News

April 07, 2010 00:00

• Week in the Caucasus: review of main events of March 29-April 4

  Terror acts of suicide-bombers in Moscow and Northern Caucasus cause tough reaction of the Kremlin and give rise to fears of Caucasian phobia outbreak; Mayor of capital of Kalmykia convicted conditionally, another person takes his place; court session on attack on Nalchik disrupted; Georgia releases several detainees, and South Ossetia agrees to Geneva discussions, - look up these and other events in the review of the week of March 29-April 4, 2010, in Caucasian regions prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

April 06, 2010 23:40

• Azerbaijani court rejects claim of student dismissed for disclosing corruption

  On April 5, the Nasimin District Court of Baku refused to satisfy the claim lodged by Elmin Badalov, dismissed from his 4th year at the Azerbaijani State Oil Academy (ASOA), against the Academy bosses.

April 06, 2010 23:00

• Martynov: Jehovah's Witnesses are still oppressed in Russian regions

  Grigory Martynov also told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent about the recent operation of the FSB in Zalesovo village of the Altai Territory.

April 06, 2010 22:50

• In Krasnodar, members of extremist grouping "Pit Bull" sentenced to 6 years in prison

  On April 5, the Sovietskiy District Court of Krasnodar sentenced Vladislav Gmyrya and Pavel Vetrov, the organizer and one of the members of the extremist group named "Pit Bull" to 6 years of imprisonment in a maximum security colony.

April 06, 2010 22:40

• Volgograd Region: Jehovah's Witnesses are searched and detained

  Two girls-believers were detained in the course of their religious service in the city of Novoanninskiy, Volgograd Region, and brought to the local OVD (Interior Division), where their personal things were confiscated; then, searches began in Jehovah's Witnesses' apartments with confiscation of property and money - searches were conducted without witnesses and protocols. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed about it by Grigory Martynov, representative of the press service of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia.

April 06, 2010 22:30

• Opinions on the idea to punish parents for terrorists' crimes diverge

  After the terror acts in Moscow metro on March 29, the Russian society started discussing the idea of punishing terrorists' parents. Supporters of this idea believe that the family shall be responsible for the acts of its member, while opponents are sure that innocent persons shall not be punished.

April 06, 2010 22:00

• Investigation asserts that Lubyanka terror act was committed by Mariam Sharipova

  The explosion at the Lubyanka metro station on March 29 was triggered by Mariam Sharipova, born in 1982, a native of Dagestan and a wife of one of the leaders of Dagestan militants. This was reported by the Federal Operative Staff of the Russian National Antiterrorist Committee (NAC).

April 06, 2010 20:00

• FIDH President urges to release Armenian political prisoners

  The crimes committed on March 1, 2008, in Yerevan should not remain unpunished; they should be solved, and political prisoners should be set free. This was stated today at a press conference by Souhayr Belhassen, President of the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH), who added that her delegation came to Armenia not to hang awards.

April 06, 2010 19:00

• Investigation of Dymovskiy's criminal case stopped

  The criminal case, initiated by the Investigatory Department (ID) for the Krasnodar Territory of the Russian ICPO (Investigatory Committee at the Prosecutor's Office) against the former militiaman Alexei Dymovskiy is stopped.

April 06, 2010 18:00

• Google removes video with Umarov's statement on Moscow terror acts

  Now, the video clip, where the leader of North-Caucasian militants Dokku Umarov reported about his involvement in the explosions in Moscow metro on March 29, is not available in the YouTube resource, since, according to Alla Zabrovskaya, PR director of the Google Russia, it was marked and deleted by moderators.

April 05, 2010 23:50

• Azerbaijan: Baku Mayoralty bans "Musavat" picket

  The picket planned by the oppositional "Musavat" Party on April 6 in front of the building of the executive authority of the city of Baku with a demand to ensure the freedom of assembly was reappointed to April 14. This was stated by Arif Gadjily, head of the central office of the "Musavat" Party.

April 05, 2010 23:20

• Grozny court finds the article about Chechnya in Big Encyclopaedia to be extremist one

  Today, the Zavodskoy District Court of Grozny has treated as extremist the publications about the Chechen Republic in the Big Russian Encyclopaedia and made a decision to confiscate the 58th volume of the edition.

April 05, 2010 23:00

• In Chechnya, four MIA officers are accused of extortion

  Four law enforcers of the Chechen Republic will face trial for extortion and excess of official powers. A high-ranking militia officer and his three subordinates are accused of illegal detention and extortion of a large sum of money from two local entrepreneurs.

April 05, 2010 22:00

• Case on blowing up "Neva-Express" train in 2007 has lots of confusion, lawyers and convicts' relatives say

  The advocates of the convicts for transportation of explosives to the place of explosion of the "Neva-Express" train in 2007 plan to appeal against the verdict of guilty and to apply to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). Their relatives state that the litigation and the verdict were absurd, while detention of the defendants looked more like kidnapping and robbery.

April 05, 2010 21:00

• Sign-in campaign in Internet for cancellation of Article 282 of the Russian Criminal Code

  An appeal to President of Russia with a demand to cancel Article 282 of the Criminal Code (CC) of the Russian Federation ("Kindling hatred or enmity and humiliation of human dignity") was placed in the Internet page of the Party "Homeland: Common Sense". The appeal already has some five hundred subscriptions, said Mikhail Delyagin, chairman of the organizing committee of the Party, at the press conference held at the Independent Press Centre.

April 05, 2010 21:00

• In Moscow metro, unidentified persons made inscriptions "Allah Akbar!" and "Death to Russians!"

  Inscriptions "Allah Akbar!" and "Death to Russians!" appeared on the wall of the metro station "Planernaya" in Moscow. Now, the power agencies of the capital try to find the authors of this graffiti, who, according to eyewitnesses, were natives of the Caucasus.

April 05, 2010 20:00

• Cherkasov: wrong treatment of Caucasians gives rise to terrorism in Russia

  In the opinion of Alexander Cherkasov, a member of the board of the International Society "Memorial", one of the roots of terrorism in Russia is that residents of the Caucasus are treated not like other citizens of Russia, moreover, not like Muscovites. And in the opinion of political scientist Sergey Markedonov, today the war on terror is seen exclusively as a police action; but the problem cannot be solved by police operations only.

April 05, 2010 19:00

• 13 persons injured by terror act in Ingushetia

  Under the latest data, as a result of the terror acts committed today in Karabulak, two persons were lost and 13 more wounded. President of Ingushetia asked the Kremlin to render material aid to the casualties and victims.

April 05, 2010 18:00

• Shlegel: news on militants should just report their liquidation

  Robert Shlegel, a Russian State Duma Deputy and a member of the "Edinaya Rossiya" (United Russia) Party, has brought to consideration of the lower chamber of the Russian Parliament a draft amendment to the law on the mass media, assuming a ban on any citing of terrorists' statements.

April 03, 2010 20:14

• 66 prisoners to be early relieved in Georgia

  In Georgia, 66 inmates will be at large before term and welcome Easter in their families. The respective decision was made by the commission on conditional-early relief at its sitting on April 2.