Week in the Caucasus: review of main events of October 3-9

Parliamentary elections in Georgia; children MMA fights in Grozny that caused resonance; ten years after Anna Politkovskaya's murder, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of October 3-9, 2016, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

By outcomes of elections in Georgia, three political forces may enter Parliament

On October 8, Georgia held elections to National Parliament. The contenders were six electoral blocs and 19 parties. According to the Central Election Commission (CEC), the voter turnout was 51.6%. After processing 99.92% of votes, the "Georgian Dream", the "United National Movement" (UNM) and the bloc "David Tarkhan-Mouravi, Irma Inashvili – Alliance of Georgian Patriots, United Opposition" have passed to the Parliament. According to the CEC, the "Georgian Dream" won 48.6% of votes, the UNM – 27.14%, and the bloc "Alliance of Georgian Patriots" – 5%. It is noteworthy that according to the outcomes of the previous elections in 2012, only the "Georgian Dream" and the UNM passed to the Parliament.

The CEC of Georgia reported the receipt of more than 100 complaints. At night, after the closure of the polls, around 200 oppositional activists gathered in front of the CEC building in Tbilisi, stating violations during voting and demanded to meet Tamar Zhvaniya, the Chair of the CEC. After the meeting, the UNM leaders – David Bakradze, Giorgi Bokeriya and Nika Meliya – said that "they failed to receive answers to their questions."

Children MMA fights in Grozny caused resonance

On October 4, in the Chechen capital, during the tournament in mixed martial arts (MMA) "Grand Prix Akhmat-2016", dedicated to the City Day, demonstrative children's fights were held. Three Ramzan Kadyrov's sons, aged ten, nine, and eight, were the winners. Fyodor Emelianenko, the President of the Russian MMA Union, called children's fights unacceptable. His position was supported by Vadim Finkelshtein, the head of the MMA International Association, and Nikolai Valuev, a former boxing world champion, now a State Duma MP. Kadyrov's retinue kept stating that the fights were a PR-action and caused no harm to children's health.

Adam Delimkhanov, Kadyrov's cousin and a State Duma MP, made a hard-hitting comment about Emelianenko on the Instagram. Soon Kadyrov called on his supporters to stop posting entries touching on Fyodor Emelianenko's honour, and delete the already posted abusive ones. Then, Delimkhanov deleted his records about Emelianenko.

On October 6, Pavel Kolobkov, Deputy Minister of Sports of Russia, promised to request information about the participants of the tournament from the organizers; after which, a check will be conducted. The father of a 10-year-old Sochi boy, who was knocked out, said that he was pleased with the tournament.

On tenth anniversary of Anna Politkovskaya's murder, her Award was given to Rostov activist

On October 7, it was ten years since the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, an observer of the "Novaya Gazeta", who wrote articles on Chechnya and Northern Caucasus. Relatives of Anna Politkovskaya and the staff of the "Novaya Gazeta" have claimed that the customer of the murder has not established yet, and accused the authorities of unwillingness to solve the crime. At the action held in front of the newspaper's office in Moscow, Sergey Sokolov, a deputy editor-in-chief of the newspaper, promised that the name of the customer will be named sooner or later. Actions in memory of Anna Politkovskaya were also held in Saint Petersburg and Paris.

On October 6, the international non-governmental organization "RAW in War" (Reach All Women in War) awarded the prize named after Anna Politkovskaya to Valentina Cherevatenko, the leader of the Rostov-based organization "Women of the Don", for support of victims of armed conflicts.

Dagestani residents come out to protest demanding to establish whereabouts of their missing relatives

On October 5, about 60 people came out to the central square of Makhachkala with a demand from the authorities to find the whereabouts of their relatives, who disappeared on September 27. According to their version, the men were kidnapped by power agents. The protesters decided to disperse only after the meeting with Ramazan Jafarov, Deputy Prime Minister of Dagestan, who promised to locate the missing persons. Relatives came to rallies on October 6 and 7, but they decided to temporarily stop their actions for fear of arrests.

On October 6, the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", who had announced a wave of kidnappings of residents of Northern Caucasus, said that from September 19 to October 4, a total of 12 persons were kidnapped in Dagestan by power agents.

Power agents report prevention of terror acts in Chechnya and Ingushetia

On October 7, the city of Nazran, and the village of Gazi-Yurt, Nazran District, were put under the counterterrorist operation (CTO) regime. The Russian National Antiterrorist Committee (NAC) said that six suspected militants were killed in the armed clashes, including, according to power agents, Zubairi Sautiev, an emissary of the "Islamic State" (IS), banned in Russia, who had arrived from Syria. As stated by the head of Ingushetia Yunus-Bek Evkurov, the militants were killed, who had planned terror acts.

At night on October 9, in the Gudermes District of Chechnya, eight suspected militants were killed and four policemen were wounded during a shootout in the motor road. One of the casualties was pre-identified as Ali Demilkhanov, 33, a militant leader, said a police source. According to his version, all the militants were members of one grouping and had planned terror acts.

Volgograd residents demand to give them the alleged killer of 15-year-old girl

On October 3, in Volgograd, in a garbage bin, the body of a 15-year-old schoolgirl, who disappeared a day earlier, was found. On October 5, on suspicion of killing the girl, they detained her neighbour, who confessed that under the effect of drugs he lured the schoolgirl into his apartment, raped and strangled her. On the same day, 30 local residents gathered at the entrance of the house, where the girl was killed, during the investigative experiment and demanded from law enforcers to give the rapist Dmitri Zaichenko out to them. On October 6, hundreds of people, even not familiar with her, came to the funeral of the schoolgirl.