News

May 18, 2024 17:47

• Advocate confirms departure of Chechen Zaurbekova from Russia

  Liya Zaurbekova, a native of Chechnya, who escaped from her relatives, has left Russia and is in safety, her advocate has confirmed the information of a member of the Human Rights Council about the woman's departure from Russia.

May 17, 2024 23:13

• Prosecution demands nine years in jail for Mikhail Balabanov for commissariat arson

  At the Southern District Military Court, the prosecutor has demanded to sentence Mikhail Balabanov, 21, to nine years in jail on charges of preparing to set fire to the military commissariat (registration and enlistment office) in Nevinnomyssk. Balabanov's guilt has not been proven; there are signs of falsification in the case, his defence has pointed out, demanding to acquit the defendant.

May 17, 2024 19:25

• Rights defenders treat case of missing Movsar Umarov as typical for Chechnya

  The decision of the Grozny court to provide Eset Umarova with the materials of the case of her son Movsar's disappearance gives some hope to his family, but investigators are unlikely to make the hope true. The fate of Chechen residents who disappeared like Umarov often remains unknown, human rights defenders have pointed out.

May 17, 2024 18:11

• Police promise to protect Chechen woman Liya Zaurbekova, who escaped from domestic violence

  The police promised human rights defenders and an advocate to ensure the safety of Liya Zaurbekova, a 19-year-old native of Chechnya, who fled from her family living in the Moscow Region. Liya Zaurbekova said she feared reprisals.

May 16, 2024 22:49

• Defendants accused of patients’ deaths in Vladikavkaz hospital refuse to admit their guilt

  Vladimir Pliev and Oleg Morozov, the former head physician of the Republican Clinical Emergency Hospital in Vladikavkaz and the institution’s equipment engineer, respectively, refused to plead guilty to the deaths of nine patients with coronavirus caused by an accident in the institution’s oxygen supply system.

May 16, 2024 21:10

• Human rights defenders report danger for Chechen native, who escaped from her family

  The family of a 19-year-old native of Chechnya, who ran away from her family because of permanent pressure and the risk of being killed, put the girl on the wanted list and found her in Moscow. The girl was taken to a police station, and members of her family gathered around the building.

May 16, 2024 18:57

• Court of Appeal upholds fine imposed on Mikhailovsk resident for discrediting Russian Army

  The Stavropol Territorial Court has considered the appeal complaint lodged by Vitaly Fedorenko, a resident of the town of Mikhailovsk, against a fine imposed on him within the case of discrediting the Russian Army and upheld the punishment.

May 16, 2024 17:47

• Woman from Maykop accused of damaging memorial in Krasnodar

  The case of a woman, a native of Maykop, the capital of Adygea, accused of damaging the Eternal Flame memorial in Krasnodar and desecrating a symbol of military glory has been brought to court, investigators have informed.

May 15, 2024 23:24

• Daudov announces his resignation as Speaker of Chechen Parliament

  After a meeting with Ramzan Kadyrov, Magomed Daudov, the chair of the Chechen Parliament, has announced the early termination of his powers.

May 15, 2024 22:13

• Defence succeeds in seeking treatment for Zarema Musaeva

  Zarema Musaeva, who is serving her imprisonment term in a penal colony in Argun, is undergoing medical treatment in a day hospital, her advocate reports.

May 15, 2024 21:13

• Rights defenders link kidnappings with car arson in Grozny

  In Grozny, an unknown person has set fire to a car with a DUSTUM license plate and the inscription K13 on the door. A resident of the Chechen capital was detained on suspicion of committing the arson; he surrendered himself after the kidnapping of his family, the Chechen oppositional Telegram channel has reported.

May 15, 2024 18:58

• Leila Gatagazheva's defence treats her return to SIZO as unjustified cruelty

  Leila Gatagazheva, who has been returned from house arrest to the SIZO (pre-trial prison) for the second time in a row, needs medical treatment; her health was undermined back in the Iraqi prison, her relative and advocates assert.

May 15, 2024 17:37

• Activist from KBR tries to sue FSB

  Olga Begretova, a female activist from the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR), who was subjected to forced fingerprinting by border guards, has demanded to treat the refusal of the republic's branch of the FSB (Russian Federal Security Service) to provide the information collected about as illegal and to oblige the branch to eliminate the violations.

May 14, 2024 23:52

• Abduction of Maria Smelaya reminds of legal vulnerability of women in shelters

  The employees of the shelter from which Maria Smelaya was abducted decided not to apply to the police, but moved their clients to a safe place. Human rights defenders have emphasized the need of legal mechanisms and tools to protect shelter clients.

May 14, 2024 22:57

• Three IS* supporters sentenced for preparing a terror act in Cherkessk

  In Karachay-Cherkessia, a court found three persons guilty of preparing a terror act and participating in the activities of the “Islamic State” (IS)*. The defendants were sentenced to 18.5 years of imprisonment in a high-security penal colony.

May 14, 2024 22:47

• In Ingushetia, court returns mother of two Leila Gatagazheva to SIZO

  The Supreme Court (SC) of Ingushetia has upheld an appeal filed by the prosecutor’s office against mitigation of a pre-trial restriction measure for Leila Gatagazheva, accused of involvement in groupings of Syrian militants. The young woman has been returned to a SIZO (pre-trial prison) for the second time.

May 14, 2024 18:06

• Journalist Kevorkova included into list of terrorists and extremists

  The "Rosfinmonitoring" (Russian Federal Financial Monitoring Service) has included Nadezhda Kevorkova, a journalist who was arrested on charges of justifying terrorism, into the list of terrorists and extremists.

May 13, 2024 23:17

• Picket in Makhachkala attracts attention of passers-by to journalist Gadjiev’s case

  After holding a picket in support of his convicted colleague Abdulmumin Gadjiev, Magomed Magomedov, a deputy editor-in-chief of the Dagestani weekly newspaper “Chernovik” (Rough Draft), said that in Makhachkala, passers-by expressed their interest in an Abdulmumin Gadjiev’s case and the date of consideration of the appeal.

May 13, 2024 22:55

• Week in the Caucasus: review of main events of May 6-12, 2024

  Protests in Georgia, claims against Nikol Pashinyan in Armenia, persecution of pacifists and activists in Southern Russia, Nadezhda Kevorkova’s case, and official data on the natives of Southern Russia who perished in Ukraine, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of May 6-12, 2024, prepared by the “Caucasian Knot”.

May 13, 2024 22:19

• Believer from Abinsk arrested on charges of extremism

  A 66-year-old Jehovah’s Witness* from Abinsk has been taken into custody, being accused of participating in an extremist organization, investigators report.