All news

Initiation in Georgia of a criminal case against Russian citizen Besik Pipiya, head of the representative office of the RIA "Novosti" in Tbilisi, is politically motivated. This was stated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Russia.

Human rights activists assert that the process of inquiry into the murder of the well-known Chechen human rights defender Natalia Estemirova is under pressure. As reported today by Alexander Cherkasov, a member of the Board of the HRC "Memorial", they had to take one of the witnesses - an employee of the "Memorial" - away from Chechnya for this reason.

Maksharip Aushev, a former leader of the opposition, has informed the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent about an unsuccessful attempt to kidnap him in Ingushetia.

Today, the Sabail District Court of Baku has started judicial hearing on the case of young bloggers Adnan Gadjizade and Emin Milli, accused of hooliganism and application of bodily injuries.

Magomed Gandarov, advocate of three figurants in the so-called "Case of Twelve", is going to appeal against the decision to cancel the court of jurymen on his clients to the supervisory instance of the Supreme Court of Russia. Mr Gandarov himself told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent about it.

On September 15, the Press Centre of the RIA "Novosti" in Moscow hosted a roundtable on the role of the civil society and mass media in confronting terrorism and prevention of extremism. However, its main topic was in fact the statement of the authorities' defeat on the front of media war on terrorism.

The information about the terror committed today before afternoon in the centre of the capital of Chechnya remains contradictory. According to some sources, two militiamen were killed by the explosion, by other ones - some six-eight persons suffered.

Priest Vissarion Apliaa, leader of the Abkhazian Orthodox Church, believes that the decision on independence of the local church was historically motivated. "We just want to restore the historical justice; and nobody can challenge our decision. We've made a lawful canonical decision, and we've invented nothing," Father Vissarion said to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

President of Russia Dmitri Medvedev is satisfied with how President of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov is working, and asked foreign political scientists not to depict him as a "bad boy".

Yesterday, on September 14, in Khattuni, a village of the mountainous Vedeno District of the Chechen Republic, as local residents assert, a broad-scale "zachistka" (mopping-up) was conducted, during which a local resident was kidnapped. The republic's power structures refuse to make any comments.

After the news appeared that the Prosecutor's Office of Novorossisk had sent a petition to the court on suspension of the activity of the Novorossisk Committee on Human Rights (NCHR), a number of Russian NGO voiced in defence of human rights defenders: AGORA, YURIX, MHG (Moscow Helsinki Group) and Foundation "Public Verdict". The Movement "For Human Rights" has made a statement; and another statement is prepared, which will be soon open for signing-in. This was reported by Vadim Karastelyov, an expert of the NCHR.

On the opinion of advocate and human rights defender Ivan Pavlov, director of the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI), the war on corruption in Ingushetia should start with ensuring citizens' free access to about the operation of state bodies.

The special European commission set up for investigating into the circumstances of the last year's August conflict in the Caucasus plans to disclose the results of its studies quite soon. However, now, 9 months later, during which the commission has spent 1.6 million euros, there is a probability that the report will be made classified, the "Russian Newsweek" writes with reference to "well-informed sources."

The preliminary investigation on the murder case of human rights defender Natalia Estemirova has been prolonged. According to the official version, there was no enough time to conduct all the pre-planned investigatory-operative actions, since "quite many problems have appeared."

The terrorist-suicide bomber who committed the terror act on September 12 at the school building near the Bilimkhanov Stadium in Grozny has been identified. He was Aslanbek Dzhabrailov, born in 1986, a native of Elistanzhi village, Vedeno District of Chechnya. This was reported by Vladimir Markin, spokesman of the Investigatory Committee at the Prosecutor's Office (ICPO) of the Russian Federation.

Today, the report of the international Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) "Anatomy of Impunity: Unsolved Murders of Journalists in Russia" was made public in Moscow; mostly, the report is on Northern Caucasus.

An official note of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Venezuela about recognition of independence of the Republic of Abkhazia was served to the Abkhazian delegation, which is on its official visit to Venezuela. This was reported today by the press service of the MFA of Abkhazia.

Yesterday, on September 14, the Tbilisi City Court considered the case on the so-called "Mukhrovani mutiny". 34 defendants have admitted their guilt of disobedience to the order of the commander of Mukhrovani battalion, when they refused to go out for preparing for the Georgia's Independence Day. Disobedience to the commander's order is punished under part 2, Article 316 of the Criminal Code of Georgia.

Last year, the number of registered facts of trafficking in people in Azerbaijan was 394, and in the first six months of this year already 250 such cases were recorded. This was reported by Araz Babaev, senior operative officer of the MIA, at a seminar on the problems of trafficking in humans.

Plenty of refugees from Georgia seek asylum in Poland. According to the Polish Department for Foreigners' Matters, every day about 100 citizens of Georgia apply for granting a refuge; they try to enter the country through the Polish-Belarus border check point in Terespol, a railway junction on the Polish side near Brest.