14 July 2014, 09:00
Week in the Caucasus: review of main events of July 7-13
Death of Eduard Shevardnadze and the second round of municipal elections in Georgia; death of Sergey Tsapok convicted for "Kuschevskaya massacre" in SIZO in Krasnodar; sentencing of Chechen activist who criticized Kadyrov; a guilty verdict in the case of Said Amirov, ex-Mayor of Makhachkala; echo of Ukrainian warfare in Rostov Region, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of July 7-13, 2014, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".
Georgia: death of former president and second round of municipal elections
On July 7, Eduard Shevardnadze, the former Soviet Foreign Minister and the former Georgian President, deceased at his 87th year of life in Georgia. On July 11, the body of Eduard Shevardnadze, who was president of Georgia from 1995 to 2003 (he was forced to resign as a result of the "Rose Revolution") was brought to the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Tbilisi, where the farewell ceremony to the politician was held. He was buried on July 13. The funeral ceremony was accompanied by full military honours. Georgian politicians diverge in estimating Shevardnadze's participation in the country's political life in recent years. Until his death, he was in fact under secret house arrest; and the responsibility for this obscure situation lies with the civil society of Georgia, Emil Adelkhanov, a rights defender, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.
On July 12, Georgia held the second round of municipal elections; and all of them, conducted in cities and districts, were won by candidates from the "Georgian Dream". In Tbilisi, the nominee of this ruling coalition David Narmaniya scored 72.47% of the vote, beating Nikanor Meliya, his rival from the oppositional "United National Movement". Meliya himself has conceded his defeat in the race. All the election procedures of the second round of local elections passed in Georgia in accordance with the law, said Tamar Zhvaniya, the head of the country's CEC (Central Election Commission); however, activists of local NGOs and oppositional parties stated, on the day of voting and after, violations and incidents at polling stations.
Krasnodar Territory: death of Sergey Tsapok, convicted for participation in the "Kuschevskaya massacre" in SIZO
On July 7, in a one-man cell of the Krasnodar SIZO-1 (pre-trial prison), the body of Sergey Tsapok, a life prisoner convicted on charges of the mass murder committed in the village of Kuschevskaya, Krasnodar Territory, in November 2010, was found. Tsapok was adjudged as the gang leader, whose members participated in the "Kuschevskaya massacre"; however, he refused to plead guilty, and his defence appealed against the verdict. According to prosecutors, Sergey Tsapok's death was caused by a blockage of the pulmonary artery.
The victims in the case asked the Prosecutor's Office of the Krasnodar Territory not to allow Tsapok's burying in his native village of Kuschevskaya, and also sent an application to the Investigating Department of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) for the Krasnodar Territory, in which they insisted on holding a genetic examination and their personal involvement in the identification of Sergey Tsapok's body. On July 13, the body was cremated in Volgograd. Other convicts in the case of the "Kuschevskaya massacre" – Nikolai Tsapok and Vyacheslav Tsepovyaz – said they did not believe in Sergey Tsapok's natural death and expressed fear for their own safety.
Chechnya: conviction of local activist who criticized Kadyrov
On July 7, the Urus-Martan City Court of the ChechenRepublic sentenced Ruslan Kutaev, the president of the "Assembly of Caucasian Nations", to four years in an ordinary-regime colony. Kutaev himself, who was charged with illegal possession of narcotic drugs, maintains his innocence. The Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" has recognized Kutaev to be a political prisoner; and the Human Rights Watch has associated his prosecution with the fact that he had criticized the position of the head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov, who banned any commemoration events on February 23 to mark the 70th anniversary of the start of deportation of Chechens and Ingushes. According to rights defenders, Kutaev was tortured after detention. His advocates plan to appeal against the verdict, since the court failed to take into account the arguments of the defence, voiced out at the debates, the interregional public organization "Committee against Torture" has stated. Human rights activists draw attention to lawyers' statements about inconsistencies in witnesses' testimonies, related to the circumstances of Kutaev's detention and finding drugs on him.
Said Amirov, dismissed Mayor of Makhachkala, sentenced to 10 years in colony
On July 9, the North-Caucasian District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced the dismissed Makhachkala Mayor Said Amirov to 10 years in a high-security colony, and his nephew Yusup Djaparov – to 8.5 years in colony. According to the prosecution, they planned to use a surface-to-air missile system for shooting down the plane, which was supposed to carry Saigid Murtazaliev, the head of the Russian Pension Fund for Dagestan. The defendants refused to plead guilty; and their defence will appeal against the verdict not only at the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, but also at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), said Vladimir Postanyuk, the head of the defence group. During the sentencing, the court expressed its critical attitude to testimonies of a number of witnesses, while treated the mistakes admitted during the investigation as insignificant.
Rostov Region: echo of war in Ukraine
During the last week, refugees from the Donetsk and Lugansk Regions of Ukraine, where the Ukrainian authorities are conducting a special operation against the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, continued arriving to Southern Russia. As stated on July 10 by Vladimir Artamonov, Deputy Minister for Emergencies of the Russian Federation, because of the advent of Ukrainian refugees, the state of emergency was introduced in the Astrakhan Region, the Republic of Kalmykia, the whole of the StavropolTerritory, as well as in the Rostov and Volgograd Regions.
The warfare in Ukraine has some impact on the territory of the Rostov Region. In the morning on July 8, the officials of the customs checkpoint "Novoshakhtinsk" of the Rostov Regional Customs had to evacuate after the start of shooting near the neighbouring checkpoint on the Russian-Ukrainian border, as the Russia Southern Customs Department has reported. On July 10, according to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), the checkpoint "Gukovo" was fired with artillery shells as a result of actions of Ukrainian power agents. According to the Russian Federal Security Bureau (FSB), due to the ongoing fire in the immediate vicinity of the border, on July 11, the work of the checkpoints "Gukovo", "Donetsk" and "Novoshakhtinsk" was suspended. The personnel of the "Gukovo" checkpoint were evacuated because of nearby mine explosions.
As reported by the FSB's special representative in the Rostov Region, on July 12, four Ukrainian shells exploded in the Rostov Region. On July 13, an explosion of a shell fired from the territory of Ukraine, a 46-year-old man was killed in the Donetsk District of the Rostov Region; another woman was wounded, the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) reported; in this context, the Russian MFA issued a note to the charge d'affairs of Ukraine in Russia. In his turn, the spokesman of the Council of National Security and Defence of Ukraine said that the troops, involved in the special operation in the eastern part of the country, deliver no fire at the Russian territory; while the Ukrainian MFA reported invasion attempts of military equipment and mercenaries from the territory of the Russian Federation in the vicinity of the Ukrainian settlement of Izvarino, which occurred at night on July 13. Also, according to the Ukrainian party, at night on July 12, from the area of the settlement of Kuibyshevo (Rostov Region), a mortar attack was launched on the checkpoint "Marinovka"; and several cases of violating the Ukrainian airspace by drones sent from the Russian Federation were registered.
