Week in the Caucasus: review of main events of June 9-15

MCC announces guilty verdict to figurants in Anna Politkovskaya's murder case; municipal elections in Georgia; voting results at the parliamentary elections in South Ossetia; announcement of date of parliamentary elections in KChR and KBR, and elections of governors of the Astrakhan Region and Stavropol Territory; celebrations and protests on the Day of Russia; heavy rains and floods in the Krasnodar Territory, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of June 9-15, 2014, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

MCC announces guilty verdict to defendants in Anna Politkovskaya's murder case

On June 9, the Moscow City Court (MCC) announced the guilty verdict in the murder case of Anna Politkovskaya, an observer of the newspaper "Novaya Gazeta" to the figurants – four natives of Chechnya and a Moscow ex-militiaman. According to the MCC, Lom-Ali Gaitukaev, who created the criminal grouping, and Rustam Makhmudov, who was recognized as the direct gunman, were sentenced to life imprisonment. Other defendants received from 12 to 20 years of imprisonment. The MCC's sentence was based on the guilty verdict pronounced by the jury. The defendants' advocates intend to appeal against the verdict. They argue that the trial had violated rights of their clients. The children of Anna Politkovskaya, who were involved in the case of the journalist's murder as the suffered party, expressed their satisfaction with the verdict. However, they hope that the person who ordered the crime will be also brought to justice. Colleagues of the murdered journalist continue their own investigation. In that regard, they are ready to start a dialogue with everyone, who has any information on the matter.

Georgia holds municipal elections

On June 15, in the territory of Georgia, residents voted at the elections to local self-administration bodies, including the election of Tbilisi Mayor. According to members of local non-governmental organizations and the opposition, during the voting they recorded violations committed in the various regions of the country, including illegal campaigning, improper verification of marking, voting without IDs, and other violations. According to the Georgian Central Election Commission (CEC), less than half of the country's voters took part in the voting. Tbilisi showed the lowest turnout for the voting day. By the morning, the results of 27.71% of the processed ballots have been reported. According to the results, David Narmaniya from the "Georgian Dream" gained 46.09% of votes. The second place went to Nika Meliya, a candidate of the former ruling party "United National Movement", who gained 27.85% of votes. After the voting data from 54 out of 729 electoral precincts had been processed by the Tbilisi Sakrebulo (City Assembly), the coalition "Georgian Dream" was reported to gain 47.07% of the votes under the proportional system. Across the Georgia, the coalition "Georgian Dream" also leads at local elections.

In South Ossetia, four parties win seats in Parliament

According to preliminary data, voiced out on June 9 by the Central Election Commission (CEC) of South Ossetia, the overall turnout at the parliamentary elections held on June 8, reached 60.14%. There will be four parties in the Parliament, namely: the "United Ossetia" with 20 seats; the "Unity of the People" with six seats; and the "People's Party" and the "Nykhas" Party with four seats each. The elections were monitored by observers from 12 countries. On June 9, at the press conference, following the results of the monitoring the election process, observers from Russian and foreign NGOs assessed positively the elections to the Parliament of South Ossetia. The Georgian Government has called the parliamentary elections in South Ossetia illegitimate. The parliamentary elections in South Ossetia became a rehearsal of the referendum on reunification with Russia. This opinion has been expressed by Yana Amelina, the leading researcher at the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies. She has claimed that the winning "United Ossetia" Party "has no programme in any case, the one known to voters other than to solve the issue of South Ossetia's accession to Russia."

In KChR and KBR, MPs announce date for parliamentary elections; Astrakhan Region and Stavropol Territory announce date for elections of their governors

Last week, several federal subjects of southern Russia announced the dates for elections of deputies of their legislative assemblies and the heads of their regions. On September 14, on the single voting day in the Karachay-Cherkessian Republic (KChR), the republic will vote to elect its MPs. This decision was made on June 11 by the current MPs of the KChR. On June 10, deputies of the Stavropol Regional Duma scheduled the election of the regional governor for September 14. On the same day, on June 11, the Parliament of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR) scheduled the election of deputies of the newly elected Legislative Assembly for September 14. On June 10, deputies of the Astrakhan Regional Duma unanimously adopted the resolution to schedule the election of the governor of the region for September 14.

On Day of Russia, southern Russia held celebrations and protests

On June 12, all the regions of Southern Russia held celebrations devoted to the Independence Day of Russia. In Volgograd and Rostov-on-Don, festivities were held on the background of protest actions. Thus, in Volgograd, about 150 persons took part in the action "June 12 is Day of Lost Dreams". The protestors claimed they did not support the celebrations of the Day of Russia. They raised the issues of renaming Volgograd to Stalingrad, support of agriculture, development of nickel mines on the Khopyor River, and development of real estate points. In Rostov-on-Don, about fifty bicyclists held a protest action to attract the city officials' attention to the problem of the lack of bicycle lanes and parking lots. When speaking of the celebrations, residents of Nalchik expressed different opinions in assessing the holiday. However, the "Caucasian Knot" has found that many Dagestani residents treat the Day of Russia as just a day off. In Grozny, some participants of the festive demonstration reported they had been forced to take part in the celebrations.

Heavy rains result in flooding in Krasnodar Territory

In Southern of Russia, heavy rains led to disasters. On June 14, in the village of Lermontovo of the Tuapse District of the Krasnodar Territory, the territory of the children's camp "Polytekhnik" was flooded because of heavy rains. 173 children were evacuated to the nearby health camp "Neptune". On the same day, rescue team evacuated more than twenty residents of the village of Arkhipo-Osipovka, where the river overflowed its banks because of heavy rains. In the area of the village of Lermontovo, the water also overflew 800 meters of traffic area of the highway Djubga-Sochi. On the highway, the water level went up to about one meter, causing a traffic jam. However, traffic on the highway was restored by the evening.