News

June 27, 2008 11:56

• Azerbaijani democrats state absence of conditions for free elections

  The democratic forces of Azerbaijan believe that the country has no conditions for free elections. This was stated today during the Civil Forum held in the Baku-based Hotel "Europe" under the motto "On Situation with Democratic Freedoms and Human Rights in Azerbaijan before Presidential Election".

June 27, 2008 11:53

• Another oppositional journalist detained in Azerbaijan

  Today, in the capital of Azerbaijan, the police have detained the well-known journalist Makhal Ismailoglu. According to certain data, his article in the newspaper was the cause of his arrest.

June 27, 2008 11:43

• Rally in support of arrested MP held in the capital of Armenia

  The court has ruled to extend for two more months the custody term of Akop Akopyan, Deputy of Armenian Parliament, who had supported the leader of the opposition Levon Ter-Petrosyan and was deprived of his deputy's immunity after the March 1 events. A protest action in support of Akopyan was held in Yerevan.

June 26, 2008 14:10

• Moscow Mayoralty informs parliament of Kabardino-Balkaria on measures of fighting xenophobia

  The parliament of Kabardino-Balkaria has received an answer to their request to the Moscow Municipal Duma on the facts of attacks and murders in Moscow of natives of Kabardino-Balkaria committed in January-March of this year.

June 26, 2008 14:04

• Kidnappers of Moscow resident detained in Chechnya

  Employees of law enforcement bodies have detained a group of local residents suspected of kidnapping a lady-resident of Moscow in the Grozny District of Chechnya. A source in the interior bodies has informed the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent about it.

June 26, 2008 13:57

• Former militant from Salman Raduev's group surrenders in Chechnya

  A local resident, 37, who for some time had been a fighter of the regiment of field commander Salman Raduev, has surrendered to employees of law enforcement bodies in the Oktiabrskiy District of the capital of Chechnya.

June 26, 2008 13:51

• Hammerberg insists on Azerbaijan's obeying to PACE's guidelines

  Thomas Hammerberg, Higher Commissioner of the Council of Europe for Human Rights, plans to visit Azerbaijan after the presidential election. Mr Hammerberg told about it in his conversation with a group of Azerbaijani journalists in Strasbourg.

June 26, 2008 13:47

• HRC "Memorial" to present another chronicle of violence in Chechnya

  On June 27, at a press conference in Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" will present the fourth part of the violence chronicle in Chechnya entitled "People Live Here", dedicated to the period from July to September 2001.

June 26, 2008 13:44

• PACE gives time to Armenia to fulfil all requirements of Resolution No. 1609

  The PACE's Monitoring Commission has supported with its 24 votes the document on the progress in fulfilling the requirements of PACE's Resolution No. 1609. According to the new document, Armenia will have time till January 2009 to cope with all the requirements.

June 26, 2008 13:41

• Members of Kurmanch community protest against tortures in Krasnodar

  Today, 10 Kurmanch nationals have held a picket in Krasnodar against tortures applied to Rashid Gurzhiev, Anatoly Dursunov and Ruslan Kelosmanov. The picketers grouped in the mini-park opposite the administration of the Krasnodar Territory and demanded that law-enforcement and judicial bodies treat the detainees objectively.

June 25, 2008 12:34

• Supreme Court of Dagestan acquits Dibirov accused of ties with militants

  On June 24, it became known that on June 19, 2008, the board of jurymen of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Dagestan acquitted Ilyas Abutalibovich Dibirov, born in 1983, on all indictment points and released him right in the courtroom.

June 25, 2008 12:32

• Krasnodar journalists strive to release their colleague Sergey Rozhkov

  Journalists of Krasnodar have sent an appeal to Alexei Simonov, President of the Foundation in Defence of Glasnost, with a request to inquire the Dean of Journalism Department of the Kuban State University and Chair of the Union of Journalists of Kuban, why they do nothing to release Sergey Rozhkov from custody.

June 25, 2008 12:29

• In Moscow, FSPE employees seized six apartments of refugees from Caucasus

  On June 24, employees of the Federal Service for Punishment Enforcement (FSPE) stormed and seized six apartments in the hostel located in the Yasny Proezd in Moscow, where families of refugees from Azerbaijan and Abkhazia lived.

June 25, 2008 12:26

• CE's Secretary General demands to find those in charge of people's deaths on March 1 in Armenia

  Terry Davis, Secretary General of the Council of Europe (CE), finds it especially important to investigate into the murders committed on March 1 in Yerevan. Mr Davis made this statement today at a press conference in Strasbourg, while answering the question about his estimates of fulfilment by the authorities of Armenia of PACE's Resolution No. 1609.

June 25, 2008 12:23

• CE's Secretary General hopes Azerbaijani authorities to seriously treat PACE's recommendations

  Terry Davis, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, made his comments on the Resolution "On Operation of Democratic Institutes in Azerbaijan", adopted on June 24 in Strasbourg at the PACE session, and expressed his confidence that the Azerbaijani government will seriously treat the recommendations of the Council of Europe and take the required measures.

June 25, 2008 12:20

• In Azerbaijan, journalist Gusejnov discharged from hospital despite poor health

  Today, Emin Guseinov, head of the Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS), was discharged from the emergency hospital, where he had been taken in the state of unconsciousness as a result of the physical violence exerted on him at the 22nd police station of the Nasiminskiy District Interior Department of Baku.

June 25, 2008 12:13

• Human Rights Watch anxious with human rights violations in Ingushetia

  The report entitled "As though they fell from the sky: counterterrorism, human rights violations and impunity in Ingushetia", presented by human rights activists today in Moscow, runs that dozens of residents of Ingushetia became victims of kidnappings, murders and tortures.

June 24, 2008 15:04

• Islamic Committee demands from Kremlin to stop oppressing Moslems in Northern Caucasus

  The Islamic Committee of Russia has put forward five requirements to the country's leadership: admit Moslems to formation of home and foreign policy of the country; ensure free elections to power bodies in the republics "with the indigenous Muslim population", first of all in Northern Caucasus; admit Moslems to mass media; reconsider politically-motivated criminal cases against Moslems; and stop prohibiting Islamic books.

June 24, 2008 14:59

• In Azerbaijan, trial of attack on Halil to be held with participation of the suffered journalist

  On June 24, the Nasiminskiy District Court of the capital of Azerbaijan, presided by Judge Shakhin Abdullaev, has continued the trial of Sergey Strekalin, accused of giving a knife wound on March 13, 2008, to Agil Halil, employee of the "Azadlyg" (Freedom). The judge has ruled that the victim should take part in the trial.

June 24, 2008 14:52

• Freedom House: Armenia's democracy indicators get worse

  The Freedom House human rights organization has published its 2008 report on the progress of democracy in the transitive countries, according to which the aggregate democracy indicator in Armenia went down.