News

In Dinskaya village of the Krasnodar territory militiamen keep in custody the participants of the picket against tortures, Tatiana Rudakova, Chair of the NGO named "Mothers in Defence of Rights of Detainees, Persons on Trial and Convicts", told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The "Kommersant" newspaper reports that over 300 privates and officers of the "Vostok" special battalion of the Ministry of Defence, commanded by Sulim Yamadaev, who is in conflict with President of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov, decided to pass over for service in Chechen militia units.

The Prosecutor's Office of Chechnya has initiated three criminal cases in connection with the attack on the Ombudsman's representative and two armed collisions in the Vedeno District (south of Chechnya).

The OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutes and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the Venetian Commission of the Council of Europe have welcomed the decision of National Assembly of Armenia to make changes in the Law "On Rallies, Marches and Demonstrations".

On April 16, 2008, Khatu Zhigunov, President of the Bar of Kabardino-Balkaria, initiated disciplinary proceedings on termination of the lawyer's status of Larissa Dorogova.

The NGO "Kartlosi" Friendship Bridge is concerned that the authorities of South Ossetia are holding for five days in Tskhinvali in custody a girl of 20 named Yana Bestaeva-Kandelaki.

The European Union expresses serious concern because of Russia's intention to launch legal relations with non-recognized Republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and calls Moscow not to undertake any steps in this direction. This is the topic of the statement of Slovenia, which is currently presiding in the EU.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Chechnya is revolted with the statements about the Chechen militia, made yesterday, on April 18, by Sulim Yamadaev, commander of the "Vostok" (East) battalion.

On April 17 the plenary session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted a report on the situation in democratic institutes of Armenia.

Northern Caucasus remains one of the poorest Russian regions from the viewpoint of respect of human rights. This is the conclusion of the report entitled "Situation in Northern Caucasus. Autumn 2007 - Spring 2008" of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", prepared for the regular round of EU-Russia consultations on human rights that took place on April 16 in Ljubljana.

The region named Kvemo-Kartli, inhabited by most of the Azerbaijanis living in Georgia, is in a very grave situation - both economically and morally. For this reason many residents are forced to leave Georgia.

Today, the jury has acquitted Victor Vysokikh, deputy head of the Public Security Militia of Karelia, accused of professional negligence in relation to mass disorders in Kondopoga in 2006.

Rovshan Novruzoglu, an Azerbaijani political scientist and Director of the Centre for Fighting Corruption and International Terrorism, has been sentenced to four years of imprisonment with serving the punishment in a general custody colony.

Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, has instructed the government to start consultations on admission of Georgian goods to the Russian market and on cancelling visa restrictions for citizens of Georgia.

The cooperation of the authorities of the Chechen Republic with human rights activists is not thus efficient as could be expected after the meeting on February 22 of President of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov with representatives of the Human Rights Centre "Memorial".

Local ecologists think that the agenda of the Mission of the UNESCO's Centre of World Heritage and International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) in Krasnodar Territory and Adygea should be amended.

In Armenia, the GALA TV Company looks for alternatives to restart broadcasting. Vaan Khachatryan, owner of the TV Company, has assured that GALA will surely find a new place for its sending antenna.

The public of Kabardino-Balkaria is positive towards the orders issued by Russian President Vladimir Putin on rendering subject support to Russian citizens living in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Parliamentarians of the Chechen Republic ask Anatoly Serdyukov, Russian Minister of Defence, to disband the "Vostok" (East) special purpose battalion, or to replace its commander Sulim Yamadaev.

The US State Department has reiterated that it does not recognize Nagorno-Karabakh to be an independent state, but will continue its efforts towards peaceful settlement of the conflict.