Week in the Caucasus: review of main events of July 22-28

Announcement of Georgian presidential candidate by the "United National Movement"; attack on rabbi and resignation of government in Dagestan; start of trial at the Moscow City Court of Anna Politkovskaya's murder case; protests in Yerevan against increase of public transport fares; hunger strike of doctors at Stavropol Children Hospital and reinstatement of its sacked chief physician; Jewish ethnographic expedition over cities of Southern Russia, – look these and other events in the Caucasus in the review of the week of July 22-28, 2013, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

Georgia: UNM's presidential candidate announced

On July 27, the Georgian "United National Movement" (UNM) Party announced the totals of its primaries held within a month and intended to nominate the party's presidential candidate for the election scheduled for October 27. The winner of the internal election in the party, headed by the incumbent president of Georgia, Mikhail Saakashvili, was David Bakradze, who is the leader of the parliamentarian minority and the ex-speaker of the Parliament. David Bakradze has already invited to political debate his opponent from the "Georgian Dream" – the former vice premier and the former Minister of Education and Sciences of Georgia Georgy Margvelashvily. In total, as of July 27, 35 persons had expressed their desire to run for the presidency.

Dagestan: attack on rabbi and resignation of government

At night on July 25, in the city of Derbent, Rabbi Ovadia Isakov, 40, from the synagogue of the city of Derbent, was attacked by an unidentified person. Isakov received a perforating wound of his chest and fell into coma. In the evening of the same day, an aircraft with Israeli physicians arrived in Makhachkala and took the patient to Israel. On July 28, the doctors of the hospital "Beilinson" of the city of Petah Tikva reported that the health condition of Rabbi Isakov had improved; and he regained consciousness. The attack on the rabbi is being investigated by the respective authorities of the Russian Federation, which do not rule out that it could be caused by Isakov's religious activities.

On July 22, the acting head of Dagestan Ramazan Abdulatipov announced his decision to dismiss the republic's government and appointed Anatoly Karibov, the first deputy chairman of the cabinet to be the acting Prime Minister. According to Mr Abdulatipov, the reason for dismissal was in the govt's inefficient work, including with the priority investment projects. On July 25, the Acting Head of the Republic nominated Abdusamad Gamidov, the Minister of Finance of Dagestan, to the post of the prime minister. On the same day, the members of the National Assembly of Dagestan unanimously voted for Gamidov's approval. One of the MPs told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, on condition of anonymity, that the candidature of Gamidov, a Dargin national, was put forward solely on the basis of his ethnicity.

Trial on Anna Politkovskaya's murder treated by victims as illegitimate starts in Moscow

On July 24, the Moscow City Court started hearing the case on the murder of the observer of the "Novaya Gazeta" Anna Politkovskaya, known for her articles on Chechnya and Northern Caucasus. The prisoner's dock contains five persons: a Chechen businessman Lom-Ali Gaitukaev, who is treated by investigators as the organizer of the crime, three of his nephew and a former policeman Sergey Khadjikurbanov. They all pleaded not guilty. The day before, the court selected a jury to hear the case. The victims in the case and their legal representatives did not take part in the selection and stated in this context that they would not participate in the trial, considering it to be illegitimate. However, the trial proceeded without them.

Armenia: Yerevan residents protest against increase of public transport fares

The week in the Armenia's capital Yerevan began with protests demanding the return the former transport tariffs and cancel the increase that the Mayoralty introduced from July 20 – a trip in a bus or a fixed-route taxi was increased from 100 drams (7.9 Russian roubles) to 150 drams (11.8 roubles). The protest actions were held daily, accompanied by marches; during one of them, a cake with the inscription "50 drams" was sent to the Yerevan Mayor Taron Margaryan. On July 25, the Mayor announced that he had suspended the decision of increasing the fares by 50 percent. Thereafter, on July 26, about 30 activists of the initiative group "We'll not pay 150 drams!" declared an endless sit-down picket in front of the Mayoralty, demanding resignation of Genrikh Navasardyan, the head of the Transport Department of the Mayoralty, and Misak Ambartsumyan, the director of the CJSC "Yerevantrans".

Stavropol: hunger strike of doctors of Children Hospital and reinstatement of chief physician of the hospital

On July 23-24 July, six doctors of the hospital named after Filippsky in Stavropol held a hunger strike, demanding the reinstate the chief physician Vyacheslav Kashnikov, dismissed on June 7, in his previous position. Earlier, the hospital issued certificates allowing taking their United State Examination (USE) before term to seven school graduates. They gained the maximum 100 points in the Russian language exam. However, their works were rechecked and the scores were reduced. The Prosecutor's Office initiated a check at the hospital and demanded to dismiss Kashnikov, since, according to investigators, he aggressively interfered when prosecutors tried to receive documents on the issuance of certificates on early taking the USE, and when reporters wanted to film a report on the story. On July 27, Kashnikov was reinstated at work by the decision of the Ocktiabrsky District Court of Stavropol.

Jewish ethnographic expedition studies Southern Russia

This week, the cities of the Krasnodar Territory were visited by the members of the Jewish ethnographic expedition, organized by the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia (FJCR). The expedition started on 18 July, when the members of the travelling synagogue, the so-called "mitzvah-mobile", began visiting the Jewish communities of Southern Russia. On July 26, the expedition arrived in Krasnodar. Over 50 Krasnodar Jews, both elderly and young, came to meet young rabbis. The latter communicated with local Jews in an informal setting, answered questions and explained the creed of Judaism. The expedition also visited Armavir, Sochi and Novorossiysk – cities of the Krasnodar Territory; and before that the "mitzvah-mobile" visited Stavropol, where, apart from meetings with the local Jewish community, the young rabbis discussed with the local government the issue of allotting a land plot in central city to the Jewish community to build a community centre; and Kislovodsk, where local Jews complained that the city has no synagogue. From Krasnodar, the mobile synagogue went to Taganrog and Rostov-on-Don.