News

Four residents of Georgia were kidnapped today by an armed criminal grouping in the Karel District of Georgia near the administrative border with South Ossetia. This was reported by the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Georgia, while its South-Ossetian counterpart, in its turn, has refuted this information.

The report of the US Department of State (DoS) on the situation with human rights has caused an ambiguous reaction in Azerbaijan. The human rights activists, polled by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, have agreed with the report's estimates, while the authorities refute the DoS' data.

On February 27, additional staff of 45 Azerbaijani military peacemakers left for Afghanistan. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed about it by Eldar Sabiroglu, head of the press service of the Ministry of Defence of Azerbaijan.

The visit to the region of the Karabakh conflict of co-chairs of the Minsk OSCE Group Yuri Merzlyakov, Bernard Fussier and Matthew Brayza will continue, after their meetings in Baku, with negotiations in Yerevan and Stepanakert.

Abkhazia refutes the news about eviction of 50 Georgian families out of the Gali District, which was promulgated by the Georgian MIA.

The Investigatory Committee at the Prosecutor's Office (ICPO) has finished its inquiry into the case of blowing up, in August 2007, of the "Neva-Express" train. The materials of the case have been sent to the General Prosecutor's Office for approval of the bill of particulars, as Alexander Bastrykin, head of the ICPO, told to the Collegium of the General Prosecutor's Office on February 25.

Today, the Georgian police have dispersed a rally of the youth political movement named "November 7", whose members tried to block traffic in Rustaveli Avenue in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia.

In central Moscow, in Prechistenskie Vorota Square, about sixty picketers are holding their action in memory of advocate Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasiya Baburova, murdered by a gunman on January 19 just several metres off the place of today's action. Today is 40 days after the murder.

There are no concerns with the police as to the rally to be held on March 1; the law enforcement bodies are sure that "people will calmly come to the rally and pay tribute to last year's casualties." This was stated by Alik Sarkisyan, Chief of the Police of the Republic of Armenia, in a press conference on February 27.

According to some sources, Liudmila Alekseeva, Chair of the Moscow Helsinki Group, has reported about Restricted Order No. 800, under which the militia now has the right to shoot to kill citizens holding a rally.

In 2008, Armenia had the most serious in recent Caucasus splash in violence in post-election period. In Azerbaijan, authorities pressed journalists. Georgia and Russia used excessive force during their war in South Ossetia. These are statements from the annual report of the 2008 US Department of State (DoS) on situation with human rights.

In Dagestan, three journalists of the newspaper named "Chernovik" (Blueprint) were charged under part 1, Article 282, of the Criminal Code, assuming criminal liability for kindling hatred or enmity, and humiliation of human dignity. Earlier, the accusation was presented to Nadira Isaeva, editor-in-chief of the paper.

On February 26, Azerbaijan marks 17th anniversary of events in Khodzhaly, also known as "Khodzhaly tragedy". At night on February 26, 1992, the town of Khodzhaly located in Nagorno-Karabakh and inhabited by Azerbaijanis was seized by Armenian armed units with active participation of the then 366th motorized rifle regiment of the former Soviet Army.

The defendants in Anna Politkovskaya's murder case were acquitted because of a plurality of trifles, which undermined the trust of the jurymen in the version of the investigation, as Murad Musaev, one of the defence advocates, believes. In his opinion, the reason is in non-professionalism of law enforcers.

On February 25 in the evening, a protest action was held at the Embassy of Georgia in Armenia with a demand to release two Armenian activists arrested on suspicion of espionage in Georgian region of Dzhavakhk inhabited mainly by Armenians.

Today, the European Court on Human Rights has unanimously convicted Russia for disappearances of four men in different areas of Chechnya in the period from August 2002 to December 2004. The applicants were awarded compensation for material and mental damage in the sum of 157,000 euros.

It is possible that the case about the death of Magomed Evloev, former owner of the oppositional website "Ingushetia.Ru", will be considered in absentia of the defendant. The defence of the latter - Ibragim Evloev, head of the security of the Ingushetian Interior Minister, charged with manslaughter, - plans to lodge a respective petition.

Today, during a session on the so-called "Case of Seven", Judge Mnatsakan Martirosyan, who is presiding over the litigation, has rejected his three challenges lodged by the defence.

The situation in Azerbaijan with human rights remains a concern, conclude the participants of the roundtable held with involvement of the leading human rights activists of the country on February 24 at the Baku Media Centre. On results of discussions, a document was adopted containing an appeal to the authorities to release all political prisoners.

The international Human Rights Watch called the authorities of Armenia, in the HRW report, published on February 25 and covering the elections and post-electoral processes in Armenia in 2008, to make the police responsible for disproportionate use of force against peaceful demonstrators on March 1, 2008, when at least 10 persons perished in clashes with policemen.