--PROSECTUORS WANT 7 YEARS FOR PRO-SEPARATIST JOURNALIST Prosecutors are demanding a seven-year prison sentence for Boris Stomakhin, editor of Radikalnaya politika and a contributing author to the pro-separatist Kavkaz-Center website, who is accused of inciting ethnic hatred and extremism in articles he wrote criticizing the... MORE

- RUSSIAN AUTHORITIES REFUSE TO REGISTER DUTCH NGO Russia’s Federal Registration Service has refused to register the Stichting Russian Justice Initiative, a Dutch NGO that has represented Russians in the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, in cases of abuse in Chechnya. The... MORE

- CHECHEN VILLAGE REPORTEDLY BOMBARDED Interfax reported on December 1 that the military prosecutor’s office of the Combined Federal Forces in the North Caucasus was looking into reports that a village in Chechnya’s Shatoi district had been bombarded and that the attack had caused civilian... MORE

- ULMAN AND CO-DEFENDANTS DENY CHARGES Captain Eduard Ulman and three other Russian military officers accused of murdering six civilians in Chechnya four years ago have admitted involvement, but denied the charges against them, RIA Navistar reported on December 12. Ulman, Lieutenant Alexander Kalagansky, Major... MORE

- SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS KULAEV’S LIFE SENTENCE On December 26, Russia’s Supreme Court upheld a life sentence for Nur-Pashi Kulaev, the only militant known to have survived the 2004 Beslan school siege that killed more than 300 people. As the Associated Press noted, the court... MORE

- CHECHEN REFUGEES IN AZERBAIJAN ASK FOR HELP Kavkazky Uzel reported on January 10 that the Council for Chechen Refugees in Azerbaijan had sent an appeal to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, stating that the situation surrounding Chechen refugees in Azerbaijan... MORE

- MEDVEDEV OPTIMISTIC ABOUT CHECHNYA’S DEVELOPMENT During a meeting with journalists in the Southern Federal District on January 17, First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that the social and economic situation in Chechnya in 2006 gives reason for moderate optimism, ITAR-TASS reported. Asked about... MORE

- EUROPEAN HR COURT FINDS RUSSIAN MILITARY GUILTY OF TORTURE The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg ruled on January 18 that the Russian military tortured two Chechen brothers held in detention in 2000, the first such conviction of Russian servicemen, Reuters reported. Adam... MORE

- CHECHEN LEGAL AID GROUP DENIED REGISTRATION On January 25, Reuters reported that the Russian government had refused for a second time to register the Moscow office of Russian Justice Initiative, a Dutch-based human rights group that gives legal aid to Chechens who have accused... MORE

- KILLERS OF SVERDLOVSK POLICE IN CUSTODY On February 5, the deputy chief of Sverdlovsk Oblast’s main police department, Viktor Berdnikov, told journalists in Yekaterinburg that all of the suspects in an attack on Sverdlovsk policemen in Chechnya in September 2006 have been arrested, ITAR-Tass... MORE