News

December 28, 2018 23:54

• A preacher from Dagestan denies knowing people suspected of financing militants

  Abu Umar Sasitlinsky, a preacher from Dagestan, declared by the law enforcement bodies as an organizer of terrorist financing, rejected any facts of his acquaintance with other persons involved in the criminal case. Earlier, fundraising for terrorists under the pretext of charity used to be widespread, but tight control over banking transactions and charitable foundations undermined the practice, declare experts.

December 28, 2018 23:52

• Rights defenders: release of a prisoner in Ingushetia because of sickness justified

  After his exemption from punishment, Magomed Bekov, sentenced in a criminal case of torture in the Ingush "E" Centre (Centre for Combating Extremism), lives at home and visits a hospital, his advocate reports. An exemption from punishment for sickness is not a rare case, although many sick prisoners cannot achieve such a solution, rights defenders report.

December 28, 2018 20:04

• Journalists call cultural conflicts in Dagestan a nationwide trend

  Fans of the Korean "BTS" band did not believe in the seriousness of the threats, because of which the film about the musicians had been cancelled in Dagestan. Such threats pose a real danger, and the repeated disruption of cultural events in the republic causes serious damage to society, believe journalists and the head of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" local office.

December 28, 2018 20:01

• Moscow hosts pickets against deportation of Chechen blogger Tumso Abdurakhmanov

  In Moscow, rights defenders have held three solo pickets near the Embassy of Poland. The protestors have stated that the return of Chechen blogger Tumso Abdurakhmanov to Russia threatens his life.

December 28, 2018 15:06

• Land swap agreement with Chechnya shakes rating of head of Ingushetia

  The authority of Yunus-Bek Evkurov in the eyes of the Kremlin has shaken due to the establishment of the border with Chechnya against the background of protests in Ingushetia, political analysts assert.

December 28, 2018 14:40

• South Ossetia decides to close the border with Georgia on the New Year

  The border with Georgia will be closed from December 30 to January 2 due to the increased security measures during the New Year holidays, the South Ossetian KGB (Committee for State Security) has announced.

December 28, 2018 11:24

• Rights defenders claim violation of prisoners' rights and torture in Azerbaijani jails

  Most Azerbaijani jails were built in Soviet times and fail to meet modern standards. The rights of arrested and convicted persons are violated. Corruption, administration arbitrariness and torture are common in penitentiary institutions, the Centre for the Protection of Political Prisoners (CPPP) has stated.

December 28, 2018 11:20

• Detention of Dagestani athlete Nurmagomedov reminds of law enforcers' bias to Caucasians

  Additional checks of natives of Northern Caucasus at the border are a common practice for Russian law enforcers, who are guided by subjective perceptions of suspicious individuals. This was stated by human rights defenders and lawyers after the detention of Khabib Nurmagomedov.

December 28, 2018 08:33

• In KBR, Jehovah's Witness sentenced to correctional labour

  The court has found a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses (an organization recognized as extremist and banned in Russia) from the city of Prokhladny guilty of extremism and sentenced him to 120 hours of compulsory work.

December 28, 2018 08:30

• Scientists compare conservatism of Vainakhs and Dagestanis

  Traditional relations in Dagestan are undermined much more than in Ingushetia and Chechnya, the researchers have stated. They have studied the commitment to traditional values among Ingushes and Chechens.

December 28, 2018 08:25

• Protesting workers block road in Armenia

  On Thursday, December 27, the workers of the companies, engaged in building the North-South motor transport corridor, blocked the road to Yerevan in the Aragatsotn Region of Armenia for four hours.

December 28, 2018 01:14

• Circassian activists ask President Putin to expand rights of immigrants from Syria

  On December 25, the "International Circassian Organization" sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin with a request to include compatriots from Syria living in Russia in the category of people eligible for simplified obtaining of citizenship.

December 28, 2018 01:11

• Azerbaijani blogger Mekhman Guseinov goes on hunger strike in a penal colony

  Blogger Mekhman Guseinov, suspected of beating a penal colony warder two months before the release, has been transferred to a punishment cell. He has refused to testify and went on a hunger strike, relatives and friends of the prisoner report. An advocate of Mekhman Guseinov complained that she was not allowed to visit the defendant.

December 27, 2018 19:03

• Participants of Makhachkala anime festival complain to Prosecutor's Office about threats

  Participants of the AniDag anime festival, which was not held in November because of threats, demanded from the Dagestani law enforcement bodies to investigate a criminal case on incitement of hostility. 

December 27, 2018 18:57

• Public employees of Grozny claim being forced to raise money for charity

  Employees of budget-funded institutions have to participate in raising money for New Year's gifts for children in the framework of the action organized by a Ramzan Kadyrov's daughter, report residents of Grozny. 

December 27, 2018 16:07

• Russian authorities remind about the ban on girls' circumcision

  The removal of clitoris is not on the list of allowed medical services; and such surgeries on girls contain signs of a criminal offense. This was declared by the "Roszdravnadzor" (the Russian Federal Service for Surveillance in Healthcare) after checking a Moscow clinic where female circumcision was performed.

December 27, 2018 16:01

• Woman wounded in Karabakh conflict zone

  On December 26, an elderly Azerbaijani woman was wounded during shelling of a border village. Doctors helped her, the Agdam district authorities have stated.

December 27, 2018 11:20

• Advocate of the Azerbaijani opposition leader Gasanov states violation his client's rights in SIZO

  A court in Baku has dismissed the defence's petition to transfer Azad Gasanov, an activist of the "Musavat" Party, to house arrest. The defence claims a violation of Gasanov's right to meet and talk by phone with his family members.

December 27, 2018 11:19

• Opponents point to Ingush Alims risk of losing credibility due to non-appearance at Kadiate

  The refusal to come to the republic's Kadiate undermines the Alims' authority, Malsag Uzhakhov, the chairman of the Ingush Council of Teips, has stated. A refusal to resolve disputes as befits a Muslim, is moving such people are moving away from the society, Magomed Mutsolgov, a human rights defender, believes.

December 27, 2018 08:26

• Azerbaijani blogger suspected of new crime before going free

  Mekhman Guseinov, convicted in Azerbaijan on charges of libel against policemen, was suspected of beating up a colony employee. They want to prevent the regime's critic from being released, rights defenders believe.