News

August 25, 2021 23:48

• Ingush residents criticize participants of forum in honour of Akhmat Kadyrov

  Participation in official events in Chechnya is unacceptable for people from Ingushetia, Ingush Instagram users claim. A member of the Sultygovs teip (family clan) called on relatives to disavow Magomed-Bashir Sultygov, who participated in a Chechen forum.

August 25, 2021 23:44

• ICRF refuses to investigate kidnapping of a Dagestani native by Chechen law enforcers

  Chechen law enforcers kidnapped Ibragim Selimkhanov, a native of Dagestan, and tried to use threats to get from him the information about a programme to help LGBT people in the Caucasus. The police refuse to accept a complaint about kidnapping from Ibragim Selimkhanov, the “Russian LGBT Network”* reports.

August 25, 2021 22:02

• Russian peacekeepers guard grape pickers in Nagorno-Karabakh

  Residents of the Martuni District of Nagorno-Karabakh appealed for help to the Russian peacekeeping contingent. They requested to ensure security during the harvesting of grapes near the demarcation line. The peacekeepers have cleared the area of mines and are guarding the harvest pickers, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of the Russian Federation reports.

August 25, 2021 13:24

• Georgian special services name detained Pankisi Gorge residents

  The young people detained on charges of involvement in the "Islamic State" (IS)* are from 18 to 20 years old. They took an oath of allegiance to the terrorist organization and recorded it on video, the Georgian State Security Service (SSS) has informed.

August 25, 2021 13:22

• Appeal of Timurzievs' father to Kadyrov remains unanswered

  According to Ismail, a local resident, almost all the villagers came to the memorial service held at the house of Timurziev family in the village of Dolakovo. Akhmetkhan Timurziev, the father of the murdered brothers, said that no response to his appeal to the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, was received.

August 25, 2021 13:17

• Gadjiev's colleague treats refusal to grant public defender's status as violation

  The Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don has rejected the journalist Idris Yusupov's petitions to grant him the status of a public defender at the trial of Abdulmumin Gadjiev; Kemal Tambiev's wife was also rejected. The refusal to bring public defenders into the case has no legal grounds, Mr Yusupov has pointed out.

August 25, 2021 13:10

• Armenian journalists demand to lift restrictions on work in parliament

  During Nikol Pashinyan's speech, a group of journalists held a protest action in the Armenian Parliament. They demanded to cancel the restrictions on the work of media professionals in the legislature and provide more freedom to the media.

August 24, 2021 23:43

• Khabib apologizes after accusations of indifference to Muslims of Afghanistan

  Internet users accused Dagestani MMA fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov of disrespecting Afghan Muslims after he had refused to comment on events in Afghanistan.

August 24, 2021 23:39

• Dagestani resident sentenced to a year of imprisonment for justifying terrorism

  In Rostov-on-Don, the Southern District Military Court found a resident of Dagestan guilty of justifying terror acts and sentenced him to a year of imprisonment in a penal colony.

August 24, 2021 22:34

• Human rights defenders comment on Grozny airport named after Akhmat Kadyrov

  The assignment of the name of Akhmat Kadyrov to Grozny airport continued the course of “akhmatization” of the republic, tacitly approved by the Kremlin, human rights defenders believe. The authorities also timed the opening of the “Grozny Mall” centre, a mosque in the village of Aldy and the allocation of apartments in the Nadterechny District to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the Akhmat Kadyrov’s birth.

August 24, 2021 22:28

• Five residents of Pankisi Gorge detained during special operation

  The Georgian State Security Service (SSS) conducted a special operation in the Pankisi Gorge and detained at least five local residents, suspected of participation in a terrorist organization.

August 24, 2021 15:54

• Pashinyan updates death toll in Karabakh War

  Armenia had 3773 persons perished in the Karabakh War; other 243 ones are missing, the Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan, has stated.

August 24, 2021 15:52

• Azerbaijan: stray animal centre accuses zoo-activists of libel

  In Azerbaijan, two employees of the centre that takes care of stray dogs have filed a lawsuit against four zoo activists, demanding to prosecute them for libel and insult. The defendants treat the lawsuit as untenable.

August 24, 2021 15:44

• Analysts assess likelihood of attracting foreign peacemakers to Karabakh conflict zone

  The parties to the Karabakh conflict are interested in attracting, apart from Russian peacemakers, those from other countries: Baku – from Turkey; Yerevan – from Western countries, in particular, from France. However, this will require consents of both parties in conflict and Moscow, experts believe.

August 24, 2021 15:40

• Confrontation in Armenia show need for police reform

  The legislation fails to differentiate when the use of force by the police is justified, and when it is disproportionate, human rights defenders have noted in their comments on the dispersal of the action against the construction of a high-rise building. According to their version, the Armenian police needs reforms, as in modern realities it is "a club in authorities' hands."

August 24, 2021 15:34

• Colleagues of Dagestani journalist Gadjiev stand up in defence of media freedom

  The Makhachkala picketers have pointed to absence of journalists' protection against criminal prosecution and demanded to release political prisoners. The consideration of Abdulmumin Gadjiev's case will last until the end of 2021, the advocate has predicted.

August 24, 2021 11:47

• Dagestan: Imam of Tsumada District replaced amid conflict

  Following the change of the Imam of the village of Agvali, who failed to satisfy the local Muslim community, the Dagestani Muftiate appointed a new chairman of the Council of Imams of the Tsumada District. The Muftiate's statement about its right to appoint Imams indicates a conflict with Agvali villagers on this issue, Ziyautdin Uvaisov, a religious figure, has suggested.

August 24, 2021 04:32

• Police disperse a rally of Afghan migrants in Baku

  About 40 migrants from Afghanistan, who do not have refugee status in Azerbaijan, tried to hold a protest action in Baku. They demanded that the UN should pay attention to their problems. The police took the participants of the unsanctioned action out of the park.

August 24, 2021 04:30

• Human rights defenders criticize dispersal of protest against construction in Yerevan

  Human rights and public organizations of Armenia claim that the policemen should be punished for beating and unjustified detention of the activists protesting against the construction of a multi-storey building. According to the Armenian Ombudsman, the police had no reason to use force.

August 23, 2021 23:59

• Children of a Muslim woman from Rostov-on-Don seized illegally, her advocate claims

  A criminal case for assisting terrorist activities has been instituted against Alyona, a native of Rostov-on-Don, who converted to Islam. The woman left her three children to a mother of her husband, and the latter tried to take them to Grozny, but law enforcers took them off the train on the way. The children were sent to an orphanage. Such seizure of children is illegal, advocate Israil Gadadov claims.