News

Late at night on October 23, in Ordzhonikidzevskaya village, Sunzha District of Ingushetia (bordering on Chechnya), unknown persons kidnapped about 15 persons. Three Chechen militiamen can be among them. This information was provided by a source in law enforcement bodies of Chechnya.

Alexei Malashenko, expert of the Carnegie Foundation, asserts that today Chechnya is in the process of re-Islamization. In his opinion, by strengthening the Sufi branch of Islam in Chechnya and spreading the Sufi values President Ramzan Kadyrov is fighting against Salafites - his religious and political opponents, and by reviving traditional Islamic norms of behaviour, he keeps the society under control.

Karina Moskalenko, advocate of the family of the assassinated journalist Anna Politkovskaya, was not poisoned in France and, accordingly, there was no attempt on her life, police inspectors in the city of Strasbourg assert referencing to the former owner of the car now owned by Ms Moskalenko.

In Dagestan, Rasul Mamedrizaev and Seferali Sefimirzoev, accused of murdering Farid Babaev, leader of the regional branch of the "Yabloko" Party, have refused to plead guilty.

The court of the city of Dimitrovgrad (Ulyanovsk Region) has denied the petition on conditional-early release of former Colonel Yuri Budanov.

On October 22, the National Assembly of Armenia passed a decision to extend the term of office of the temporary parliamentary commission set up to investigate March 1 events in Yerevan by four months, till February 25.

Today, Moscow remembers the victims of the tragedy in "Dubrovka" Theatrical Centre - six years ago during performance terrorists took almost one thousand actors and spectators of the musical "Nord-Ost" as hostages.

The life of Einullah Fatullaev, founder and editor-in-chief of newspapers "Real Azerbaijan" and "Gyundelik Azerbaijan", who is kept at Penitentiary Establishment No. 12, is under threat, his father Emin Fatullaev has stated.

On October 21 in Makhachkala, the negotiations of servicemen-"Afghans" with representatives of the Republic's Government and State Duma deputies from Dagestan came to the end. As a result of the arrangements reached, the "Afghans" agreed not to restart their temporarily interrupted hunger strike.

Today, the Supreme Court of Dagestan will hold the first hearing on the resonant case about the murder of Farid Babaev, leader of the Dagestan regional branch of the "Yabloko" Party and candidate for the State Duma. Judge Ibram Garunov will chair the trial, which will be held with participation of jurymen.

Magomed Mutsolgov, Ingush human rights activist, member of the Expert's Board of the Office of Russian Ombudsman and leader of the "Mashr" human rights organization, has returned from Poland, where he took part on October 5-10 in OSCE session on fulfilment of obligations related to human dimension in 2008.

The Grozny Garrison Military Court has stopped proceedings under 12 out of 31 civil suits lodged by former servicemen of the "Vostok" (East) battalion of the Russian Ministry of Defence deployed in Chechnya against their early dismissal from the military service.

In its statement of October 21, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Georgia criticised Russia for using cluster bombs against peaceful population and invited the world community to hold an objective and fair investigation of all the circumstances of Russia's military aggression on Georgia.

According to the data of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), as of today, over 20,000 refugees have returned to Georgian territories adjacent to South Ossetia.

In Dagestan, on demand of the Republic's Department of "Rossvyazokhrankultura" (Federal Agency for Communication and Culture Protection Issues), a linguistic examination is underway of certain publications in the "Time of Action" newspaper, published in Derbent, for the presence of extremist statements in some of the articles.

The authorities of Georgia have opened access to Russian Internet websites, which were blocked in August after the start of the military conflict in South Ossetia.

Valery Konovalyuk, head of the temporary investigatory commission of the Supreme Rada, set up to inquire into the facts of deliveries of Ukrainian armaments to Georgia, has stated the danger, to which he is exposed in connection with the work of the commission.

The European Union, when making comments on the outcomes of the presidential election in Azerbaijan on October 15, has stated that local authorities had done a lot according to the recommendations of the Office for Democratic Institutes and Human Rights (ODIHR) of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the Venetian Commission.

Right at this time, in North Ossetia, members of the All-Russian Public Organization "Voice of Beslan" are holding a picket in defence of the bill designed by them and entitled "On Social Defence of the Rights of Terror Act Victims". Some 50 persons have rallied near the building of the Russian Academic Theatre in Vladikavkaz.

In the city of Karabulak in Ingushetia, a person has been just kidnapped, an eyewitness of the incident informed the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.