News

The third pan-Armenian youth gathering "Baze - 2004" is taking place in Armenia from 2 to 9 February.

The action is supposed to be held under the slogan "Set Rauf Arifoglu free!" in front of the Prosecutor General's Office on February 5.

The goal of the action was to express a protest against discrimination of national minorities and corruption in Georgian judicial bodies.

Even though the two men staying in the house did not offer resistance, Kadyrov's people kept on firing until it became obvious that those people were dead.

Protesting against the authorities' policy, the residents formed a committee, which declared the Government's decision to alienate the land-plots for construction anticonstitutional.

The statement issued on January 29 reads: "The society is experiencing a political crisis."

The servicemen in masks and camouflage reportedly rushed at daybreak into the house where the young man lived and took him in an unknown direction without bringing any charges against him.

The agreement on interaction was reached in Grozny during a meeting between Kadyrov, members of the presidential commission and activists of the Human Rights Center "Memorial".

200 Georgian peacekeepers are on their way to Iraq. Another 60 Georgian peacekeepers, medics and builders were sent to Iraq this past summer.

As it is known, clashes between civilians - adversaries and supporters of Aslan Abashidze, leader of the republic - have taken place in Adjaria.

66% say it is time to begin peace talks, while only 20% are convinced that military activity should be continued.

Last year there were more than 4,500 Chechen asylum seekers in the Czech Republic; and 3,500 left without waiting for their applications to be processed.

The ombudsman is an independent official, who, proceeding from the Armenian Constitution and norms of jus cogens, will defend human rights and freedom oppressed by state services as well as bodies of local self-government and their representatives.

"I met many civil society activists in Georgia. It seems that there is no real opposition and the results of the parliamentary elections in March are already easy to predict," said EU Special Envoy for the South Caucasus Heikki Talvitie.

The 30 January resolution of the Council "deeply regretted" the continued refusal of the Abkhaz side to agree to a discussion on the substance of that document. It stressed negotiations leading to a lasting political settlement would require concessions from both sides.

On January 29, the head and members of the North Caucasian office of the Society for Russian-Chechen Friendship who made arrangements for a visit of Chairwoman of the Russian President's Commission on Human Rights Ella Pamfilova to refugee camps were detained in the outskirts of the Ordzhonikidzevskaya village, Ingushetia.

A group of Russian human rights defenders, headed by Chairwoman of the Russian President's Commission on Human Rights Ella Pamfilova, arrived in the North Caucasus for a working visit on January 29.

On January 27, the UN delegation headed by UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland visited the camp of Chechen refugees Satsita, situated on the outskirts of the Ordzhonikidzevskaya village in Ingushetia.

On January 28, the press service of the Abkhazian President spread an official statement by Vladislav Ardzinba. It is noted in the statement that recently, against the background of the change of power in Georgia, Georgian leaders has repeatedly made statements that raise doubt about Tbilisi's adherence to peaceful settlement of the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict and its international legal obligations.

"If anything, the non-violent Rose Revolution served as a message to the world - that all Georgians aspire to build and live in a democratic, independent and stable state," he said, addressing the 26-30 January session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg.