News

March 19, 2004 23:14

• Resident of Ingushetia kidnapped, whereabouts still unknown

  Timur Yandiyev, 25, was abducted at 5 p.m. on March 16 in the center of Nazran, Ingushetia. According to eyewitnesses, unknown armed men forcibly bundled Yandiyev into a white Niva car as he was leaving the building of Ingushenergo Company and drove off to an unknown destination.

March 19, 2004 23:06

• Yeni Musavat newspaper staff continue hunger strike

  The hunger strikers are protesting against the pressure on the Yeni Musavat, appearing in demands to pay court fines, the total sum of which comes to 733 million manats (about $150 thousand), reminded Gabil Abbasoglu, deputy editor-in-chief of the newspaper.

March 19, 2004 22:28

• Yuri Samodurov: attempts to prevent festival of films about Chechnya from holding caused by Estonia's unwillingness to damage relations with Russia

  "It is really undesirable to damage relations with Russia, but one shouldn't yield to the recommendations by Russian authorities not to hold the festival if there were any," Yuri Samodurov, director of the Andrey Sakharov Museum and Public Center, said.

March 19, 2004 21:35

• Festival of documentary films about Chechnya postponed in Estonia

  The festival is arranged by the organization Estonian War Memorial with the assistance of the Sakharov Public Center.

March 19, 2004 18:15

• Sputnik tent camp in Ingushetia to be dismantled soon

  The Caucasian Knot correspondent learnt about it at the Sunzha district migration department.

March 19, 2004 17:44

• Memorial: over 60 people abducted in Chechnya in 2004

  26 people were released, 35 are missing, and 2 were found dead, said Dmitry Grushkin, Memorial's activist.

March 19, 2004 16:49

• Most Russians find authorities to be responsible for aid workers' safety

  An express survey conducted within the framework of the Rikoshet program via interactive phones has revealed that 68% of the respondents find Russian authorities to be responsible for the safety of aid workers, including those in the North Caucasus.

March 19, 2004 16:46

• "Address purges" in Chechnya's Vedeno district

  Locals reported on several men detained by security officers during the actions.

March 19, 2004 16:16

• Blockade against Adjaria lifted

  In line with a decree issued by Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, all economic sanctions, introduced against the Adjarian autonomy on March 15, were lifted during the night of March 18-19.

March 19, 2004 16:04

• Mikhail Saakashvili: no conflict between Georgia and Adjaria

  "The main thing is that democratic system and peace have been maintained. There is no conflict between Adjaria and Georgia," the Georgian president emphasized after his talks with Aslan Abashidze.

March 18, 2004 23:03

• Georgian civil society on developments in Adjaria

  We call your attention to the statement issued by a number of Georgian civil society activists concerning the developments in Adjaria.

March 18, 2004 15:56

• Statement by the Movement Against Religious Intolerance in Georgia in connection with arrest of Vasil Mkalavishvili

  "In the current pre-election period, some political parties have made attempts to use the discontent a certain part of the society has with Mkalavishvili's detention and methods the police has used in order to gain political benefits. Manipulating religious issues and using personal feelings of individuals in order to improve one's own rating is morally unacceptable everywhere, especially in a country that has been suffering from religious violence for years," reads the statement.

March 18, 2004 15:23

• Kabardino-Balkarian branch of Movement for Human Rights gains court victory over regional department of justice

  On March 17, the Nalchik City Court satisfied the claim by the regional brunch chairman of the All-Russian Movement for Human Rights, Valery Khatazhukov, against the department of the Russian Ministry of Justice in the Republic of Kabardino-Balkaria concerning the registration of the branch.

March 18, 2004 14:53

• Irina Sarishvili calls upon NGOs to demand to stop blockade against Adjaria

  The leader of the NGO League of People's Defense, ex-parliamentarian Irina Sarishvili-Chanturia, calls upon all non-government forces and non-government organizations (NGOs) to demand that the blockade against Adjaria be stopped.

March 18, 2004 14:12

• Georgian women plan peace march to Adjaria

  Action participants are expected to go on foot from Tbilisi along the central motorway in the direction of the post at the Choloki River (Adjaria's administrative border).

March 18, 2004 13:41

• Disfranchised Tuapse residents to lodge complaint to prosecutor's office

  Over 100 Tuapse residents were not able to vote in the elections of the Russian president and regional governor on March 14 as their names were not put on the lists of precinct election commissions.

March 18, 2004 12:38

• New Armenian schools open in Krasnodar region

  By efforts of Armenian communities, one educational institution opened in each of the three towns: Nizhniy Tagil, Krimsk, and Goryachiy Klyuch, reported the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Armenia.

March 18, 2004 12:32

• Salary of budget employees illegally reduced by quarter in Chechnya

  Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov's security service officers stationed in the Achkhoy-Martan district of Chechnya are maintained at the expense of district budget employees, reports the Society for Russian-Chechen Friendship.

March 18, 2004 12:28

• Chechen State Council approves new premier of regional government

  Chechnya's State Council has consented to confirmation of Sergey Abramov as prime minister.

March 18, 2004 11:34

• Court imposes fine on organizer of antiwar picket

  Proceeding from the fact that "Ponomarev, as the organizer, was not given permission to hold the meeting," Judge Oksana Suleymanova found him guilty of breaking the established order of arranging the meeting and imposed a penalty of 1,000 rubles on him as a punishment.