News

Moscow notary Fail Sadretdinov, defendant in the case of murder of Paul Khlebnikov, chief editor of the Forbes magazine Russian version, has attempted suicide, reports the RIA "Novosti." The information comes from a source in the capital's law enforcement agencies. "Sadretdinov has made an attempt of suicide. He tried to cut his veins," said the agency interlocutor.

A criminal case was initiated in Krasnodar for abuse of powers by a warrant officer of a military unit. This has been reported by Natif Gadjimetov, assistant of military prosecutor of the North Caucasus Military District. Warrant officer Stanislav Shkriabunov beat junior sergeant, resulting in the regular term serviceman having his spleen amputated.

Today, the court ruling on the case of attempted murder of Amuchi Amutinov, deputy-Premier of Dagestan and manager of the republic's pension fund, has been announced.

The Russian office of PEN-centre, international organization of writers and poets, will possibly be closed, announced Alexander Tkachenko, head of the centre, in an interview to Radio Liberty.

The search for the kidnappers and the persons kidnapped on the night of February 9 in the Gudermes district, Chechnya, has yielded no results.

In Stavropol Territory, a private serving a regular term at a Russian MIA military unit located in Nalchik (KBR) has been sentenced to two years of imprisonment at a penal colony for non-statutory relations.

Today, the magistrate of Meschanski district in Moscow considers the administrative case of violation of rules for conducting public events. Under trial are the Moscow human rights activists who participated in the picket on the Lubyanka Square by the FSB building. The human rights activists protested against accusation of non-profit organizations (NGOs and NPOs) of their links with foreign secret services, runs the statement of the "Public Verdict" Foundation handed over to the "Caucasian Knot."

The lawyers of one the defendants in the case of murder of Paul Khlebnikov, chief editor of the Forbes magazine Russian version, have filed a complaint to the Russian Federal Service for Enforcement of Punishments (FSIN) and special rapporteur on human rights at the UN Committee against Torture and other Inhuman Treatment in connection with the pressure exerted on their defendant, reports RIA "Novosti."

Forty thousand Chechen residents may find themselves on the edge of a humanitarian catastrophe due to the suspension of activity of the Danish Committee on Refugees.

The Nizhni Novgorod prosecutor's office states that it is going to appeal against the sentence to Stanislav Dmitrievskiy, chief editor of the "Pravozaschita" newspaper. The "Gazeta.Ru" correspondent reports that the prosecutor's office intends to file an appeal in the course of this week.

The fate of the employee of the Grozny office of the International Red Cross Committee who was kidnapped in Chechnya by unidentified persons in summer of 2003 is still unknown.

On February 6, the first session on the case of a Russian officer, through whose fault the village of Starye Atagi in Grozny district, Chechnya, was shelled, started in Grozny garrison military tribunal.

On February 4, one of the Krasnodar Territory TV Channels and a local newspaper suggested that human rights activists are connected with secret services, in particular, with British intelligence, runs the message from the "Novorossiysk Committee for Human Rights" submitted to the "Caucasian Knot."

During the period from 2000 to 2005, the courts of Stavropol Territory have considered 440 civil cases connected with compensation for damage to persons who suffered as a result of crisis in Chechnya.

On February 2, 2006, the Supreme Court of the Republic of Ingushetia completed the hearing of the case of Murad Iraklievich Margoshvili, a Chechen resident accused of crimes under Article 205, Part 3 (terrorism), Article 209, Parts 1, 2 (banditism), Article 222, Part 3 (Illegal acquisition, storage, transportation or wearing of arms and explosives), Article 223, Part 3 (Illegal manufacture of arms), Article 34, Part 3 (Illegal trade in hard or poisonous substances).

On February 3, a clean-up ("zachistka") was carried out in the Kotar-Yurt settlement of Achkhoi-Martan district, Chechnya.

"It very much looks like a forgery," Yuri Dzhibladze, president of Moscow's Centre for Development of Democracy and Human Rights, said who was monitoring the Dmitrievskiy's trial progress.

The "Memorial" human rights centre has made a statement on the court trial over Stanislav Dmitrievskiy which runs that "the verdict to Dmitrievskiy is a further step towards liquidation of freedom of speech in the country."

"The declarative part of the sentence to Stanislav Dmitrievskiy is a full copy of the presentation of the prosecution case at the hearing," stated today Tatiana Lokshina, chair of the board, Moscow's centre "Demos."

The sentence given today to Stanislav Dmitrievskiy, human rights activist and journalist, has been commented on by Oleg Panfilov, director of the Centre of Extreme Journalism under the Union of Journalists.