All news

Sergei Shamba, Minister of Foreign Affairs in Abkhazia, calls the statement of Temur Mzhaviya, head of the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia, on the necessity to declare the Galski district of Abkhazia which borders Georgia a zone under international monitoring as a "hollow and populist slogan".

The Armenian Defense Ministry, with reference to NATO, announces that, from September 20 to 21, the manoeuvres "Joint Spearman-08" are going to held in Armenia within the "Partnership for Peace" (PP) program.

The military panel of the Russian Supreme Court has postponed the hearing of the complaint of Sergei Arakcheyev and Yevgheni Khudiakov, officers of the Russian MoI internal troops, until August 28.

According to the Georgian Labour party information, officers of the Constitutional Security Department detained Archil Benidze, Labour party representative, on the night of July 25.

Last night, unidentified persons fired at the house of Ruslan Albogachiyev, Ingushetia Public Assembly deputy. There no casualties. The incident was reported to journalists by the republic's law enforcement agencies.

Military observers of the Joint Peace-making Forces (JPMF) representing three parties point out new violations of the current agreements within the Georgia and South Ossetia conflict zone, the situation there remains aggravated, reports captain Vladimir Ivanov, assistant commander of the Joint Peace-making Forces (JPMF) for mass-media relations, to journalists.

The monitoring conducted by peace-makers has revealed that two remote control devices exploded within the South Ossetia border zone.

On July 25, seven unidentified persons wearing masks and camouflaged uniforms and armed with machine guns kidnapped two residents of Kantyshevo village, Ingushetia, only 200 meters away from the North Ossetia administrative border with Ingushetia.

Lluis Maria de Puig, Chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), believes that the temporary parliamentary commission created for investigation of the events on March 1-2 in the capital of Armenia "does not inspire much trust."

Today, the Supreme Court of Karelia has prolonged by 3 months, till October 29, 2008, the custody term for the persons accused on the case of Kondopoga disorders.

Today, the office of the Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS) hosted the presentation of the Electronic database comprising the journalists, who were subjected to pressure in Azerbaijan since 1990. It is placed in the website of the IRFS. The project was implemented at financial support of the Soros Foundation.

Armand Musinyan, press secretary of the National Movement Centre, told journalists today that starting from August 1 (the day of the appointed rally), the actions of the opposition will become more resolute and vigorous.

Zurab Tsechoev, an employee of the human rights Autonomous Independent Organization (AIO) "Mashr", who was kidnapped today in the morning, was beaten and accused of placing lists with addresses of employees of local law enforcement bodies in the website "Ingushetia.Ru", the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed by Timur Akiev, head of the HRC "Memorial" office in the city of Nazran.

Ruslan Kishmariya, plenipotentiary envoy of the President of Abkhazia in the Gali District, treated as improbable the message from Georgia that "Abkhazian militiamen killed a Georgian national-resident of the Gali District Zhilber Kuprava, 65, when he was coming back in the morning on July 25 to his native village of Nabakevi from Zugdidi."

The All-Russian Public Organization "Voice of Beslan" has brought an action against the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of North Ossetia and its Russian counterpart. The victims of the terror act are sure that these two state bodies shall pay their moral compensation.

The prosecutor's office of the city of Volgodonsk (Rostov Region) has sent a criminal case to the City Court opened against Anton Sh., 20, accused of sending SMS-messages with appeals to kill Russians.

Today, the Caspian Plaza business centre in the capital of Azerbaijan was the venue of awarding Ann Derse, US Ambassador in Baku, with the prize "Journalists' Friend", founded by the NGO "Political and Civil Rights". The ceremony was attended by MPs, mass media managers and human rights activist of Azerbaijan.

Emin Guseinov, head of the Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS) has addressed the Nasiminskiy District Court of Baku with a statement of claim against the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Azerbaijan and a local police on the fact of his beating on June 14 this year.

On July 23, the magistrate court in Sochi sentenced two residents of the Imereti Valley to 12-day arrest for resisting and threatening the authorities, and for participation in a non-sanctioned rally.

Tonight, the authorities of South Ossetia released Temur Goginashvili, a resident of Georgian village Nikozi, who was detained earlier on murder charges.