrov, head of the Chechen government.

According to the information obtained from local citizens, during several latest days in the village of Tsentoroj (Chechnya), over 20 persons were kidnapped by armed soldiers in camouflage suits and taken to unknown places.

In the first half of May 2, the president of Chechnya received in Grozny Mauro Palma, head of the delegation of the European Committee Against Tortures.

Mauro Palma, head of the delegation of the European Committee Against Tortures, which is now in Chechnya, says that they were not let to Tsentoroj.

Representatives of the non-governmental organization "Institute for Equal Rights" (Georgia) have held today a peaceful protest action in Tbilisi Shardeni Street, where in January an incident took place entailing death of Sandro Girgvliani, 28 years old.

The problem of political prisoners is outside the agenda of the authorities of Azerbaijan.

Beslan (North Ossetia) was a venue of a several thousand strong meeting against abuse of power by law enforcement bodies.

Azerbaijan rejected the information about secret CIA prisons located in its territory.

In Chechnya, unknown persons have kidnapped and killed a local citizen, the law enforcement bodies of the Republic informed today.