News

June 28, 2011 20:30

• Gas explosion in Vladikavkaz was caused by improper use or defective equipment, experts say

  Eyewitnesses of the blast that occurred at a wedding party in Vladikavkaz on June 25 say that the explosion was strong and totally unexpected. Experts believe that the cause of the incident could be in improper use or defective gas cylinder. The total number of victims of the blast is 55, including 6 children; the condition of 20 of them is grave.

June 28, 2011 20:00

• In Dagestan, follower of Turkish theologian complains against his verdict

  Associates of Ziyavdin Dapaev, one of the followers of the Turkish theologian Said Nursi, who was found guilty in Dagestan of organizing an extremist organization named "Nurdzhular", wrote an open letter to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev asking for help. Dapaev himself filed an appeal complaint against his sentence.

June 28, 2011 19:00

• Dagestan: mother of teenager beaten by policemen complains of pressure

  The mother of the teenager, who was beaten in June 2009 by employees of the Shamil ROVD (District Interior Division) of Dagestan, said that she and her son were forced to sign papers that the suffered party had no claims to two out of the three defendants. The defendants themselves, who had lodged a cassation complaint against their sentence, deny the fact of pressure, insisting on their innocence on the case.

June 28, 2011 18:00

• Natives of Chechnya accused of disorders in Zelenokumsk go on hunger strike

  Three brothers and natives from Chechnya – Magomed, Issa and Ayub Gafurov, whose participation in the conflict with Cossacks in Zelenokumsk in November 2010 is considered by the court, went on hunger strike, Natalia Shamra, press-secretary of the Soviet District Court of the Stavropol Territory, reported today.

June 28, 2011 17:00

• Another suspect of beating journalist and rights defender detained in Azerbaijan

  So far, law enforcement bodies of Azerbaijan refrain from comments on possible motives for the beating on June 15 in Baku of the American journalist Amanda Erickson and British human rights defender Celia Davis, despite detention of three suspects of committing this crime.

June 28, 2011 14:00

• “The New Rights” and “Christian Democrats” in Georgia left the “oppositional octad”

  Two parties in Georgia which insisted on joint negotiations with the ruling party on revision of Electoral code of the country left the “oppositional octad”. “Christian Democrats” and “The New Rights” decided to sign an agreement on electoral issues with the ruling party “United National Movement”.

June 28, 2011 13:00

• Public Committee: Azamat Ahkumbekov’s prison conditions in the investigative isolation ward of Nalchik are fatal for his health

  Prison conditions of Azamat Ahkumbekov, defendant on the case of an attack at Nalchik on October, 13, 2005, may be seriously be injurious to his health. This was a conclusion of Public Committee of Control over institutions of confinement in Kabardino-Balkaria after a visit to the investigative isolation ward of the capital of the republic.

June 28, 2011 08:00

• The case of explosions in Volgograd in April referred to court

  Investigation of the criminal case against a resident of Astrakhan accused of preparation and committing explosions near the buildings of State Traffic Safety Inspectorate and the Academy of the Ministry of Interior Affairs in Volgograd this April “on the grounds of ideological hate” has been accomplished.

June 27, 2011 23:00

• Rally of blondes to be held in Sochi on July 23

  The first All-Russian rally of blondes will take place in Sochi on July 23. Its programme includes parade of blondes and laying a stone into foundation of the first Russian restaurant for blondes to be built there.

June 27, 2011 22:00

• Week in the Caucasus: review of main events of June 20-26

  Broad-scale special operation in Dagestani forests: militants manage to deceive power agents and escape; the 70th anniversary of the start of the Great Patriotic War was marked in all regions of Southern and Northern Caucasus; arrests of oppositionists in Georgia in the context of another putsch statement; failed summit on Karabakh in Kazan, – look these and other events in the review of the week of June 20-26, 2011, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

June 27, 2011 22:00

• In Armenia, editor-in-chief of "Iravunk" finds MP Arzakantsyan's lawsuit groundless

  The campaign unleashed against the media by the deputy from the ruling Republican Party of Armenia Tigran Arzakantsyan is discrediting the understanding of the freedom of speech, said Ovannes Galadjyan, editor-in-chief of the newspaper named "Iravunk" (Law), who treated the MP's lawsuit as absurd and groundless.

June 27, 2011 21:30

• Moscow: condition of gas explosion victims from Vladikavkaz is grave

  As of 8 p.m. on June 27, Moscow clinics kept 12 victims of the explosion of the gas cylinder in Vladikavkaz. All of them with burn injuries were hospitalized to resuscitation wards of the clinics.

June 27, 2011 20:30

• Georgian NGOs demand investigation of dispersal of oppositional rally on May 26

  The Georgian NGOs "Priority of Human Rights" and "Network of Caucasian Women" have addressed their special statement to the Chief Public Prosecutor of Georgia, demanding to investigate the use of excessive force by the police in the course of the crackdown of the oppositional rally on May 26, 2011.

June 27, 2011 20:00

• Dagestan hosts celebrations for orphans

  Today, on the Day of Youth, festivities for orphans were organized in Makhachkala by the Public Movement "Dagestan without Orphans".

June 27, 2011 19:00

• Russian MIA sets up 7000-strong unit to fight militants in Dagestan

  As stated today by Rashid Nurgaliev, the head of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), at the operative meeting with the top managers of the Chief Department of his Ministry for the North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD) and for Dagestan, the local militants will be fought against by a special grouping of 7000 MIA employees.

June 27, 2011 18:00

• Rostov Region: experts evidence at trial on recognition of publications of Jehovah's Witnesses as extremist

  The Salsk City Court in the Rostov Region has resumed the trial on recognizing of a number of materials of Jehovah's Witnesses as extremist. The experts who spoke at the session believe that the defendants were promoting their religious exclusivity but add that it is common to all religions without exception.

June 27, 2011 17:00

• 150 houses flooded in Leningor District of South Ossetia

  The value of losses caused by high water to the Leningor District of South Ossetia has not been calculated in monetary terms yet; however, according to preliminary data, the damage caused to flooded houses will make at least six million roubles. This figure was announced by Alan Dzhussoev, the head of the Leningor District.

June 27, 2011 16:00

• Security Council of Ingushetia refutes data that Dokku Umarov is in local forests

  The officials of the Security Council of the Republic of Ingushetia are categorically refuting the information that the leader of the North-Caucasian armed underground Dokku Umarov may be hiding in the Djeirakh District of the republic, as had been reported earlier by a source from law enforcement bodies of Chechnya.

June 27, 2011 14:00

• This year, Ingushetia to start building four factories

  This year, Ingushetia plans to start construction of four enterprises, said the head of the republic Yunus-Bek Evkurov, in whose opinion Ingushetia is still subsidized by 90 percent from the federal budget.

June 27, 2011 13:00

• About 40 people took part in a picket in protection of greenbelts of Krasnodar

  On Saturday, June, 25, a picket in protection of greenbelts was held near municipal Concert hall of organ and chamber music of Krasnodar.