News

February 12, 2004 14:06

• Azerbaijan human rights activists point to necessity to change priorities of their activity

  "It is essential that we stop concentrating our attention on setting 10-15 political prisoners free. It is time to switch over to the solution of really urgent problems of the country's population," said Tamilla Kerimova, a member of Helsinki Citizens' Assembly National Committee of Azerbaijan.

February 12, 2004 13:29

• Baku police disperse unauthorized picket of opposition

  Action participants demanded that the arrested editor-in-chief of the opposition Yeni Musavat newspaper, Rauf Arifoglu, and a contributor of the Baki Khabar newspaper, Sadig Ismailov, be released.

February 12, 2004 12:16

• Olivier Dupuis: war in Chechnya can be stopped with help of UN

  On 6 February, the European Parliament member, Olivier Dupuis, issued a statement in reply to the accusation by Russian President Putin against the Maskhadov administration.

February 12, 2004 11:18

• Ella Pamfilova: Chechen refugees in Ingushetia are under psychological pressure

  According to the chairwoman of the presidential commission on human rights, unidentified people have threatened refugees with FSB (Federal Security Service) if they refuse to leave tent camps within two weeks.

February 12, 2004 11:11

• US journalist found in North Caucasus

  An American journalist presumed missing in the North Caucasian region of Russia for three days was seen "alive and kicking" on Wednesday morning.

February 12, 2004 10:49

• UN bars Chechnya to aid workers

  The United Nations has told the Kremlin not to expect any increase in its or other aid agency staff in Chechnya until a kidnapped Dutch aid worker has been released.

February 11, 2004 23:27

• Death penalty replaced with "slow death"

  During the six years since the abolition of capital punishment, at least 30 inmates serving life sentences and four prisoners sentenced to death who were subsequently amnestied, died, i.e. nearly every fourth.

February 11, 2004 21:17

• Abkhazian Defense Ministry denies information of Georgian media about oppression of Georgians in Abkhazian Army

  "People of different nationalities serve in the Abkhazian Armed Forces, and Georgians do to. But no one of them have been oppressed and even more so subjected to torture because of their nationality," reads a press release by the Ministry of Defense.

February 11, 2004 17:32

• Illegally detained residents of Avtury village set free

  In no more than an hour after the detention, the military tried to deny the fact itself that the young men were taken into custody. However there were witnesses who saw the detainees being conveyed to the territory of the former farm.

February 11, 2004 17:16

• Book "Human Rights Monitoring" presented in Baku

  The book "Human Rights Monitoring" was presented by Saida Godjamanly, director of the Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law, at the office of the Bureau on February 9.

February 11, 2004 16:02

• Abkhazian authorities denounce detention of Ukrainian ship by Georgian frontier guards

  Abkhazian State Security Service Chairman Givi Agrba holds that the Georgian party committed a gross violation of the Moscow Ceasefire Agreement of 14 May 1994.

February 11, 2004 15:42

• Refugees in Satsita camp receive humanitarian aid for two months

  Representatives of the Danish Refugee Council explained to the displaced persons that they took such a step because they feared they would be likely denied access to refugee camps in the near future.

February 11, 2004 15:33

• "Purge" in Agishbatoy village

  Several locals were reportedly detained in the course of the "purge".

February 11, 2004 15:22

• Ombudsman of Karachaevo-Cherkessia takes oath

  Commissioner for Human Rights in the Republic of Karachaevo-Cherkessia Vladimir Titarenko took the oath at a session of the republican National Assembly.

February 11, 2004 15:08

• European Union prepares draft on EU's policy towards Russia

  The press release on the occasion reads that the draft suggests increasing pressure on Russia in such issues as human rights, a situation in Chechnya, media freedom, and cooperation in the cause of preservation of the environment.

February 11, 2004 14:44

• US journalist disappears in North Osetia

  A journalist's disappearance has been reported by the consul of the US Embassy. He turned to the Moscow police asking for help overnight.

February 11, 2004 14:26

• Russian President to be informed about problems of residents of Chechnya displaced to Ingushetia

  Russian President's Commission on Human Rights is preparing materials on the problems of people displaced from the Chechen Republic to Ingushetia and will hand these documents over to the President.

February 11, 2004 13:53

• Rights of Sochi National Park defended in court

  Greenpeace Russia won in the Russian Supreme Court the suit to abolish the part of the resolution of the Russian Government by which it withdrew 33,222 hectares of land from the Sochi National Park (including 11,000 hectares of land of the reserved zone, where any economic activity is prohibited) and gave it to the Sochi All-Republican National Natural Reserve.

February 11, 2004 13:01

• Russian radicals see connection between terrorist act in metro and initiative of European Parliament members to establish UN administration in Chechnya

  We call your attention to the statement by Nikolay Khramov, secretary of the Russian Radicals movement, member of the Transnational Radical Party General Council, in connection with the 6 February terrorist act in the Moscow metro.

February 10, 2004 22:28

• Union of Chechen Journalists indignant at "Freedom of Speech" program shown by NTV TV Channel

  "The Union of Chechen Journalists expresses a stern protest against the informational war started by some Russian politicians through the central media against the Chechen people," reads the statement.