News

December 20, 2008 06:28

• Metropolitan: contacts between Churches of Russia and Georgia never stopped

  Metropolitan of Smolensk and Kaliningrad Cyril has appealed to Orthodox Christians to pray for normalization of Russian-Georgian relations.

December 19, 2008 14:24

• Ukrainian parliament closes commission investigating arms deliveries to Georgia

  Today, the Deputies of the Supreme Rada, having listened to the report of the ad hoc inquiry commission of the parliament, which had been setup to investigate into deliveries of arms and military equipment to Georgia, have refused to extend its work, as it was suggested, till June 2009.

December 19, 2008 14:22

• Court on Anna Politkovskaya's murder case interrogates FSB agents

  On December 18, five witnesses were interrogated at the trial of the murder of the observer of "Novaya Gazeta" Anna Politkovskaya, including employees of the FSB (Federal Security Bureau), who were interrogated in the closed regime, since state secrets could be mentioned in the process.

December 19, 2008 14:19

• Human rights activists of Ingushetia protest against Murad Gasaev's extradition

  Ingushetian human rights activists voice their protest against Murad Gasaev's extradition to Russia as promised by the government of Spain. They fear that he can be tortured in Russia.

December 19, 2008 14:17

• Picketers in Grozny demand that Chechen authorities find and punish murderers of Ilaev brothers

  On December 18, a picket demanding investigation of the murder of three Ilaev brothers was held in Grozny opposite the Ombudsman of Chechnya; the brothers were assassinated earlier this month. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told about it by one of the picketers - Kheda Saratova, journalist of the South-Russian Information and Analytical Agency.

December 19, 2008 14:14

• Arzumanyan: arrest of "Case of Seven" figurants was illegal

  Alexander Arzumanyan, one of the defendants in the "Case of Seven", former head of the pre-election office of Levon Ter-Petrosyan and ex-Minister of Foreign Affairs, has stated today at the court session, addressing the judge and the accusation, that the opposition activists were arrested illegally.

December 19, 2008 14:10

• European Court finds Russia responsible for disappearance of Chechen resident in 2003

  On Thursday, the European Court for Human Rights (ECtHR) considered a complaint from Chechnya, regarding disappearance of a young man named Ruslan Kasumov in February 2003. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent has learnt about it from a member of the organization called "The Legal Initiative for Russia".

December 18, 2008 12:50

• Krasnodar departments of education deny lists of "Caucasian-looking" schoolchildren

  The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was assured at two district departments of education that there would be no "census" of schoolboys of "Caucasian nationalities". The officials of the departments declared that they had never urged schools to make nationality-oriented lists of pupils.

December 18, 2008 12:42

• Ombudsman: custody conditions in Voroshilov ROVD of Volgograd are unsatisfactory

  The custody conditions of the detainees kept at the Voroshilov ROVD of the city of Volgograd should be changed for the better, as Mikhail Tarantsov, Ombudsman for the Volgograd Region, said in his interview to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

December 18, 2008 12:32

• Court finds refusal to initiate case on injury of Dagestan resident during special operation illegal

  On December 17, the Khasavyurt City Court of Dagestan, presided by Federal Judge Akif Gadzhiev, considered and satisfied the complaint lodged by Gasan Baisultanov, a resident of Khasavyurt.

December 18, 2008 12:29

• Azerbaijani parliament to consider cancellation of limit on presidential terms

  Today, a joint sitting of parliamentary commissions on legal policy, issues of state structure and human rights has approved the draft Referendum Act on making amendments and additions to the Constitution of Azerbaijan. Then, the document was passed over for consideration at the plenary session of the National Assembly. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports that among offered innovations there is a point on lifting restrictions on election of one person as the country's president for more than two times.

December 18, 2008 12:25

• Supreme Court of Dagestan to reconsider violations of journalists' rights

  The case of Rizvan Rizvanov, director general and founder of the weekly "Nastoyaschee Vremya" (Current Time) will be considered in the near future by the Presidium of the Supreme Court of Dagestan.

December 18, 2008 12:18

• Suspects of blowing up five-storey house in Baku complain of torture

  On December 17, Elchin Bekhbudov, chair of the Azerbaijani Committee against Torture, has addressed the Interior Minister Ramil Usubov on the issue of torture used at the 24th police station of the Nizami District Police Department.

December 18, 2008 12:16

• Criminal prosecution of four oppositional activists stopped

  A number of criminal cases initiated against oppositionists on clashes with the police on March 1 in Yerevan have been closed because of insufficient evidence. Journalists were informed about it by Vaagn Arutyunyan, head of the special investigatory group.

December 17, 2008 12:08

• Ecologists: road construction in "Bolshoi Utrish" Reserve in Krasnodar Territory was legalized by three Departments

  Ecologists now know from documents that three Departments of the Krasnodar Territory had participated in legalizing the road constructions in the "Bolshoi Utrish" Nature Reserve near the city of Anapa. And one of them - the Department of Biological Resources and Environment Preservation - has coordinated all the issues of this construction within one day.

December 17, 2008 12:06

• Numerous violations revealed in old people's home in Volgograd Region

  The Prosecutor's Office of the Kikvidzenskiy District of the Volgograd Region has revealed a number of gross violations in the operation of the state specialized in-patient establishment of social service of citizens of advanced age and invalids named "Macheshanskiy Boarding Home for Old People and Invalids". The top managers of the establishment were brought to administrative responsibility.

December 17, 2008 12:03

• OSCE Observation Mission promulgates its final report on presidential election in Azerbaijan

  The final report of the Observant Mission of the Office for Democratic Institutes and Human Rights (ODIHR) of the OSCE runs that at the presidential election in Azerbaijan on October 15, the conditions crucial for pluralistic democracy were not observed.

December 17, 2008 11:59

• Azerbaijani human rights activists state worsening of human rights situation

  The Monitoring Group of Human Rights Organizations of Azerbaijan (MGHROA) has summed up its 2008. "The elapsing 2008 wasn't varicoloured from the viewpoint of ensuring human rights and won't be remembered for any significant positive events," Novella Dzhafaroglu, chairperson of the Society in Defence of Women's Rights named after Dilyara Alieva, said today in the press conference, as the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

December 17, 2008 11:56

• Head of AACh in Georgia: Armenian party is against commission on studying accessory of Norashen Church

  The Armenian party objects to setting up a special commission for studying the accessory of the Surb Norashen Church, since historically it is Armenian. This was stated by Bishop Vazgen Mirzakhanyan, head of the Eparchy of the Armenian Apostolic Church (AACh) in Georgia, in his interview to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

December 17, 2008 11:53

• Prosecutor's Office recognizes that victims' property in Dubrovka was plundered

  The Prosecutor's Office of Moscow has recognized the fact that the property of the victims of the Dubrovka terror act was plundered. Advocate of the suffered party Igor Trunov said that such statement was made by the spokesman of the Prosecutor's Office of Moscow.