News

On June 18, a group of inmates of the general custody No. 10 made a fight with the sentries. There are injured persons among the colony officers and the inmates, several persons were hospitalized with grave traumas.

The human rights organization named "The International Federation of Journalists", based in Brussels, is satisfied with the charges presented to the three journalists suspected of murdering journalist Anna Politkovskaya and demands that they should be properly punished.

Authors of the "Ingushetia.Ru" website have lodged a cassation complaint against the ruling of the Kuntsevo District Court of Moscow that prescribes to stop the operation of the Internet resource.

After two explosions on June 18 in Sukhumi suburb, the guard of Russian railway troop servicemen, who are repairing the railway in Abkhazia, was intensified.

On June 18, during their visit to Kabardino-Balkaria, plenipotentiaries of the Netherlands and Belgium Yan-Paul Dirkse and Bertrand de Krommeburg had a meeting with Mariam Akhmatova, mother of a suspect in the criminal case related to the attack on Nalchik in October 2005.

On June 17, power agents detained four employees of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" in the Urus-Martan District of Chechnya and threatened to execute them.

The official answer of the State Office of Public Prosecutor of Armenia to the request of the Chairman of the Helsinki Association of Armenia Mikael Danielyan of May 11 runs that none of the March 1 casualties has been qualified as a victim.

Today, the Executive Committee of the Avar National Council has addressed an open letter to President of Dagestan Mukhu Aliev. The appeal makes emphasis on the situation with the Avars who live in Azerbaijan.

The Presidium of the Supreme Court of Russia has rejected the cassation presentation lodged by the General Prosecutor's Office on the murder case of the editor-in-chief of the Russian version of the Forbes Magazine Paul Khlebnikov. The case will go back to the prosecutor's office.

The Investigatory Committee at the Russian Prosecutor's Office has informed today about the completion of the investigation in relation to the persons accused of murdering the observer of the "Novaya Gazeta" Anna Politkovskaya.

Sources in South Ossetia assert that Georgia is hurriedly erecting fortifications in the Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone. The South-Ossetian part of the MCC (Mixed Control Commission) appeals to the peacekeepers and the OSCE to register these violations.

In Kalmykia, June 18 has been announced a day-off in honour of Buddha Shakyamuni's birthday. President of Kalmykia Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has signed a corresponding decree.

On June 19 in Washington, representatives of the US Helsinki Commission and Russian experts on the Northern Caucasus will speak to a briefing on aggravation of situation in Ingushetia.

On June 16 late at night, co-Rapporteurs of the PACE Monitoring Mission George Colombier and John Prescott had a meeting with Levon Ter-Petrosyan, the first president of Armenia. They discussed the fulfilment process of the PACE's Resolution No. 1609 and ways out of the internal political crisis in Armenia.

Andrei Nesterenko, and official spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, has stated today that phasing out the peacemaking operation in the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict zone will entail aggravation of the situation in the region.

In Azerbaijan, the health condition of journalist Emin Guseinov, who was exposed on June 14 to physical and moral pressure at a police station, remains grave. He is still unable to eat and drink anything but water, experiences strong pains in his head and dizziness, and cannot move by himself.

Soon a new website can appear on the Internet - an attempt of the command of the GRU's "Vostok" (East) battalion to break through the information blockade held against it by the authorities of Chechnya.

The Institute for Peace and Democracy has moved a demand to punish the policemen who thrashed on June 14th in the capital of Azerbaijan the journalists and human rights activist who celebrated the 80th birthday of Cuban revolutionary Ernesto (Che) Guevara.

Today is two years after arrest of Armand Babadzhanyan, editor-in-chief of the "Zhamanak-Yerevan" newspaper. A group of his colleagues, journalists and NGO representatives have held a protest action today in the capital of Armenia with a demand to release Mr Babadzhanyan.

Today, the Sochi Winter Theatre has held the official closing ceremony of the 19th "Kinotaurus" Russian Open Film Festival. The prize for the best feature film was given to the "Shultes" film by director-debutant Bakur Bakuradze. The monetary worth of the prize is 625,000 roubles.