Week in the Caucasus: review of main events of May 13-19

Start of hearing in Rostov-on-Don of the case of Ali Taziev, a leader of North-Caucasian militants; trial of officials in connection with flood in Krymsk; death in Afghanistan of three Georgian servicemen and actions in defence and against sexual minorities in Tbilisi; self-explosion of a suspected militant in Ingushetia; pupils in Chechnya get poisoned with some unknown substance, - look these and other events in the Caucasus in the review of the week of May 13-19, 2013, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

Court in Rostov starts hearing the case of Ali Taziev, a leader of North-Caucasian militants

On May 13 in Rostov-on-Don, the North-Caucasian Regional Military Court began considering the case of Ali Taziev, also known as "Magas", a native of Ingushetia and one of the leaders of the "Imarat Kavkaz". Taziev is accused of organizing and heading illegal armed formations (IAFs). According to investigators, members of the IAFs organized by Ali Taziev were involved in a number of especially grave crimes, in particular, in the explosion of the passenger bus in Nevinnomyssk in December 2007; the explosion at the building of the OVD (Interior Division) in Ingushetia in August 2009, and in the attempt on the head of Ingushetia Yunus-Bek Evkurov. Taziev stated to the court that he partially recognized his guilt. Judging by the accusations presented to Ali Taziev, the defendant will be sentenced - for breaking a number of articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - to life-long imprisonment, said the lawyer Evgeniy Chernousov, a retired militia colonel. The head of Ingushetia Yunus-Bek Evkurov treats the trial of Ali Taziev as a blow on militants' ideologists.

At trial of officials in connection with flood in Krymsk, victims assert they had not heard emergency warning

On May 15, the Abinsk District Court began hearing on the merits the case of negligence of officials during the flood in Krymsk in July last year. The session began reading the indictment. The state prosecution began with announcing the charges against the ex-head of the Krymsk District Vasily Krutsko, including the forged documents about the work conducted to prevent the emergency. Vasily Krutsko pled partially guilty. The remaining three defendants - the ex-Mayor of Krymsk Vladimir Ulanovskiy, ex-head of the Nizhnebakansk Rural Settlement Irina Ryabchenko and Victor Zhdanov, the acting head of the district department for preventing accidents and civil defence - have stated that they would state their position during the interrogation. On May 16, the court listened to testimonies of the first six victims, who stated that they had not heard the warning about the threatening emergency. According to their stories, there were no announcement by loudspeakers or Dario; they did not hear the siren.

Georgia: loss of servicemen in Afghanistan and actions in support and against sexual minorities

Three servicemen from Georgia were lost and other 20 persons were wounded in the Afghan province of Helmand as a result of the attack of terrorists on the base of the 42nd battalion committed on May 13. May 16 was announced the mourning day in Georgia; and on that very day the bodies of the perished Georgian soldiers were brought from Afghanistan; hundreds of people came to the funeral ceremony held in the Cashveti Church in Tbilisi.

On May 17, Tbilisi hosted a rally in defence sexual minorities, which was interrupted by actions of the opponents and ended in mass clashes. The number of victims reached 28 persons. The Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Georgia began an inquiry into the clashes. The actions of the police during the preparation and holding of the actions on May 17 were criticized by the Georgian Ombudsman Ucha Nanuashvili. In his opinion, the police should have prevented the clashes, as the MIA had known in advance that the opponents of the rally were tuned aggressively and planned to group together near the rally. The actions of supporters and opponents of gay parades took place in the Georgian capital also on May 18; they were attended by several hundred persons. The actions were held at the background of minor verbal skirmishes of the two groups; however, the police managed to prevent clashes with the use of physical violence.

In Ingushetia, suspected militant blows himself up

On May 17 in the village of Ordzhonikidzevskaya, Sunzha District of Ingushetia, where power agents conducted a special operation, in one of the households, a suspected IAF member triggered a grenade and killed himself. He wore a suicide bomber's belt, said Djabrail Shaukhalov, the head of the press service of the Ingush MIA. According to the Investigatory Committee, seven power agents were wounded by the explosion. It became clear later that the self-explosion was committed by a resident of Chechnya Said-Hussein Atnazov, born in 1981. Akhmed Khashiev, in whose house Atnazov had committed the self-explosion, was detained; and a criminal case was initiated against him under the article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation "Organization of an illegal armed formation or participation therein".

In Chechnya, several dozens pupils got poisoned at school with some unknown substance

On May 17, pupils and a teacher of the General Education School No. 17 of Grozny were brought to the Republic's Children Clinical Hospital because of poisoning with an unknown substance. In total, 235 children were evacuated from the territory of the school. 49 pupils and one teacher were sent to medical examination. According to preliminary information, the mass poisoning was caused by spraying pepper aerosol, used by special agents, said the spokesman of the Investigatory Department for Chechnya of the Investigatory Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF). According to the republic's Ministry for Emergencies (MfE), as of 3:00 p.m. Moscow time on May 19, 22 persons had been already discharged from the above Hospital; while 22 children are still in hospital. The health condition of the patients is stable.