Week in the Caucasus: review of main events of October 7-13

Victory of Ilham Aliev at presidential election in Azerbaijan and protests of the opposition; collecting signatures by Georgian NGOs for boycott of 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi; decisions of ECtHR on complaints of residents of Chechnya and Ingushetia in the amount of more than one million euros, – look these and other events in the Caucasus in the review of the week of October 7-13, 2013, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

Azerbaijan: Ilham Aliev's victory and opposition's protests

On October 9, Azerbaijan elected its president. In total, 10 candidates ran for the post. The vote tabulation showed the victory of the incumbent president Ilham Aliev with 84.55% of the total votes cast. The runner-up – Jamil Gasanli, the oppositional candidate nominated by the National Council of Democratic Forces (NCDF) – won 5.27% of the votes. The voter turnout exceeded 72%.

However, the opposition did not recognize the election results and reported massive frauds, including ballot throw-in, non-admission of observers to polling stations and the so-called "carrousels", when groups of voters were taken from station to station and voted for several times. The NCDF intends to struggle, in a legitimate way, for cancellation of the results and appointment of a new presidential election in Azerbaijan. This was stated by leaders of the political parties and movements, which are members of the NCDF, at a rally held on October 12.

The election process in Azerbaijan was observed by over 1200 international observers, including the observation missions from the CIS, ODIHR/OSCE, PACE and the European Parliament. According to the mission of the ODIHR/OSCE, the election was accompanied by a number of restrictions; therefore, the candidates were deprived of equal chances to compete. The observers from this mission noted the restrictions on the freedom of speech, assemblies and organizations that were in force during the campaign; and also highlighted the lack of electoral competition and cases of intimidation of voters. However, the short-term observatory missions from the PACE and the European Parliament treated the election as free, fair and transparent.

Georgia: NGOs start collecting signatures for boycott of Olympic Games in Sochi

In Georgia, on October 7, the government reiterated a possibility of boycotting the Sochi Olympic Games, in case they are "politicized" by Russia. The statement was caused by the participation of the Russian Air Force Major Ivan Nechaev, a participant of the military events of August 2008 in South Ossetia, in the first stage of the Olympic Torch Relay in Russia that was launched on October 7 in Moscow. Besides, several Georgian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) began collecting signatures for a boycott of the Winter Olympics in Sochi. These NGOs are the "Youth for European Future", "Free Zone", "Transparency International – Georgia" and the "International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy". The decision that Georgian athletes would take part in the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi in 2014 was made by the Georgian National Olympic Committee on May 2.

North Ossetia: violations revealed in Bank of Region's Development; its head is suspected of embezzlement

In early October, a shortage of 1.27 billion roubles was revealed at the Bank of Region's Development of North Ossetia of available funds against the documentary evidence; and on October 7, Sergey Doev, the chairman of the board of the bank, was detained in this context. He is suspected of embezzling more than 300 million roubles. Vadim Tsarakov was appointed to be the acting chairman of the board instead. The bank has more than 70,000 deposits; over 15,000 of them were placed by pensioners. In the near future a recall of the bank's license is expected; then, the Deposit Insurance Agency will start paying contributions to the people with account balances of up to 700,000 roubles. The situation with the bankruptcy of the bank was taken under personal control by the head of the republic Taimuraz Mamsurov.

ECtHR obliges Russian government to pay out over million euros to relatives of missing people in Chechnya and Ingushetia

On October 10, several decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) made on complaints of residents of Northern Caucasus were made public. In particular, the court granted the claim, which was a combination of ten complaints lodged by residents of Chechnya in connection with disappearance of their 13 relatives in the period from 2000 to 2005, and obliged the authorities of the Russian Federation to pay these claimants the amount of 1.06 million euros. The ECtHR has also found Russian authorities guilty of violating the rights of residents of Ingushetia in the case of disappearance of their relatives in 2002-2005 and awarded over 200,000 euros to six applicants.

Krasnodar Territory: court takes up the case of Mikhail Savva, accused of fraud

On October 9, the Pervomaisky District Court of Krasnodar held a preliminary hearing on the case of Professor Mikhail Savva from the Kuban State University, the director of grant programmes of the Southern Regional Resource Centre. He is accused of embezzling the budget funds allocated by the territorial administration in the form of a grant, as well as of receiving remuneration for running a fictitious training course at the university. The court extended Mr Savva's custody till November 30. The professor himself, who refuses to plead guilty, states violations during the investigation of his case.

Stavropol Territory: road accident kills Mayor of Zheleznovodsk Vladimir Silantiev

On October 12, a road accident near the city of Stavropol resulted in a death of Vladimir Silantiev, the Mayor of the city of Zheleznovodsk. The Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) has begun a preliminary inquiry into his death. It is assumed that he could have a heart attack, when driving on the road, which could cause the accident. It is noteworthy that Mr Silantiev took the post of the Mayor after winning the early election, held on March 10 this year. Vladimir Silantiev, who was nominated by the "Edinaya Rossiya" (United Russia) Party, won with 59.66% of the vote.