News

Today, for more than one hour, starting from 6 p.m. local time, members of law enforcement bodies of Armenia detained and took to police stations about 40 persons out of those who rallied in the Severny Avenue in Yerevan.

There are suspicions that a young man was kidnapped in the Barsuki municipal unit of Ingushetia.

Journalist Einullah Fatullaev, who is kept in Colony No. 12, started his hunger strike with a demand to release other journalists arrested in Azerbaijan.

In Dagestan, militia captain Ruslan Rasulov has addressed his application to the Investigatory Department of the Investigatory Committee at the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation for the Republic of Dagestan on violation of his observer's rights during the presidential election on March 2. The application also states falsification of the election outcomes at one of the polling stations of Makhachkala.

In the capital of North Ossetia, the driver of an Armoured Troop Carrier (ATC) accused of driving down Aishat Pogorova has been sentenced to two years of imprisonment in a colony-settlement.

Yesterday, on March 25, journalist of Channel One Ilyas Shurpaev, who was killed in Moscow on March 21, was buried in Makhachkala. About a thousand persons took part in the mourning ceremony.

Relatives of Madina Ausheva who was killed by Russian power agents on February 28, 2008, as a result of a special operation in Nazran suburb, assert that her body handed out to relatives was without internal organs.

Yesterday, on March 24, the Union of Journalists of Dagestan held a mourning rally dedicated to the memory of Ilyas Shurpaev and Gaji Abashilov.

Gulnara Rustamova, Chair of the organization "Dagestan Mothers for Human Rights", has addressed the Moscow Helsinki Group and Human Rights Centre "Memorial" with a complaint against "arbitrariness and impunity" of the power agencies of the Republic.

Today, the Military Prosecutor's Office of North Ossetia held the final session on the case of soldier Darkhan Seitmagambetov, accused of killing a woman in November 2007 with the BTR-80 armoured troop carrier (ATC) that he was driving.

Tonight, on the 17th day of the protest action, the opposition of Georgia has made a decision to stop the hunger strike. Despite the end of the hunger strike, the protest action near the building of the Parliament will go on, Georgiy Khaindrava, one of the leaders of the opposition, has stated.

Tonight, people in Armenia have succeeded in raising the necessary sum of money to cover the fine imposed by the Administrative Court of the city of Gyumri on the GALA TV Company.

Today the air traffic between Georgia and Russia that was interrupted in 2006 has resumed. By the end of this week, the Georgia-Russia marine traffic will also restart.

The Special Investigatory Group has presented an indictment under several Articles of the Criminal Code of Armenia to Aram Sarkisyan, former prime minister, leader of the "Republic" Party and member of the Central Election Office of Levon Ter-Petrosyan.

In the evening on March 24, reinforced police units of Armenia pushed away the people who had gathered in the Severny Avenue of Yerevan, about one thousand in total.

Satirical journalist Sakit Zakhidov who is in custody in Azerbaijan is still heavily sick and needs serious treatment.

The American co-chairman of the Minsk OSCE Group Matthew Bryza has disclosed some details of the negotiations: firstly, recognition of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan; secondly, return of 7 districts to Azerbaijan and return of forced migrants to these regions; thirdly, withdrawal of Armenian troops; fourthly, setting up a corridor ensuring communication of Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia; fifthly, debate on the status of Nagorno-Karabakh that can be decided on the basis of compromises during negotiations.

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.