News

Arthur (Yakub) Ezhiev, activist of the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society, kidnapped on March 15 from his house in the village of Serzhen-Yurt, Shali District of Chechnya by officers of Chechen power authorities, has been released today, reports Zharada Kharipova, the wife of Arthur's uncle Imran Ezhiev, citing their relatives in Chechnya, to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by telephone from Germany. According to her, no circumstances of his release are known, so far.

Marina Litvinovich is inclined to connect the attack on her with her activity in the investigation of the terrorist acts in Moscow and Beslan.

Marina Litvinovich, assistant of Garry Kasparov, leader of the United Civil Front, and chief editor of the "Beslan's Truth" site, beaten the day before, on March 20 in Moscow, related the details of the attack on her earlier.

Georgian ombudsman Sozar Subari requests the release of Georgian TV journalists detained by Abkhazia militia in Ochamchir District early in March. On March 17, Subari, along with a number of Georgian human rights organizations, addressed a letter to the Georgian government and international organizations with a request to interfere and take measures. The ombudsman's staff has informed journalists that the authors of the address ask the government and the international organizations to facilitate the release of the detained persons as soon as possible.

Arthur (Yakub) Ezhiev kidnapped on March 15 from his house in the village of Serzhen-Yurt, Shali District of Chechnya is being held on the territory of the military commandant's office (the so-called commandant's office No 8) in the town of Argun. He is held by Magomed Israpilov, commander of commandant's office company. He relayed a request to the relatives, through an intermediary, to hand him over a Stechkin pistol in return to the release of Arthur. The commandant's office is located in the same yard with the town prosecutor's office and the town department of internal affairs. The information is contained in the press-release of the Russian-Chechen information agency handed over to the "Caucasian Knot."

The Moslem community of Piatigorsk (Stavropol Territory) has formed a Committee to Protect Imam Anton (Abdullah) Stepanenko arrested on January 25 in the building of the town mosque, reports IA "Islam-Info" correspondent.

Georgian President Saakashvili is proud with the Georgian deputies deported from Belarus, who, as part of the international OSCE mission, were to monitor presidential elections in Belarus.

The law enforcement agencies of Kabardino-Balkaria expand their fight with religious extremism. Now the power authorities have decided to switch over their attention to junior schoolchildren who are ostensibly permeated with ideas of Wahhabism from their senior colleagues. Additionally, the teachers of Nalchik schools are obliged to conduct talks with their pupils about attitude towards religion and observance of religious norms, as well as "to reveal and signal" cases of religious extremism among schoolchildren.

A group of Georgian MPs who flew to Minsk on March 16 for taking part in monitoring presidential elections in Belarus within the OSCE mission has been detained by the law enforcement agencies in Minsk airport. Zurab Kvachadze, consul of the Georgian embassy in Ukraine, has told journalists that the Georgian diplomats are not granted the right to meet with the detained MPs for almost a day. "According to the recent information, the deputies will be able to fly to Tbilisi on Saturday. They can not do it earlier because they have no visas of other states and the flight to Tbilisi is only scheduled for tomorrow," said Kvachadze, reports "Interfax."

Russian servicemen in North Caucasus are accused of desecrating Koran, the holy book for Moslems. One such incident in Dagestan has been reported by local journalists. Moscow's servicemen unofficially say that the case is serious.

In the course of the court trial on the case of Boliev which is under way now in Khasavyurt (Dagestan) the court declined the lawyers' petition to recognize the evidence of the prosecution illegitimate.

Today, the court hearing in the Khasavyurt town court of Dagestan has been resumed on the case of the human rights activist Osman Boliev accused of storage, acquisition and wearing of arms took place in Dagestan. The defence represented by lawyers Ahmed Umaev and Salimat Kadyrova filed an application to exclude from the list of evidences the report on Boliev's search because it had not been signed either by the persons conducting the search or by Boliev. Salimat Kadyrova stated that "it is obvious that the evidence was obtained with violations of legislative requirements and have no legal force. If the report is not signed it is not valid."

Today, the court hearing in the Khasavyurt town court of Dagestan has been resumed on the case of the human rights activist Osman Boliev accused of storage, acquisition and wearing of arms. Salimat Kadyrova, Sergey Brovchenko and Ahmed Umaev, the defendant's defence lawyers, report this to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. As lawyer Umaev has just related from the court room by telephone, the judge has declined the defence application to exclude from the case the evidence obtained with violations of the law. At the moment, arrival to court of witnesses for the prosecution is expected. Their interrogation will start the consideration of the case on its merits.

"Yes, the ruling to refuse the grant of parole has been passed by the court. But the trouble is that neither me nor Sergey Brovchenko, the other lawyer of Trepashkin, could attend the hearing, and we sent a telegram to Sverdlovsk court to this effect in advance," stated Elena Liptser to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. "I have just talked with the Trepashkin's local lawyer and she has told me that the court had an intention to consider the case today."

In the evening of March 7, 2006, officers of the local power authorities captured and took to an undisclosed location Islam Esinbayev, born in 1979, resident of the village of Prigorodnoye, Grozny District, Chechnya.

Mikhail Trepashkin, former FSB officer, serving his term at Nizhni Tagil colony for disclosing a state secret, has gone on a hunger strike. "In protest against what is being done with regard to Trepashkin, he has resorted to extreme measures and gone on hunger strike," states Elena Liptser, the convict's lawyer. According to her, Trepashkin's health is not good and the hunger strike may only deteriorate his condition, "there is even a threat to his life."

As has been found out by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, the parents of the deceased Rasul Tsakoev have addressed a complaint to Vladimir Lukin, RF Ombudsman, in which they report about the death of their son and the fact that the Prosecutor's Office in Kabardino-Balkaria is unwilling to investigate the circumstances of the crime and hold the guilty persons responsible.

A roundtable discussion "Combating terrorism. Power and people" has been held in North Ossetia. The roundtable has been initiated by the "Beslan Mothers." The event has been attended by victims of the terrorist act in Beslan, leaders of the Republic's parliament and government, representatives of political parties and public organizations, and also by employees of the FSB, MIA, Ministry of Emergencies, and the prosecutor's office, who directly deal with combating terrorism.

On March 9, ten unknown persons wearing camouflage and armed with automatic guns entered flat No 76 at Khmelnitski Street, 43 in Lenin District of the Chechen capital and took to an undisclosed location Borchashvili Mikhail Dzhaparovich, born in 1957. Nothing is known about his location now.

As the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent has been informed, the widow of Rustam Nafedzev, participant in the attack on the Nalchik power authorities on October 13 who had three children of pre-school age, filed a law suit in the Nalchik town court against the refusal by the Pension Fund to allocate a social pension to the children. Some other widows are also preparing similar suits.