All news

On May 22, in Tuapse, preliminary hearings in the criminal case against Suren Gazaryan and Evgeny Vitishko, members of the Board of the "Ecological Watch for Northern Caucasus" and the "Yabloko" Party, accused of damaging a fence around the alleged summer cottage of Alexander Tkachov, Governor of the Krasnodar Territory, were completed. The court dismissed most part of the defence's motions.

On May 22, the Kirov District Court of Astrakhan began to consider materials on the lawsuit filed by Oleg Shein, the ex-candidate for the position of City Mayor, relating to electoral precincts in the Lenin District. Witnesses, speaking at the trial, reported on a number of violations in the course of the election of City Mayor.

On May 11, Muslimat Magomedova, the resident of the village of Nechaevka of the Kizilyurt District of Dagestan, sent to President Vladimir Putin an appeal, in which she asked him to take investigation into the murder of Maryam Magomedova, her daughter, under his personal control and take steps to ensure that the criminal case against the murderers would be brought to court.

Ruslan Rakhaev, ex-Deputy Chief of Cherkessk Police, accused of beating to death a detainee, did not commit that crime. This was stated by his aunt Lydia Zhabelova and his sister Amina Kazakova from Nalchik. They conducted their own investigation and believe that the case against Ruslan Rakhaev bears signs of falsification. Rakhaev's lawyer believes that his client had no motive to commit the crime, of which he is charged. According to Adalbi Shkhagoshev, the State Duma Deputy, the version of Ruslan Rakhaev's relatives is worth attention of investigators.

Tonight, in the centre of Baku, activists held a walking rally to attract attention of city residents and foreign visitors, who arrived in Azerbaijan to watch the song contest "Eurovision 2012", to the problems with democracy in the country. The protesters wore white T-shirts with slogans reading: "Sing for Democracy".

The Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Dagestan (RD) refused to sanction rally against the arbitrariness of law enforcement bodies planned to be held on May 28 in Makhachkala. This was reported to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by the Ministry of Justice.

A soldier of the Azerbaijani State Border Guard Service shot dead his colleague and then committed suicide.

Today Abdurahman Magomedov detained on May, 19, during a special operation in Makhachkala was released from Kirov district Department of Interior Affairs, his attorney Ziyavdin Uvaisov reported.

On May, 22, four employees of Dendrologic park "Southern Cultures" in Adler district of Sochi went on a hunger strike because of non-payment of wages, leader of local branch of KPRF Yury Dzagania reported.

Information appeared in Russian blogs and mass media that a police officer in Chelyabinsk made an inquiry about schoolchildren natives of the Caucasus in the educational institutions. Representatives of the Public Chamber of Russia are currently going to look into the situation.

In Stavropol, more than forty activists of different organizations took part in the protest action against the pointwise development of the historical centre. The protest action was organized by social movement "Protest Committee of Stavropol City".

Today, initiators of the ended campaign "Sing for Democracy" summed up of their activities of several months and noted serious problems with the situation of human rights in Azerbaijan.

The Youth Parliament of the State Council-Khase of Adygea, which organized the first national contest of bloggers, plans to establish a bloggers' school.

In accordance with the verdict of the Tver Regional Court on the case of undermining the "Neva-Express" train committed in 2009, four defendants were sentenced to life imprisonment. The remaining six defendants were sentenced to 7-8 years of imprisonment. This was reported by Musa Pliev, the lawyer of defendant Timur Kartoev.

At the plenary session, 111 MPs voted unanimously for the amendments to the Constitution of Georgia, which allow Bidzina Ivanishvili, the leader of the opposition coalition "Georgian Dream", running for the upcoming parliamentary elections.

The Azerbaijani authorities disagree with the reports, disseminated by the media, on worsening of the situation around the "David Gareja" Monastery Complex, located on the border between Azerbaijan and Georgia. On Monday, May 21, at the press conference held in Baku, Ali Gasanov, Chief of the Public and Political Department of the Presidential Administration, declared absence of border disputes between the two countries.

At the European Championship in Sport and Combat Sambo, held on May 18-20 May in Moscow, athlete Sultan Aliev became one of the Russians athletes, who won the gold medals. Abdul Abdulzhalilov, another fighter from the republic, won the European Cup in Judo in the competitions held on May 19-20 in Orenburg.

On May, 21, a spontaneous gathering was held by residents of Kudepsta neighbourhood on the left bank of the Kudepsta river. About one hundred people took part in it. The citizens demanded to stop construction of Kudepsta thermal power plant (TPP) and organized watching in order not to let the developers into the building site of the plant.

A meeting of residents of Astrakhan on the bank of the Volga held on May, 20, with Oleg Shein’s participation was broken off by the police personnel.

On May, 21, a single-person picket with the demand of Mayor Anatoly Pakhomov’s resignation was held near the Administration of Sochi. 200 signatures of the townsmen were collected, Irina Brovkina who held the picket declared.