News

The police have seized a cell phone from the arrested politician Tofig Yagublu and deleted his records in social networks, his daughter, Nigyar Khazi, has reported. His advocate treats the police's actions as a violation of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR).

82 volunteers are bring foodstuffs and medicines, and help in paying utility bills to older residents of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR), who have to stay at home because of coronavirus infection threat.

By not closing mosques during the coronavirus epidemic, the Ingush Muslim clergy endanger their believers, Facebook users have stated. They advise local residents not to attend services.

Since March 22, Azerbaijani soldiers have fired over 1200 shots at positions of the Defence Army, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) has informed.

At the "Tangim" Mosque in Makhachkala, law enforcers stopped parishioners and copied their personal data. Believers pointed to a reduction in the number of participants in the Friday prayer, linking it with the threat of coronavirus spread.

On March 27, a military serviceman was wounded as a result of a shot from the Azerbaijani side, a source from the Armenian Ministry of Defence (MoD) has stated.

The demand for Hajj pilgrimage among North-Caucasian Muslims has dropped because of the spread of coronavirus and rouble depreciation, tour operators report. Saudi Arabia may cancel the Hajj; and operators will have to return the money to unfortunate pilgrims, said the office of Ilyas Umakhanov, the Hajj Commissioner under the Russian government.

The number of coronavirus cases has reached 329 in Armenia and 83 in Georgia. The significant difference in the number of infected people is explained by the fact that Tbilisi took preventive measures against the epidemic earlier than Yerevan. However, such a gap in figures can be explained also by the fact that the data on the number of coronavirus infected people depends on the number of performed tests, analysts have noted.

After the Mufti's call to people at risk not to visit mosques for coronavirus threat, the collective namaz (prayer) in Grozny on Friday was less crowded.

The head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, has demanded that quarantine violators be imprisoned, deprived of food and buried in pits. The threats may well come true, residents of the republic believe.

On March 26, the Chechen TV Channel showed a story about the opening ceremony at the Palace of Arts in Grozny. The authorities of Chechnya organized a solemn ceremony despite their own calls to cancel all mass events. Users of social networks and residents of Chechnya criticized the inconsistent actions of the republic's authorities.

Two districts of the Georgian region of Kvemo Kartli became a hotbed of risk for the spread of the coronavirus infection, and a strict quarantine is introduced in those districts. The region is compactly populated by Azerbaijani natives, many of whom do not know the Georgian language. What the authorities are doing, what local residents are afraid of, why students are not able to attend distance lectures, and how the language barrier prevents people from maintaining social distancing, – read about these and other problems described for the "Caucasian Knot" by Alexander Kvakhadze, a researcher of the "Rondeli Foundation".

The Supreme Court (SC) of Dagestan dismissed an appeal filed by the defence of Abdulmumin Gadjiev, a correspondent of the newspaper "Chernovik" (Draft), about his arrest in a case on financing of terrorism.

At a session of the Dagestani parliament, MP Omargadji Aliev has reproached the republic's Minister of Internal Affairs and noted that till present, the case on the killing of the Gasanguseinov shepherd brothers has not been resolved. A dispute about the investigators' inaction resulted in a quarrel among Dagestani MPs.

The torture case of four Anapa residents has been reopened after repeated examinations, the Committee against Torture (CaT) has reported. The investigation of the case will move from a deadlock only after the transfer thereof to the central machinery of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF), human rights defenders believe.

Azerbaijani authorities must release the opposition politician, Tofig Yagublu, arrested on charges of hooliganism, the Council of Europe (CE) has stated. International human rights organizations have treated the use of coronavirus pretext to isolate the opposition as undemocratic.

The joking statement of the head of Chechnya that he had survived the coronavirus caused criticism of social network users. Residents of the republic have criticized authorities' actions amid the pandemic and deficit of medical masks and a rise in foodstuff prices.

The distribution of free medical masks, disinfectants and gloves held by the organization "New Leaders" brought together over a hundred residents of Zugdidi, which entailed a fine imposed on the organizers thereof. The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Georgia has reached 79.

An elderly patient infected with coronavirus, who also suffered from other diseases, has died, the Ministry of Public Health of Armenia has reported.

About 3000 suspected coronavirus patients are quarantined in hospitals of Azerbaijan. They have to achieve proper living conditions there.