All news

July 20, 2009 20:10

• Moscow GUVD accepts application of Kadyrov's advocate on initiating a criminal case against Orlov

  On July 20, the GUVD (City Interior Department) of Moscow accepted the application submitted by Andrei Krasnenkov, advocate of President of Chechnya, and requesting to open a criminal case against Oleg Orlov, Chairman of the HRC "Memorial".

July 20, 2009 20:00

• Azerbaijan: Appeal Court rejects bloggers' complaints

  On July 20, the Baku Appeal Court continued considering the appeal complaints lodged by bloggers Emin Milli and Adnan Gadjizade, who challenged the decisions of the first instance court about their arrest for 2 months on accusation of hooliganism.

July 20, 2009 19:00

• Court accepts claim of newspaper "Chernovik" against Public Prosecutor and "Rossvyazkomnadzor" of Dagestan

  Today, a judicial session took place in Dagestan on the claim of "Rossvyazkomnadzor" (Federal Agency for Supervising Communications) to close the independent newspaper "Chernovik" (Blueprint), where the paper has lodged a counterclaim against Igor Tkachov, Public Prosecutor of the Republic of Dagestan and the territorial department of "Rossvyazkomnadzor" for Dagestan. The judge has accepted the counterclaim.

July 20, 2009 18:00

• Mary Robinson: Estemirova's death is a tragic example of cold-blooded murder of a courageous human rights activist

  The murder of Natalia Estemirova, an employee of the HRC "Memorial" is another tragic example of a cold-blooded murder of a courageous human rights activist, runs a personal statement of Mary Robinson, President of the International Commission of Lawyers. According to Ms Robinson, Natalia Estemirova was one of the most courageous and inspiring human rights defenders she had ever met.

July 18, 2009 23:00

• Foreign media advise Medvedev to dismiss Kadyrov

  The leading western media, while making comments on Natalia Estemirova's murder, express their concern that this not the first crime against human rights activists and critics of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov and his Kremlin patrons.

July 18, 2009 22:00

• Azerbaijan: killers of journalist Elmar Guseinov still unfound

  On July 17, advocates of the freedom of speech in Azerbaijan commemorated Elmar Guseinov, editor-in-chief of the popular Azerbaijani "Monitor" magazine, who was shot dead by hired gunmen on March 2, 2005.

July 18, 2009 21:00

• Georgian Parliament toughens regulations on manifestations

  On July 17, the Parliament of Georgia adopted three bills "On Assemblies and Manifestations", "On Police" and Code of Administrative Offences, which assume tougher regulations on holding manifestations and more severe punishments for beaching them.

July 18, 2009 20:00

• "Memorial" leader Oleg Orlov is ready to face Ramzan Kadyrov in court

  Oleg Orlov, Chair of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", is ready to litigate with President of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov, who is now preparing, via his advocate, his claims to the court and Moscow GUVD (City Interior Department) in the context of Mr Orlov's statements about Mr Kadyrov's responsibility for the murder of human rights defender Natalia Estemirova.

July 18, 2009 19:00

• Chechen TV channels convince viewers that certain forces murdered Estemirova to blacken Kadyrov

  In Chechnya, TV channels are quoting, in their news programmes, the authorities of the republic, who keep asserting that the murder of human rights defender Natalia Estemirova was backed by certain forces willing to blacken the peoples of Chechnya and Ingushetia and Ramzan Kadyrov personally.

July 18, 2009 18:00

• HRC "Memorial" suspends its work in Chechnya

  The Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" suspends its activity in Chechnya after the kidnapping and murder of its employee Natalia Estemirova.

July 17, 2009 23:58

• Russian human rights activists to support head of HRC "Memorial" in litigation against President of Chechnya

  Russian human rights activists promise to support Oleg Orlov, leader of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", in litigation against President of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov. This was stated by Liudmila Alekseeva, Chair of the Moscow Helsinki Group. Mr Kadyrov also has a supporter - Ombudsman in Chechnya Nurdi Nukhazhiev.

July 17, 2009 23:00

• Meeting in memory of Natalia Estemirova held in Paris

  In the evening on July 17, about 150 persons came to St Michel Square in Paris to commemorate the perished human rights activist Natalia Estemirova.

July 17, 2009 22:30

• Employees of "Memorial" in Chechnya discuss expediency of further work in the republic

  Employees of the Chechen branches of the HRC "Memorial" are gathering to a meeting aimed to discuss the expediency of their further work and presence in the Chechen Republic. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told about it by Lilia Yusupova, advocate and head of the Gudermes branch of the HRC "Memorial".

July 17, 2009 22:00

• Armenia: criminal case initiated against policemen who opened fire at opposition rally

  The Special Investigatory Service (SIS) of Armenia has opened a criminal case against the policemen who used the special means named "Cheryomukha-7" during dispersal of peaceful oppositional rally on March 1 last year in Yerevan. Journalists were informed about it by Sona Truzyan, press secretary of the State Office of Public Prosecutor of Armenia.

July 17, 2009 21:10

• In Chechnya, during Estemirova's farewell ceremony unknown persons tried to stop the procession

  In the course of the farewell ceremony with the well-known human rights defender Natalia Estemirova, killed on July 15, two men in civil clothes, one of them with firearms on him, tried to stop the column that moved along the Putin Avenue in Grozny ahead of the catafalque with Estemirova's body.

July 17, 2009 21:00

• "Berlin's German-Russian Exchange" is shocked by Estemirova's murder

  The organization named "Berlin's German-Russian Exchange" (DRA) was shocked by the news about violent murder of Russian human rights activist Natalia Estemirova and thinks that Russia is still far from "overcoming its legal nihilism."

July 17, 2009 21:00

• OSCE representative calls Azerbaijani authorities to release arrested bloggers

  In the course of the meetings, held by the OSCE Secretary General Marc Perrin de Brichambaut with officials of Azerbaijan during his visit to Baku on July, 15-17, the issue was raised about the bloggers Adnan Gadjizade and Emin Milli, who were arrested last week.

July 17, 2009 20:30

• Picket in memory of Natalia Estemirova held in Moscow

  The picket in memory of the assassinated employees of the Grozny "Memorial" Natalia Estemirova lasted in the Novopushkinskiy Mini-Park of Moscow for one and a half hours. Over 200 persons came to commemorate the human rights activist and express protest against events in Chechnya. At 7:17 p.m. the militiamen who surrounded the site allocated for the picket demanded the participants to disperse.

July 17, 2009 20:30

• Criminals killed Estemirova, having suspected a militia raid, investigation believes

  The Investigatory Committee at the Prosecutor's Office (ICPO) of the Russian Federation has restored the picture of the murder of the employee of the HRC "Memorial" in Chechnya Natalia Estemirova. Under inspectors' preliminary conclusions, the kidnappers initially were not going to kill the human rights activist, but had to do it, probably, having come across a road blockade. They could take the operative group that worked on the road for a round-up mission against them.

July 17, 2009 19:00

• European Court finds Russia guilty of a Chechen resident's disappearance in 2003

  On July 16, the European Court on Human Rights (ECtHR) passed a decision, obliging Russia to pay 50,500 euros to relatives of Arbi Karimov, a resident of Chechnya, as Russian authorities were found guilty of his disappearance in 2003.