News

About thirty thousand persons have gathered to take part in the action of the United Opposition in front of the Parliament of Georgia in defence of the "Imedi" TV Company. Appeals are heard not to disperse until the authorities restart broadcasting of the "Imedi".

More than 3000 persons are still considered missing in Chechnya. They disappeared in the course of the "counterterrorist operation" that was conducted since 1999 - the time of Vladimir Putin's advent to power in Russia.

Yesterday, on March 23, militiamen of Makhachkala held a rally with a demand of dismissal of the Interior Minister and Public Prosecutor of Dagestan.

By one of the versions of the murder of Gaji Abashilov, Chairman of the State Television and Radio Company (STRC) "Dagestan", the crime was committed with the aim to weaken the influence of Dagestan President Mukhu Aliev.

The teachers' collective and administration of School No. 2 of Aleksandrovskoe village, Stavropol Territory, where Valentina Neumyvakina, who is accused of driving a 9th form pupil to suicide, works, think the teacher to be innocent of what has happened.

According to Andrei Melamedov, former editor-in-chief of the private Dagestan newspaper "Nastoyascheye Vremya" (Present Time), the surnames of journalists Ilyas Shurpaev and Gaji Abashilov, who were murdered on Friday, were on the list of persons prohibited to mentioning.

The authorities of Armenia agree to admit the participation of international experts in the investigation of disorders on March 1-2 in Yerevan. This was stated today by the General Public Prosecutor of Armenia at his meeting with Peter Semnebi, Special EU's Representative in South Caucasus.

Today, on the 14th day of the hunger strike, the state of health of the leaders of the United Opposition of Georgia has worsened, and quarantine was introduced near the building of Parliament in Tbilisi in the Rustaveli Avenue.

On March 21, a picket was held in Moscow in defence of Boris Stomakhin, the author of the Chechen separatists' website "Kavkaz-Centre", who was sentenced to 5 years of colony for kindling interethnic enmity and extremism. The action was dated to the second anniversary of journalist's arrest.

According to the statement of Ruslan Badalov, Chairman of the Chechen Committee for National Salvation (ChCNS), human rights activists are protesting against a possible decision of the authorities of Spain to deport Murat Gasaev, a refugee from Ingushetia, to Russia.

The European Court for Human Rights has obliged the Russian Federation to pay 85,000 euros to six relatives of the victims of the mudslide in the city of Tyrnyauz in Kabardino-Balkaria on July 18, 2000.

Attacks on natives from Caucasus and Central Asia in the cities of Russia become more violent. It was stated by the participants of the press conference "Xenophobic Moods in Russian Youth Take Form of Epidemic", held today, on the All-European Day against Racism, at the Independent Press Centre in Moscow.

An hour before his own murder, Chairman of the State Television and Radio Company "Dagestan" Gaji Abashilov spoke about the journalist of Channel One Ilyas Shurpaev who was killed in Moscow.

In Yerevan, an action in memory of those who perished in the collision between peaceful demonstrators and power agents of Armenia that took place on March 1. Several thousands took part in protest against the violence that was used on that day.

The body of journalist Ilyas Shurpaev was found today in an apartment located in the Veshie Vody Street in Moscow. The neighbours saw a smoke coming out of the flat and called firemen who found the body inside.

The aim of the power agents of Ingushetia who shot dead Rustam Mutsolgov on March 12 in Troitskaya village was to liquidate and not to capture the young man.

Today, the Pravoberezhny Court of North Ossetia held a hearing on charges against the North-Ossetian NGO "Voice of Beslan" of extremism. The Court has ruled to examine the information materials of the "Voice of Beslan".

On March 19, the Krasnodar Territorial Court ruled to leave four ex-fighters of Sochi OMON (Special Militia) behind bars. The fighters are accused of mass beating of tourists in children's camp "Druzhba" (Friendship).

The KGB (Committee for State Security) of South Ossetia denies the information disseminated by Russian and Georgian mass media that its officials had searched representatives of the OSCE and United Nations when the latter tried to survey the reserved garbage dump located in the southern suburb of Tskhinvali within the project on environment protection and confiscated a photo and video cameras from them together with filmed materials, but then returned everything back.

At the preliminary hearing at the Supreme Court of Kabardino-Balkaria on the case about the attack on Nalchik on October 13, 2005, the officials of the Investigatory Committee have refused to initiate a criminal case on the fact of using tortures against the defendants.