News

January 23, 2025 23:50

• Lawyers assess blogger Alibekov’s chances for CER

  Askhabali Alibekov, a blogger from the city of Novorossiysk, can hope for conditional early relief (CER), if he has no violations and the suffered policeman agrees to this, lawyers have indicated in their comments on the reduction of Askhabali’s punishment.

January 23, 2025 22:46

• Rights defenders assess new wave of fight against car window tinting in Chechnya

  The new stage of counteracting car window tinting in Chechnya entails additional risks for drivers, but residents of the republic mainly tint their cars when they use then outside the republic’s borders.

January 23, 2025 22:45

• Rights activists call on PACE to get Baku to release political prisoners

  International human rights organizations have called on the members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) to confirm the suspension of Azerbaijan's powers and establish criteria for restoring them, including the release of political prisoners and enforcement of the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).

January 23, 2025 22:16

• Protests against Georgian authorities’ policies and Amaglobeli’s arrest continue in Tbilisi

  On the 56th day of protests against the suspension of European integration, protesters blocked traffic near the Georgian Parliament. A rally in support of Mziya Amaglobeli, the founder of the "Batumelebi" and "Netgazeti" outlets, was held near the Georgia’s legislative body (Parliament).

January 23, 2025 21:17

• Wife of mobilized soldier Abramov worries about absence of communication with him

  Numerous requests to demobilize Alexei Abramov, a Krasnodar resident, for his health reasons remain unanswered. He is in the special military operation (SMO) zone and has not been in touch for a month, his wife has informed.

January 22, 2025 23:59

• Blogger Alibekov's case on discrediting Russian Army stopped

  A court in Novorossiysk has dismissed the case against Askhabali Alibekov, a blogger, initiated on a repeated discrediting of the Russian Army due to the expiration of the statute of limitations. This was reported by the “OVD-Info”* human rights project, citing Alibekov's advocate.

January 22, 2025 23:56

• Tbilisi protesters demand release of political prisoners

  In Tbilisi, representatives of the New Theatre, whose actor Andro Chichinadze was arrested within a case of organizing violence during protests, have demanded to release all the "regime inmates”; they have also announced protest actions in country regions.

January 22, 2025 23:09

• “Reporters Without Borders”: repression against journalists in Azerbaijan increases

  Ahead of the trial in a case against journalists of the “Abzas Media” online publication, the “Reporters Without Borders” human rights organization called on to release employees of independent media outlets arrested in Azerbaijan.

January 22, 2025 21:56

• Human rights defenders treat court’s decision in missing Chechen Umarov’s case as unlawful

  In Grozny, a court has dismissed a complaint about the investigator’s refusal to present for examination the materials of a criminal case on disappearance of Movsar Umarov. The investigators are not interested in investigating cases that could prove the law enforcers’ involvement in the disappearances of people, human rights defenders suggest.

January 22, 2025 20:45

• Verdict to blogger Askhabali Alibekov mitigated

  The court has educed the freedom deprivation term of Askhabali Alibekov, a blogger from Novorossiysk, convicted within the case of attacking a policeman, by four months.

January 21, 2025 23:56

• Chechen advocate lIdalov demands to punish judge for unjust verdict

  Timur Idalov, an advocate from Chechnya, has been released from forced labour, since the order to enforce his sentence was revoked. The statute of limitations for the case has already expired. Idalov asked the Supreme Court (SC) to hold the judge who had sentenced him accountable.

January 21, 2025 23:17

• Defence of scientist Gubad Ibadoglu claims violation of his rights by police

  Gubad Ibadoglu, an opposition politician, scientist and economist, has to regularly report to the police station in the city of Sumgait under the conditions of police supervision, although he lives in Baku, and regular trips negatively affect his health.

January 21, 2025 22:53

• Baku townspeople commemorate “Black January” victims

  On the 35th anniversary of Soviet troops’ invasion into the city, Baku residents came to the memorial on the Alley of Martyrs to commemorate the casualties.

January 21, 2025 21:59

• Georgian activists demand Amaglobeli's release

  The NGO “Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association” has demanded to stop the criminal prosecution of Mziya Amaglobeli and to fire the Batumi police boss who had detained the journalist.

January 21, 2025 21:57

• Convicted pensioner Baragunova complains about her rights violation at SIZO

  Larisa Baragunova, a pensioner from the city of Tyrnyauz, convicted for attacking law enforcers, has complained that the administration of the SIZO (pre-trial prison) bans her from call home, and her cellmates put pressure on her.

January 20, 2025 23:56

• Azerbaijani journalists consider French colleagues’ invitation to cooperate a provocation

  Three independent Azerbaijani journalists received emails with offers of cooperation signed by their French colleagues. The Azerbaijani journalists believe that those messages were sent by local law enforcers in attempts to get a pretext to institute criminal cases of espionage.

January 20, 2025 23:47

• Memorial events for Markelov and Baburova held in Russia and other countries

  On the 16th anniversary of the murder of advocate Stanislav Markelov and Anastasia Baburova, a journalist of the “Novaya Gazeta” newspaper, memorial events were held in various cities in Russia, as well as France, Germany, Thailand, and other countries.

January 20, 2025 22:58

• PO approves charges against Volgograd lawyer Nurushev

  The Prosecutor's Office (PO) has approved the charges against Ruslan Nurushev, a Volgograd lawyer, in the case of disseminating fakes about the Russian Army.

January 20, 2025 22:15

• Week in the Caucasus: review of main events of January 13-19, 2025

  Repressions in Azerbaijan, pollution in Anapa, trial against former leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh, persecution of pacifists and activists in Southern Russia, protests in Georgia, 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 January 13-19, 2025, prepared by the “Caucasian Knot”.

January 20, 2025 21:49

• Defence points to violations of Chechen lawyer Timur Idalov's rights

  The court has overturned the ruling to enforce the sentence passed to Timur Idalov, a Chechen lawyer. The decision to keep him in custody after announcing the verdict is contrary to the law, his defence has stated.