News

April 02, 2004 22:16

• Yerevan-Baku TV bridges focus on Karabakh problem

  On March 26-28, Yerevan-Baku satellite TV conferences were held. They were organized by the Yerevan and Baku Press Clubs under the "Possible Resolutions to the Karabah Conflict: Expert Evaluations and Media Coverage" joint project, supported by the Open Society Institute Network Media Program.

April 02, 2004 21:37

• High level of xenophobia registered in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Krasnodar and Stavropol Territories

  The All-Russian Conference "Ways for Overcoming Xenophobia, Racial Discrimination, and Anti-Semitism in the Multination Russian Federation" was held at the training center Moskovsky on March 28-30, with the assistance of the European Union within the framework of a 3-year project.

April 02, 2004 20:38

• North Caucasian Counter-terrorist Center created

  The North Caucasian Counter-terrorist Center (Center T) has been created pursuant to an order by Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev.

April 02, 2004 16:23

• Adjarian policemen recognize absurdity of accusations against Batumtsi newspaper staff

  On March 31, staff of the opposition newspaper Batumtsi were detained and conveyed to an addiction clinic for examination.

April 02, 2004 15:49

• Health of Azerbaijan political prisoner Alikram Gummatov deteriorated

  The resolution on political prisoners in Azerbaijan adopted at the session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in January 2004 contains the requirement made to the republican leadership to settle the problem of political prisoners by the autumn of 2004. However, under the present circumstances Gummatov may not reach the end of 2004.

April 02, 2004 14:28

• Law-enforcement agencies' inactivity indicates their involvement in attack on Mikael Danielian, his wife says

  Chairwoman of PEN Armenian Center Anna Akopian, who is the wife of chairman of the Armenian Helsinki Association Mikael Danielian, told a press conference on March 31 that she and Mikael Danielian himself rated the March 30 attack on the rights activist as a manifestation of state terror against freedom of speech.

April 02, 2004 13:50

• Large-scale purges in Chechen villages

  Federal security agencies together with Moscow-backed Chechen armed units are conducting large-scale purges in the villages of Sernovodskaya and Assinovskaya in the Sunzha district of the Chechen Republic.

April 02, 2004 13:23

• Majority deputies for Aslan Abashidze's party ready to abdicate their authorities as parliamentarians

  In such a way, the members of the Union of Democratic Revival express their protest against the results of the 28 March parliamentary elections in Georgia under a proportional representation system.

April 02, 2004 12:38

• Chief of Aslan Maskhadov's bodyguard surrenders to federal forces

  Shaa Turlayev gave himself up as a result of special measures taken by the Chechen president's security service and law-enforcement agencies, reported the regional headquarters on the counter-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus.

April 01, 2004 23:17

• Plan to establish interim UN administration in Chechnya raises debates among separatists

  The chairman of the Ichkerian parliamentary committee on foreign relations, Akhyad Idigov, has sent a letter to the human rights organization Sintar via e-mail in which he asserts that Akhmadov's plan is a trap if not reviewed.

April 01, 2004 22:12

• First 2004 meeting of expert council attached to Stavropol Region's ombudsman

  Council members considered the issue of the observance of rights and freedoms of servicemen deployed on the territory of the region.

April 01, 2004 17:42

• Sputnik refugee camp dismantled in Ingushetia

  The last tent was folded there today and the last 137 refugees left the camp for Chechnya.

April 01, 2004 15:41

• South Osetian authorities never prevent residents of republic's Georgian villages from taking part in Georgian elections

  A week before the elections for the Georgian parliament, South Osetia's parliament passed a resolution on the illegitimacy of this procedure on the territory of the unrecognized republic.

April 01, 2004 14:18

• Ella Pamfilova: situation in refugee camps in Ingushetia changed for better

  Addressing the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna on March 25, US diplomat Douglas Davidson said: "The United States urges Russian federal and local authorities to support voluntary returns to Chechnya and to provide alternative shelter for IDPs [internally displaced persons] who wish to remain in Ingushetia."

April 01, 2004 13:14

• Opposition newspaper staff detained in Adjaria

  Authorities of the Adjarian Autonomous Republic made an attack on the only opposition newspaper Batumtsi, reported the Our Adjaria political movement.

April 01, 2004 12:52

• 78 abducted in Chechnya in 2004, according to rights activists

  "We send a letter asking the prosecutor's office to provide information on virtually every abduction. They open a criminal case following every abduction. Most of the prosecutor office's replies to our requests say that the kidnappers have not been found," the Memorial spokesman, Dmitry Grushkin, said.

April 01, 2004 12:26

• Purges in Duba-Yurt village

  On March 26, Russian soldiers conducted a special operation in the village of Duba-Yurt, Chechnya's Shali district.

April 01, 2004 12:06

• Leader of Georgian Laborites disappeared

  Vazha Shengelia was last seen at 2 a.m. on March 30, in the yard of his brother's house. Members of the party assert he was abducted.

April 01, 2004 11:55

• Two servicemen shot dead in Grozny

  A car with two officers of federal security agencies was fired by unknown people from automatic weapons in the 4th microdistrict of Grozny on March 28.

March 31, 2004 23:19

• Trial against Azerbaijan opposition leader continues

  We call your attention to the information statement by the Committee to Protect Rights of Ilgar Ibragimoglu.