Week in the Caucasus: review of main events of March 23-29

Adoption by UN Council of Armenia's resolution against justification of genocides; direction of main case of ex-Mayor of Makhachkala Said Amirov to court; decision of Russian Supreme Court in case of resident of Chechnya, whose rights violation was recognized by ECtHR, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of March 23-29, 2015, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

UN Council adopts Armenia's resolution against justification of genocides

The session of the UN Council on Human Rights, which was held in Geneva on March 27, adopted a resolution initiated by Armenia, which condemns any attempts to justify or deny facts of genocide. The document "On Prevention of Genocide" emphasizes that impunity of any genocide and other crimes against humanity, encourages the recurrence of such events. 64 countries are already co-authors of the resolution; and other countries may join it. The Council offered the UN General Assembly to adopt December 9 set as Genocide Victims Commemoration Day.

Let us note here that the year 2015 marks one hundred years since the start of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire in 1915-1923. Armenia is actively preparing for this by holding a variety of activities. Thus, on March 18-23 Yerevan hosted an international media forum "At the Foot of Mount Ararat."

Volgograd: fifth wave of layoffs dismisses over 500 people from "Khimprom" Factory

The fifth wave of layoffs was conducted on March 23 at the Volgograd "Khimprom" Factory, which was declared bankrupt in November 2012. The total number of laid-off workers has exceeded two thousand. Former workers report receipt of due compensations, but state problems with employment in Volgograd. As of March 20, 1574 former workers of the factory remained registered by employment centres of Volgograd; and 70 of them have found new jobs.

Main case of former Mayor of Makhachkala Said Amirov sent to court

The murder case of the Dagestani investigator Arsen Gadjibekov, in which the ex-Mayor of Makhachkala Said Amirov is a figurant, earlier convicted on charges of preparing a terror act to 10 years in a high-security colony, has been sent to the North Caucasus Military District Court in Rostov-on-Don for consideration on the merits. This was reported on March 23 by the Russian General Prosecutor's Office (GPO). Apart from Amirov, there are seven more figurants in the case. The defendants are accused of "participation in a bandit formation, banditry, terrorism, murder, and illegal acquisition and possession of firearms." On March 18, law enforcement sources reported about the appearance of a new terrorism episode in Amirov's case. According to them, the episode covers the shelling at night on April 3, 2011, of the cultural and entertainment centre (CEC) "Moscow" in the city of Kaspiysk.

Makhachkala "Dagenergobank" deprived of license to conduct banking operations

On March 24, the Central Bank of Russia revoked the license on conducting banking operations from the Makhachkala-based "Dagenergobank". The reasons for the revocation include the conduct of high-risk credit policies related to the placement of funds into low-quality assets, failure to perform the requirements of the supervisory authority to form the necessary reserves for possible losses. The payments to the depositors, whose amount of funds as of March 1 amounted to 2.4 billion roubles, will start no later than April 7, said the Deposit Insurance Agency. This is the second case in 2015 of license revocation from Dagestani banks – this January it was with the bank "Adam International".

Stavropol Territory restricts sale of alcohol in cafes

On March 26, the MPs of the Stavropol Territorial Duma passed a law restricting the sale of alcohol at the public catering entities, whose owners fail to ensure strict safety requirements. Now, only the outlets, equipped with video fixation systems, "alarm" buttons and those, which have contracted a licensed security company, will have the right to sell strong drinks from 11:00 p.m. to 10:00 a.m. Moscow time. The bill was initiated after murders as a result of brawls at entertainment entities of the territory, two of which – in September 2014 in the hospital in the city of Mineralnye Vody, and in January in the same city near the cafe "Opera" – received considerable public resonance in the territory. The law will come into force on June 1 this year.

Russia's SC upholds conviction of resident of Chechnya, whose rights violation was recognized by the ECtHR

On March 26, the Russia's Supreme Court (SC) rejected the appeal complaints lodged by the resident of Grozny Timur Tangiev and his defence against the verdict of the SC of Chechnya of September 23, 2014, to punish him by 21 years in high-security colony on charges of committing grave and especially grave crimes. The case was considered repeatedly in Chechnya; and on October 5, 2004, Tangiev was sentenced to 24 years of imprisonment; however, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) found that Tangiev's rights were violated at the case consideration – when in custody, the defendant was subjected to treatment equal to torture. After that, the Presidium of the Russia's SC sent the case back for retrial.