Week in the Caucasus: review of main events of January 14-20

Murder of a judge of the Supreme Court of Dagestan and information about a possible dismissal of the head of the region; audit of the preparation process for presidential election in Armenia by the PACE and application about a hunger strike of one of the presidential candidates; acquittal in Georgia of a Chechen Chataev accused of storing a bomb; a murder and burial in Moscow of Aslan Usoyan, a criminal authority and a native of Georgia; election of the speaker of the parliament of Adygea and start of preparing election of the head of region in Ingushetia, – look these and other events in the Caucasus in the review of January 14-20, 2013, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

Dagestan: execution of a judge of the Supreme Court of the republic and information about a possible resignation of the head of the region

On January 15 in the evening, in Makhachkala an attempt was committed on Magomed Magomedov, a judge of the Supreme Court of Dagestan. He was shot dead after he left his car and was on the way to his house. The main version announced by the Investigatory Committee runs that the reason was in Magomedov's professional activities. According to the investigation, he considered criminal cases on grave and especially grave crimes, including terror and extremist cases, as well as those related to attempts on life of law enforcers. However, there is an opinion in the republic that the reason for the execution could be in the struggle for the seat in the Supreme Court of Dagestan.

On January 17, Alexander Khinshtein, a Deputy of the Russia's State Duma, posted a message on his blog in the Twitter about a possible resignation of the head of one of the regions of the North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD). Russian mass media responded with information that it could happen in Dagestan and that several candidates to high posts had left for Moscow, while the Dagestani weekly "Chernovik" reported, with a reference to a source in power structures, that the government of Dagestan was going to discuss the resignation of the republic's leader. An assistant to one of the Deputies of the Russia's State Duma from Dagestan, who asked not to name him, stated that Ramazan Abdulatipov, who was the State Duma Deputy of the 4^th convocation from the "Edinaya Rossiya" (United Russia) Party, would be appointed the acting head of Dagestan, while Magomedsalam Magomedov would take a senator's seat in the Council of the Federation.

In Dagestan, people are actively discussing the news about a possible early resignation of the republic's leader Magomedsalam Magomedov; however, Zubairu Zubairuev, the head of the department for information policy and press service of the president of Dagestan, said in his comment on this news that the head of Dagestan, the government and all the power structures were working in the ordinary mode, while the information about the early resignation of Magomedsalam Magomedov was not confirmed.

Armenia: PACE inspects preparation for presidential election; one of the candidates announces termless hunger strike

Last week, Armenia continued preparing its presidential election appointed for February 18, in which eight persons run for the post as candidates. Today, the country starts the pre-election campaign, which will last till the midnight of February 16.

On January 16-17, the country was visited – with the aim to get acquainted with the election processes – by a delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). After the visit, the members of the delegation made a statement with an expression of concern about the course of the election campaign. They concluded that the election was gloomed by the apathy of the society and noted that the main political parties, which had been expected to nominate presidential candidates, decided not to do it for absence of trust in the fairness of the election. Another serious concern of the delegation was about serious discrepancies in voters' lists.

On January 19, the Central Election Commission (CEC) dismissed the demand of Andreas Gukasyan, one of the candidates and Director of the "Radio-I", to remove the incumbent president Serzh Sargsyan from the election. In this context Gukasyan stated that he would not take part in the campaign, but will go, since January 21, on a termless hunger strike. Gukasyan noted in his application about the start of his hunger strikes and appeal to the CEC that the party in power was abusing its position in the country and was not a fair rival at the election in relation to other candidates. Gukasyan also called all the candidates to refuse from participation in the election, saying that those who denied his proposal would be regarded as authorities' supporters.

Georgia: acquittal of Chataev accused of storing a bomb and refusal to bury in Tbilisi Usoyan assassinated in Moscow

On January 18, it became known that the Tbilisi City Court has acquitted Akhmed Chataev, a citizen of Russia and an ethnic Chechen, who had been on the Russia's wanted list since 2003, where he was regarded to be the Western-European representative of the militants' leader Dokku Umarov. Chataev, who was detained in September 2012 during a special operation in Lopota Gorge, where the Georgia's Ministry for Internal Affairs MIA conducted a special operation to liquidate militants, was accused of illegal possession of an explosive device. Chataev's defence treated the accusations as illegitimate, stating that Akhmed Chataev had arrived in Lopota Gorge for negotiations, which failed, after which he was detained.

According to Chataev, three frontier guards, who detained him, appeared at the court session on January 18 and evidenced that he had no grenades on him. Now, after acquittal, he plans to go to Austria, where he has the status of a political refugee. It is notable that Chataev, according to his defender, got under the Amnesty Law; however, however, he refused to take the amnesty and continued his litigation.

On January 16, in Moscow, Aslan Usoyan, 75, a criminal authority, a native of Georgia, also known as "Ded Khasan", was shot dead. According to the investigation, his murder was associated with his criminal business – Usoyan was very influential in criminal structures and controlled a number of criminal groupings. His relatives wanted to bury him in Georgia; however, the aircraft that was on January 20 to bring his body to Tbilisi returned to Moscow. The relatives said that the aircraft was not allowed to land in Tbilisi Airport. There were no official comments of the Georgian authorities on the issue; and the Ministry of Justice of Georgia claimed that they had received no applications on Aslan Usoyan's burial into a cemetery Tbilisi. Today, the burial of the criminal authority took place at the Khovanskoe Cemetery of Moscow.

Adygea: local MPs elect their speaker

On January 16, the session of the State Council-Khase of the Republic of Adygea elected Vladimir Narozhny, one of the Deputies, to be the speaker. He was supported by 42 votes with 5 votes casted against him. The peculiarity of the election was in the fact that at the session on December 29, 2012, the MPs twice rejected his candidature, which was nominated on that very day to the post of the speaker by the regional branch of the "Edinaya Rossiya" (United Russia). It gave the right to some local observers to state that the results of the election of the speaker had resulted from the pressure exerted by the republic's leadership; however, the MPs themselves deny any external influence on the election outcomes.

Ingushetia: preparations for electing head of the region

On January 16, it was reported at the sitting of the Election Commission of Ingushetia that the republic had started forming precinct election commissions for the upcoming election of the republic's leader to take place on September 8 this year. The election will be held under the law on the election of the republic's leader adopted in June 2012, which assumes a new procedure of election based on the universal, equal and direct suffrage. According to the law, the head of the republic will be elected for five years.

The parties of Ingushetia have started their preparations for the election of the republic's leader; some of them have announced their possible candidates. A group of local residents has drafted an appeal to the first ever president of the Republic of Ingushetia, Hero of the Soviet Union, General Ruslan Aushev, asking him to take part as a candidate to the post of the republic's leader – they are now collecting signatures to this appeal.