Week in the Caucasus: review of main events of March 31 to April 6

Resignation of Sergey Bozhenov, Governor of Volgograd Region; conviction in Krasnodar of Mikhail Savva, Director of Grant Programmes of SRRC; verdict of Armenia's CC about the unconstitutionality of the mandatory component of the new pension system; adoption in KBR of elections of republic's head by members of parliament; regular change of the head of capital of Dagestan; over a hundred patients with food poisoning in Stavropol Territory, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of March 31-April 6, 2014, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

Volgograd Region: resignation of Governor Bozhenov

The powers of Sergey Bozhenov as Governor of the Volgograd Region were terminated on April 2 before time by Decree of Russian President. Andrei Bocharov, a native of the city of Barnaul and the head of the executive committee of the federal office of the Popular Front, was appointed as the acting head of the region. The experts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" have highlighted the dialogue with local political elites, reduction of the cadastral value of land and solution of social problems as Bocharov's main priorities. The early election of the Governor of the Volgograd Region may take place on September 14, the unified Russia's voting day, Dmitry Kuts, the deputy chairman of the regional election commission, said after Bozhenov's resignation.

Krasnodar Territory: Professor Mikhail Savva convicted

On April 2, the Pervomaisky District Court of Krasnodar sentenced Mikhail Savva, a professor of the Kuban State University and the director of grant programmes of the Southern Regional Resource Centre (SRRC) to 3 years of conditional imprisonment with a probation period of 2 years and a fine of 70,000 roubles on charges of embezzling the budget funds allocated by the administration of the Krasnodar Territory in the form of a grant and receiving payment for fictitious classes at the university. Professor Savva was released under recognizance not to leave until the sentence comes into force. His advocate Marina Dubrovina said that the verdict will be surely appealed against. The rights defenders questioned by the "Caucasian Knot" assert that the verdict is unfair.

Armenia: mandatory component of new pension system found unconstitutional

On April 2, the Armenia's Constitutional Court (CC) declared that the mandatory component of the new pension system is unconstitutional. The Law "On Accumulative Pension System", which came into effect on January 1, 2014, was challenged by four oppositional parliamentary factions – the ARF "Dashnaktsutyun", "Heritage", ANC (Armenian National Congress) and "Prosperous Armenia". The CC decided to suspend the law until September 30, while providing time for the legislative and executive powers to bring all the provisions of the law in compliance with the Constitution. Officials have already stated that they will update the provisions declared unconstitutional by the CC by September 30. The CC made a too vague decision, said oppositionists and urged citizens not to allow their employers to deduct pension taxes from their salaries.

KBR adopts law on electing republic's head by MPs

On April 3, the MPs of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR) passed, in the third and final wording, the amendments to the Constitution of the KBR and to the Law "On Election Procedure of Head of KBR", providing for abolition of the direct election of the head of the republic. The amendments assume that the election of the head of the KBR will be made by the majority vote out of the three nominees submitted by the President of the Russian Federation. Thus, the KBR has become the fifth region of Northern Caucasian to enjoy the chance to cancel the direct election of regional leader. The same procedure had been adopted earlier in Dagestan, Ingushetia, North Ossetia and Karachay-Cherkessia.

Dagestan: another replacement of Makhachkala Mayor

On April 4, the head of Dagestan Ramazan Abdulatipov appointed Magomed Suleimanov, the former head of the national compulsory health insurance fund, to be a new acting Mayor of Makhachkala. On the eve, a source of the "Caucasian Knot" from the administration of Makhachkala said that Murtazali Rabadanov, the Acting Mayor since June 13, 2013, after the Mayor Said Amirov was prosecuted on charges of organizing the murder of the investigator, terrorism and arms trafficking, resigned on his own will. Abdulatipov said, when speaking at the working meeting, that Rabadanov would be decorated with an order and get back to the post of the Rector of the Dagestani State University. Local experts believe that the reshuffle will not solve the city problems.

Stavropol Territory: more than a hundred hospitalized with food poisoning

During the last week, a mass food poisoning was registered in the Stavropol Territory. On March 31, in the evening, people began addressing the infectious disease hospital in the city of Mineralnye Vody with symptoms of poisoning, who said that ate salads bought in the city hypermarket; residents of Georgievsk and Alexandrovsky District came to hospitals with similar symptoms. In the afternoon of April 4, the number of those poisoned went up to 180 persons, 32 children among them. Hospitalization was administered to 137 persons; the rest of them are treated as outpatients. According to the Territorial Public Health Ministry, the patients were poisoned with salads bought at the "Magnit" supermarket chain. According to preliminary data, the nature of the infection is defined as salmonellosis. The police has entered the game and opened a criminal case.