News

The Federal Agency for Property Management is evicting the Union of Journalists of Russia from its Moscow office, while the Union is preparing to hold the 26th World Congress of Journalists planned in the Russian capital on May 28 - June 1 with participation of mass media representatives from many countries of the world.

Today in Pyatigorsk, the Stavropol Territorial Court has sentenced Roman Koyushev, 24, to 20 years of strict custody colony for murdering the Imam of Kislovodsk mosque.

Denis Bribosia, Council of Europe (CE) Secretary General's Special Representative in Azerbaijan, has stated that CE Secretary General is concerned about arrest of seven journalists in Azerbaijan.

A court in the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, sentenced two journalists to 30 months in prison apiece today on charges of defaming President Ilham Aliyev's uncle.

Representatives of the "Beslan Mothers" and the "Voice of Beslan" Committees are resolutely against the idea to build a church in the place of the tragedy.

After Valery Kuznetsov's appointment to the position of the Public Prosecutor of Chechnya, positive changes have been observed in investigation of the crimes committed by employees of Chechnya's power agencies.

The European Court for Human Rights has rejected the complaint of Russia on the case of Hadjimurat Yandiev who disappeared in Chechnya in 2000, the "Echo Moskvy" Radio reports with reference to the France Press.

Today, the International Helsinki Federation (IHF) has published its report "Amnestied Persons as Persecution Objects in Chechnya." It narrates the destiny of Chechen residents who were amnestied and then kidnapped, tortured and murdered.

At night from May 15 to 16, a fight and a skirmish burst out in the outskirts of Botlikh village in Dagestan, as a result of which one person was killed and two more were taken to hospital with injuries.

The pre-planned interrogation of the expert from the part of the defence did not take place at today's court session in Rostov-on-Don on Arakcheev-Khudyakov's case.

Today, the Azerbaijani Court for Grave Crimes has rejected the petition of the advocates of Farkhad Aliev, ex-Minister for Economic Development of Azerbaijan, his brother Rafik Aliev, president of the "Azpetrol" group of companies, and 17 other defendants who are figurants of the criminal case.

At the press conference in Nalchik, capital of Kabardino-Balkaria, retired general Sufyan Beppaev, Chairman of the "Alan" Public Organization of the Karachai-Balkar-Ossetian people, has expressed his concern of the fact that the situation in the Republic can aggravate because of the forthcoming elections to the State Duma.

A total of 633 persons addressed the Chechen Ombudsman during the first three months of 2007.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court of Russia has found legitimate the decision of Moscow City Court to suspend the proceedings of the murder case of Paul Khlebnikov, editor of the Russian version of the Forbes Magazine.

Today, the Octiabrskiy District Court of Grozny has left Sergey Lapin, former militia officer from the city of Nizhnevartovsk (radio call sign "Cadet"), accused of torturing Zelimkhan Murdalov, a "disappeared" resident of Chechnya, under arrest.

President Eduard Kokoity, making comments today on the statement of Prime Minister of Georgia Zurab Nogaideli on imposing the responsibility for the aggravated situation in the Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone on President of the Republic of South Ossetia (RSO), has stated: "South Ossetia has got used to Georgian authorities' accusations against the South-Ossetian party of any escalation of violence. However, the authorities of South Ossetia do not block any Georgian villages."

The state of health of the children in Ingushetia who have fallen ill with unknown disease is getting worse, and their relatives have to treat them for their own money. This is the topic of the complaint of the victims' relatives that has arrived to the "Chechen Committee for National Salvation."

Today, the Court for Grave Crimes, presided by Tofik Pashaev, has started preliminary consideration of the case of ex-Minister for Economic Development of Azerbaijan Farkhad Aliev, his brother Rafik Aliev and 18 more persons accused under different articles of the Criminal Code.

Today, about 50 journalists tried to hold a non-sanctioned picket in Sabir mini-garden in the centre of Baku, capital of Azerbaijan.

The initiative of European Commission (EC) and the Council of Europe to reduce the number of complaints arriving to the European Court for Human Rights from Russia finds no enthusiasm in Russian human rights defenders and lawyers.