News

February 20, 2021 17:11

• Authorities' initiative to criminalize insulting civil servants triggers criticism in Armenia

  Eleven journalistic and public organizations have demanded from Armenian authorities to abandon the initiative of introducing criminal liability for insulting and slandering civil servants. Such amendments to the Criminal Code will lead to political persecutions of authorities' critics and censorship, human rights defenders believe.

February 20, 2021 12:49

• Woman from Grozny arrested for witchcraft

  In Grozny, law enforcers have detained Bilkis Gaisumova, a local resident, for engaging in occultism, the "Grozny" ChGTRK (Chechen State TV and Radio Broadcasting Company) has informed in its report posted at night on February 20 in its Instagram page.

February 20, 2021 12:14

• Navalny's office coordinator beaten up in Makhachkala

  Ruslan Ablyakimov, an activist, who has recently became the coordinator of Navalny's office in Makhachkala, was beaten up by unknown assailants. Prior to the attack, Ablyakimov reported that he was shadowed.

February 20, 2021 11:59

• Martin Kochesoko's defence presents falsification proofs

  The witnesses of the detention of Martin Kochesoko, a Circassian activist, were people dependent on law enforcers; and the secret witnesses failed to clarify the case circumstances at the trial, the advocate has stated during the debate in the court.

February 20, 2021 08:46

• "Novaya Gazeta" describes life of villagers near "Putin's palace"

  The construction of the palace described in the resonant investigation by Alexei Navalny deprived residents of the village of Praskoveevka of their agricultural and hunting lands, a beach and recreation places, but villagers are afraid to openly criticize Vladimir Putin.

February 20, 2021 08:32

• Amid COVID-19, HRC "Memorial"* demands to protect Muslims' rights at funerals in KBR

  The Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial"* has appealed to the Prosecutor's Office of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR) with a request to check information on the violation of the rights of relatives of the Muslims who died from COVID-19. KBR residents tell about burying the dead in closed coffins, without observing religious rites and traditions, the HRC's message says.

February 19, 2021 23:44

• In Baku, police suppress women's protest in defence of political prisoners

  Today, about 10 women have come to the US Embassy. They demanded to release political prisoners. In their hands, the activists were holding posters with the slogan "Freedom for political prisoners!" written in Azerbaijani and English, as well as posters with photos of sentenced activists and journalists, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reported.

February 19, 2021 23:17

• Police detain ten activists near Georgian parliament building

  In Tbilisi, civil activists were detained in Rustaveli Avenue after they tried to set up a tent at the central entrance to the Georgian parliament building.

February 19, 2021 19:32

• Female picketers demand to investigate torture of arrested Derbent residents

  During pickets in Makhachkala, mothers of Derbent residents Islam Barzukaev, Gasan Kurbanov, and Mirzaali Mirzaliev, accused in a case on terrorism, disclosed the names of the law enforcers, whom they considered involved in torture, and demanded to institute a criminal case against them.

February 19, 2021 19:02

• Two Dagestani law enforcers detained on suspicion of kidnapping

  Four persons kidnapped a resident of Makhachkala and demanded from him to pay out 4 million roubles. Two of the kidnappers, former policemen, are detained, the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) reports today.

February 19, 2021 18:43

• Activist Vera Oleinikova detained in Rostov-on-Don

  Today, in Rostov-on-Don, the police have detained and brought to court Vera Oleinikova, a participant of a protest rally in support of Anastasia Shevchenko. According to the activist herself, she does not know why she is detained.

February 19, 2021 14:36

• Azerbaijan resident blown up by a mine in Nagorno-Karabakh

  Bakhtiyar Makhmudov, a native of the Lachin District, died after being blown up by a mine near the village of Sugovushan in the Terter District.

February 19, 2021 13:58

• South-Ossetian MPs reproach GPO for meddling in politics

  The General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) of South Ossetia has groundlessly assessed the work of the Parliament, since it is beyond its mission, the MPs from three parties have stated. Inal Djabiev's relatives said that they continue their protest action in a Tskhinvali square.

February 19, 2021 11:49

• Political analysts see attempts to self-justify in Sargsyan's interview

  The first interview of Serzh Sargsyan, the third president of Armenia, given after the "velvet revolution", indicates his desire to rehabilitate himself in the changed political situation, the political analysts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" believe.

February 19, 2021 11:33

• Authorities announce housing construction for 13 families in Shurnukh

  The Armenian government has allocated 700 million drams for the construction of housing and infrastructure in the village of Shurnukh for residents of the Syunik Region, whose houses were left in the territory now controlled by Azerbaijan.

February 19, 2021 08:34

• Shevchenko treats four years of conditional imprisonment as severe sentence

  The court has appointed a milder sentence than the prosecution demanded, but the conditional imprisonment also implies a number of restrictions, Anastasia Shevchenko, an activist, has stated.

February 19, 2021 08:22

• ECtHR obliges Azerbaijani authorities to pay compensations to two activists

  The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has upheld the complaints of Mamed Azizov and Shakhin Novruzlu, activists of the Azerbaijani movement "Nida" about politically motivated arrests and persecutions, and awarded compensation to them in the total amount of EUR 43,500.

February 18, 2021 23:44

• Week in the Caucasus: review of main events of February 1-7, 2021

  Case of Chechen native Djumaev; public outcry about a murder in Makhachkala; trial in a case against Ingush activists, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of February 1-7, 2021, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

February 18, 2021 23:29

• Week in the Caucasus: review of main events of January 25-31, 2021

  Return of refugees, post-war victims, and search for dead bodies in the Karabakh conflict zone; elite real estate apartments of the Kadyrov family in Moscow; crisis in South Ossetia, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of January 25-31, 2021, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

February 18, 2021 22:44

• Peskov forwards material about extrajudicial executions in Chechnya to law enforcers

  Today, while commenting on the material about victims of the extrajudicial executions released by the newspaper "Novaya Gazeta", Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary for the President of Russia, has said that the newspaper's material cannot be considered as evidence of extrajudicial executions and that law enforcers should deal with such information.