News

In Chechnya, the conflict continues, caused by the intention of the authorities to remove the Memorial erected in 1992 in the Chechen capital in memory of the victims of 1944 deportation to a city suburb. People are revolted with the fact that the place allocated for the new memorial is now a garbage dump.

Israel plans to sign a long-term contract with Azerbaijan on delivery of natural gas. This was announced today by Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, Minister for National infrastructure, in a press conference in Baku.

Today at night, a mass fight with participation of Armenian natives burst out in the Stavropolskaya Street of Moscow. The law enforcement bodies do not exclude the ethnic pretext of the conflict, although there is no official confirmation.

Today, the Supreme Court of Russia has upheld the guilty verdict to three participants of the criminal grouping who kidnapped people in North Ossetia, in spite of the fact that the victims in case insisted on cancelling the verdict.

The militants are searched in the Vedeno District of Chechnya who shelled on June 2 a Mi-8 helicopter, which was carrying militaries of a special subdivision of the Interior Troops.

The investigation has decided to release another figurant of the criminal case on Anna Politkovskaya's murder - Shamil Buraev, former head of the Achkhoy-Martan District of Chechnya.

Today, the Supreme Court of Azerbaijan presided by Judge Muzaffar Agazade has considered a cassation complaint lodged by Einullah Fatullaev, editor-in-chief and founder of newspapers "Real Azerbaijan" and "Gyundelik Azerbaijan" (Daily Azerbaijan).

The USA and NATO are worried about the deployment of the railway troops of the Russian Ministry of Defence in Abkhazia, and think that such actions will not lead to improvement of Russian-Georgian relations.

President of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov has approved the decision of the city administration of Grozny on removal of the complex in memory of victims of the 1944 deportation from the central part of city to a suburb and stated that the monument to the victims of repressions should be grandiose.

The victims of the explosion of an apartment house in the Guryanova Street in 1999 in Moscow demand from Dmitri Medvedev, the new president of Russia, to initiate an independent investigation, explaining that the case has many suspicious circumstances and "facts hidden under the table cloth."

Today, the National Assembly of Azerbaijan has adopted amendments and additions to the national Electoral Code. The changes were brought in by President Ilham Aliev in the form of his legislative initiative.

The statement of journalists of Georgia with a demand to reinstate former managers of the "Imedi" Radio Station in their previous positions was disseminated in all media after Nona Kandiashvili, Broadcasting Director of the "Imedi", and Irakliy Khetereli, Director General, were dismissed on May 30, 2008.

The UNEP - United Nations Environment Programme - has supported the appeals of the World Wildlife Fund and Greenpeace of Russia to remove the sledge and bobsleigh complex and the Olympic Village to be erected for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics from the Grushevoy Ridge to some alternative locations.

Three citizens of Azerbaijan were hospitalized with traumas and knife wounds after a fight with the natives of Dagestan in the Nevskiy District of St-Petersburg.

A battalion of railway troops of Russia has arrived to Abkhazia with a mission to repair the railway section running from Sukhum to Ochamchira in the east of Abkhazia. The battalion is equipped with all the necessary machinery for the aim of the mission.

The US Government plans to provide about 700,000 dollars for structural development of the GUAM - the economic-political association of Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova.

According to Georgiy Chkheidze, Chairman of the NGO named "Association of Young Lawyers of Georgia" (AYLG), the parliamentary elections in Georgia were more democratic than the presidential one: this time, more attention was given to observers' complaints.

The Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights and Labour of the US Department of State has published its annual report on the status with human rights and democracy in the world. The chapter on Azerbaijan runs that support of human rights there remains bad and has aggravated in certain areas.

The protest hunger strike initiated on May 27 by ex-combatants and members of the "Republic" Party is held for the fifth day already near the chapel of the "Erablur" military pantheon in Yerevan. The participants of the action demand to release all the political prisoners in fulfilment of the PACE's Resolution No. 1609 in relation to Armenia.

Head of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" in Grozny Shakhman Akbulatov has stated, while making his comments on the May 29 decision of the European Court for Human Rights obliging Russia to pay out money compensation to five residents of Chechnya, that Russia fails to completely fulfil the decisions of the European Court.