News

Representatives of unidentified security agencies have abducted and taken away in an unknown direction over 20 residents of Ingushetia since the beginning of the year. On March 19, relatives and friends of abducted and missing people, who have been driven to despair by the unsuccessful search, staged a spontaneous action of protest on the outskirts of Nazran.

Nadyr Aliyev, an Azerbaijan businessman and leader of the Organization of National Unity, has decided to grant a scholarship to Ramil Safarov, the Azerbaijan officer who killed his Armenian colleague, Gurgen Margarian, in Budapest on February 19, 2004.

On March 15, the trial in the case of Artashes Bakhshian, a member of the Armenian State Commission on Protection of Economic Competition, versus the Business Express weekly started at the court of first instance of Yerevan's Arabkir and Kanaker-Zeytun Communes.

On March 17, officers of Akhmad Kadyrov's security service opened fire in the center of Grozny, near the Fashion House. Two people - a teenager and a woman - who turned out to be near the scene were killed as a result.

The secretary of the North Osetian regional branch of the Russian Communist Party (KPRF) and envoy of Communist presidential contender Nikolay Kharitonov, Nataliya Mikhaylenko, told in her telephone interview with the Caucasian Knot correspondent that the March 14 presidential election in North Osetia had bee held with gross violations.

Timur Yandiyev, 25, was abducted at 5 p.m. on March 16 in the center of Nazran, Ingushetia. According to eyewitnesses, unknown armed men forcibly bundled Yandiyev into a white Niva car as he was leaving the building of Ingushenergo Company and drove off to an unknown destination.

The hunger strikers are protesting against the pressure on the Yeni Musavat, appearing in demands to pay court fines, the total sum of which comes to 733 million manats (about $150 thousand), reminded Gabil Abbasoglu, deputy editor-in-chief of the newspaper.

"It is really undesirable to damage relations with Russia, but one shouldn't yield to the recommendations by Russian authorities not to hold the festival if there were any," Yuri Samodurov, director of the Andrey Sakharov Museum and Public Center, said.

The festival is arranged by the organization Estonian War Memorial with the assistance of the Sakharov Public Center.

The Caucasian Knot correspondent learnt about it at the Sunzha district migration department.

26 people were released, 35 are missing, and 2 were found dead, said Dmitry Grushkin, Memorial's activist.

An express survey conducted within the framework of the Rikoshet program via interactive phones has revealed that 68% of the respondents find Russian authorities to be responsible for the safety of aid workers, including those in the North Caucasus.

Locals reported on several men detained by security officers during the actions.

In line with a decree issued by Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, all economic sanctions, introduced against the Adjarian autonomy on March 15, were lifted during the night of March 18-19.

"The main thing is that democratic system and peace have been maintained. There is no conflict between Adjaria and Georgia," the Georgian president emphasized after his talks with Aslan Abashidze.

We call your attention to the statement issued by a number of Georgian civil society activists concerning the developments in Adjaria.

"In the current pre-election period, some political parties have made attempts to use the discontent a certain part of the society has with Mkalavishvili's detention and methods the police has used in order to gain political benefits. Manipulating religious issues and using personal feelings of individuals in order to improve one's own rating is morally unacceptable everywhere, especially in a country that has been suffering from religious violence for years," reads the statement.

On March 17, the Nalchik City Court satisfied the claim by the regional brunch chairman of the All-Russian Movement for Human Rights, Valery Khatazhukov, against the department of the Russian Ministry of Justice in the Republic of Kabardino-Balkaria concerning the registration of the branch.

The leader of the NGO League of People's Defense, ex-parliamentarian Irina Sarishvili-Chanturia, calls upon all non-government forces and non-government organizations (NGOs) to demand that the blockade against Adjaria be stopped.

Action participants are expected to go on foot from Tbilisi along the central motorway in the direction of the post at the Choloki River (Adjaria's administrative border).