News

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has obliged the Azerbaijani authorities to pay compensation to Khadija Ismayilova for her moral harm caused by keeping her in custody. The ECtHR has found that she had been persecuted for her investigative journalism about corruption in the Azerbaijani government.

The intolerance level towards sexual minorities in Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR) is lower than in Northern Caucasus as a whole, but domestic homophobia is widespread in the republic, LGBT activists said amid the bullying of Shamil Malkanduev, a transgender singer.

Mamed Ibragim, an advisor to the chairman of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), was arrested on the charge of disobedience to the police. Members of the PFPA treat the activist's arrest as politically motivated.

Blogger Tumso Abdurakhmanov is deprived of communication means in a hospital, his brother reports. He says that Tumso Abdurakhmanov has got minor injuries, while his attacker stays in severe condition.

An assassination attempt on Tumso Abdurakhmanov, who criticizes the Chechen authorities, took place after Ramzan Kadyrov had called on to reprisals against opponents of the Chechen authorities. The law enforcement bodies refused to verify the Ramzan Kadyrov's statement, the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" stated.

The South-Ossetian and Abkhaz authorities completely stopped communication with Georgia, where the first case of coronavirus had been detected.

The NGO "Human Rights Monitoring and Training Centre" has criticized the inquiry conducted by the Prosecutor' Office (PO) into the murder of Temirlan Machalikashvili. Investigators should not rely solely on testimonies of a special troop fighter, who shot Temirlan dead. Besides, these testimonies contradict to the examination outcomes, which should have become the basis for suspicions, human rights defenders believe.

The ward, where Tumso Abdurakhmanov, wounded during the attack on him, is treated, is guarded by policemen, said Tumso's brother, adding that before the attack Tumso received threats.

Chechnya could become a place where Makhi Idrisov, who escaped from house arrest in Makhachkala, is hiding, said Svetlana Gannushkina, a human rights defender. Earlier, suspects of involvement in high-profile crimes and put on the wanted list had already hid in Chechnya. At least in one case, an attempt to detain such person triggered threats from Kadyrov to open fire at law enforcers from other regions.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of South Ossetia intends to continue raids and seize medicines with Georgian inscriptions from pharmacies. Patients used to order foreign drugs via Georgia, now they will have to do this via North Ossetia, a local pharmacist has explained.

The report with sons' apologies for rendering occult services by their parents has emphasized the exclusivity of Chechnya and reminded about Soviet practices of bringing up young people, in which the authority of power bodies competed with the parents' authority, analysts have noted.

The well-known Chechen blogger, Tumso Abdurakhmanov, has been hospitalized after an attack by a man who penetrated into his apartment.

The legalization of the mourning for deportation victims is a consequence of the consolidation of Kadyrov's status quo, Caucasian experts have explained the cancellation of the many-year-long moratorium on commemoration actions in Chechnya.

Anar Mamedov, the editor-in-chief of the "Criminal.az" website, who had asked the Supreme Court (SC) of Azerbaijan to acquit him, has criticized the decision to re-qualify the charge against him and cut his conditional sentence by three months.

Relatives of a murdered resident of the Nadterechny District are reconciled with two families who appealed to Ramzan Kadyrov. In Chechnya, relatives of murderers can escape persecution, but criminals themselves rarely escape revenge, experts note.

The court of appeal dismissed a complaint filed by Zaur Dadaev about the decision to toughen the terms of his punishment for the murder of Boris Nemtsov.

On February 25, a detainee repented on the air of the "Grozny" TV Channel of stealing a mobile phone. Residents of Chechnya found his repentance forced.

Four residents of the Urus-Martan District, kidnapped three weeks ago, returned home after a 10-day arrest in Grozny, their relatives reported.

Eduard Urazaev, a political analyst, and Gadjimurad Sagitov, a journalist, have expressed different opinions on what Idrisov's ties with Ramzan Kadyrov were.

Investigators refused to institute a criminal case against the law enforcers, whom the brothers, Mukhtar and Ismail Kurbanov, have accused of torturing them in an attempt to knock out confessions to their participation in the Syrian conflict on the side of militants.