Week in the Caucasus: review of main events of July 29 to August 4

Operation aimed to detain an alleged rapist in Moscow, which turned into "cleansing" of Moscow marketplaces and gathering places of natives from Northern Caucasus and Central Asia; another murder of theologian in Dagestan; appointment of voting date at presidential election in Azerbaijan, – look these and other events in the Caucasus in the review of the week of July 29-August 4, 2013, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

Moscow: operation to detain a suspected Dagestani rapist turned into "cleansing" of marketplaces

On July 27, in the "Matveevsky" Marketplace in Moscow, policemen tried to detain Magomed Magomedov, a native of Dagestan, suspected of raping a schoolgirls. During the detention, his relatives Magomed Rasulov and Khalimat Rasulova attacked a policeman and seriously injured him – this is the version of law enforcers. According to the court ruling, the spouses were arrested till September 27. Magomed Rasulov and his wife Khalimat have stated their innocence; and their advocates have challenged the court ruling. The suspect of raping a schoolgirl was also taken into custody.

After the attack on the policeman in the Matveevsky Marketplace, the Moscow police launched a large-scale operation called "decriminalization of marketplaces and places of compact residence of visitors from Northern Caucasus and Central Asia". Within two days, more than a thousand people were detained. Almost all the detained traders were released, while the detected illegal migrants are under threat of deportation. Musa Pliev, a lawyer of the Moscow Bar, saw a large number of violations admitted during the decriminalization operation; however, the police believe that the actions of policemen were justified and legitimate.

Dagestan: assassination of Imam Ilyasov in Makhachkala

In the evening on August 3, in Makhachkala, during shelling of his car, a Muslim theologian Ilyas Ilyasov was shot dead; his driver was wounded and hospitalized. The basic version of the murder of the Imam is associated with his religious activities. According to the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF), earlier, the Imam had received threats. Ilyasov was known for his negative attitude to Salafi trends of Islam. Over the years, he held posts in the leadership of Dagestan: he was an adviser to the Prime Minister and Deputy Chairman of the Committee for Religious Matters. According to the calculations of the "Caucasian Knot", this is the second murder of a religious figure in Northern Caucasus in 2013, and the twelfth violent deaths of Islamic religious leaders in the region since 2012.

Azerbaijan appoints voting date at presidential election

At its sitting on August 2, the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Azerbaijan officially scheduled the voting at the next presidential election in the country for October 9. According to the electoral legislation of Azerbaijan, the voting day is "Wednesday of the third week of October in the last year of the President's term in office as defined by the Constitution." In view of this provision, the presidential election was due to be held on October 16. However, this day this year will be a day-off on the occasion of the religious holiday of Eid al-Fitr (Kurban Bayram), and in this regard, the lawmakers have assumed a transfer of the voting to some other day of the same month. According to the plan adopted by the CEC, the election campaign will be conducted from September 19 to October 8.

Georgia: court acquits Akhalaya on three episodes

On August 1, the Tbilisi City Court found Bacho Akhalaya, the former Interior Minister and the former Minister of Defence, non-guilty of illegal deprivation of freedom of the businessman Zviad Abesadze, abuse of power and scorning his co-workers. Together with the former minister, the figurants in this case were Georgy Kalandadze, the former head of the Joint Staff, and six other persons – they all were acquitted. The prosecutor at the trial announced his intention to challenge the verdict. However, the lawyer of the former minister believes that at the Court of Appeal the Prosecutor's Office has no chances to win the case, because investigators had not only failed to provide evidence or proofs, but could not even explain the motives of the crimes imputed to his client.

Despite the acquittal, Bacho Akhalaya will not be released from custody, since two other cases against him are still considered by the court – the one concerning suppression of the rebellion in prison in March 2006, and on charges that he had allegedly organized a torture of special fighters of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) in 2012 for political reasons.

Krasnodar Territory: FC "Kuban" wins its first match in Europa League

On August 1, the Krasnodar Football Club (FC) "Kuban" defeated the "Motherwell" FC of Scotland in the first leg of the third qualifying round of the Europa League. The match was played in Scotland and ended with the score 2-0 in favour of the team from Krasnodar. For the "Kuban", founded in 1928, this match was the first European Cup match in the team's history. The club got qualified to play in the Europa League by taking the fifth place in the 2012-2013 football championship of Russia.

See earlier reports: "Week in the Caucasus: review of main events of July 22-28", "Week in the Caucasus: review of main events of July 15-21", "Week in the Caucasus: review of main events of July 8-14".