Week in the Caucasus: review of main events of May 6-12

Crash of freight train in the Rostov Region; adoption of law on large-scale amnesty in Azerbaijan; verdict on 15 years in colony to native of Chechnya Temerkhanov for killing Budanov in Moscow; cancellation of direct election of the head of Ingushetia; announcement of candidate for President of Georgia from the "Georgian Dream" at the autumn presidential election, - look these and other events in the Caucasus in the review of the week of May 6-12, 2013, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

Crash of freight train in Rostov Region accompanied by explosion of gas and fire

At night on May 9, at the Belaya Kalitva station in the Rostov Region, a freight train, which contained oil tanks, got off the rails. Then, propane gas blew up in one of the tanks. A fire burst out at the site of the accident; and residents of nearby houses were evacuated. In total, 52 people suffered: 18 of them were hospitalized. In the evening on May 10, they stopped pumping out liquid propane from the damaged tank; and local residents began returning to their homes after the repeated evacuation. The emergency regime was lifted on May 11. A district-level commission inspected 273 apartments damaged by the propane explosion and found out that 290 square meters of windows need new glazing.

According to investigators, the train crash in Belaya Kalitva could be a violation by the locomotive crew of rolling stock operating rules; while the explosion could be caused by some malfunction of the rolling stock. A criminal case was opened on the fact of the accident on violation of traffic safety rules in operating the railway transport, which caused harm to human health and a large-scale damage; the maximum penalty for such crime is up to two years in prison.

Azerbaijani parliament announces large-scale amnesty

On May 7, the National Assembly of Azerbaijan passed a law on amnesty, dated to the 90th birthday of the late president Geidar Aliev that was marked on May 10. The initiative of the amnesty belongs to the member of the National Assembly Mekhriban Alieva - the wife of the incumbent President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliev and the head of the Geidar Aliev Foundation. The law on amnesty was put to a vote without debate and was passed unanimously.

According to the authorities, the amnesty will affect nine thousand people; of them, two thousand will be exempt from further serving their terms. However, civil society activists of Azerbaijan and lawyers question the reality of these numbers, and express frustration at the fact that the amnesty did not affect political prisoners and "prisoners of conscience".

MCC sentences Temerkhanov to 15 years in prison for killing Budanov; his defence has appealed against the verdict

On May 7, the Moscow City Court (MCC) that has considered the murder of former Colonel Yuri Budanov, reclassified the charges to the defendant - a native of Chechnya Yusup Temerkhanov from Part 2, Article 105 (murder motivated by blood feud), into Part 1, Article 105 (murder), of the Russian Criminal Code, found him guilty and sentenced him to 15 years in a high security colony with 1.5 years of subsequent restriction of freedom.

The prosecution was satisfied with the court verdict and punishment appointed to the defendant. The casualty's son Valery Budanov also said he believed the sentence to be legal. However, Yusup Temerkhanov's advocates have appealed against the verdict, referring to the fact that the prosecution had failed to establish the motive of the crime.

Ingushetia passes a law to abolish direct election of the head of the republic

On May 8, the People's Assembly of Ingushetia approved, in the third reading, the amendments to the constitution of the republic about election of the head of the region by the local parliament. 23 MPs of those present at the session voted for the amendments, one MP voted against. The bill was supported by the MPs from the "Edinaya Rossiya" (United Russia) Party, which make the majority at the National Assembly (22 MPs out of 27), the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) and the "Spravedlivaya Rossiya" (Fair Russia) Party.

Let us note here that on April 23 the branch of the "Edinaya Rossiya" in Ingushetia has already nominated its candidates for the preliminary internal party vote at the election of the head of the republic. The list includes five persons, including the incumbent head of the republic Yunus-Bek Evkurov. According to the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Russia, the dates of electing the heads of Dagestan and Ingushetia depend on the termination of powers of the current heads; however, the CEC is ready to help these regions to hold the indirect elections during the united voting - September 8.

Ivanishvili names candidate for Georgia's presidency from "Georgian Dream"

On May 11, the Prime Minister of Georgia Bidzina Ivanishvili named Georgia's presidential candidate from the ruling coalition. According to his version, Georgy Margvelashvily, currently the Minister of Education and Sciences of Georgia, will run for the presidency from the "Georgian Dream" at the election to be held in October 2013.

The oppositional "United National Movement" plans to nominate its presidential candidate in late May through holding their primaries. The party did not specify who will take part in them. So far, the vice-speaker of the Parliament Georgy Baramidze, one of the leaders of the party and the former State Minister of Georgia for Integration into European and Euro-Atlantic Structures, has stated his participation in the primaries.