News

At its session considering a new lawsuit of Alaif Gasanov, a lawyer, against the Bar Association of Azerbaijan, the Baku Administrative Court has demanded explanations from the Bar concerning the reinstatement of the plaintiff at work. The lawyer is sure that he was expelled from the Bar on political reasons.

A father of Temirlan Machalikashvili, who was killed during a special operation in the Pankisi Gorge, and volunteers who supported him continued to collect signatures under a petition to create an investigative commission at the parliament. For the petition to be considered, it is required to collect about 50,000 signatures more.

A workshop for converting demilitarized weapons into combat weapons was found in the village of Plievo, and submachine guns, pistols, TNT blocks, and grenades were seized from there, sources report today. The law enforcement bodies suggest that the workshop was organized by a man who had earlier opened fire during a search.

In Kabardino-Balkaria, Islam Kumyshev, a resident of the Zolsky District, who demanded to let his fellow villagers rent land plots, was released under recognizance not to leave in a case on possession of rounds. Fellow villagers of the activist mentioned their poor situation and requested the leader of Kabardino-Balkaria to allocate them land plots without any auction.

The ban on the sale of Georgian-made medicines and the absence of any possibility to buy them in Georgia because of the closure of the border violates the rights of residents of South Ossetia, claims Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili in her letters to the UN, Council of Europe (CE), and the World Health Organization (WHO).

A refusal to approve a construction of a mosque in Batumi is related not to discrimination against Muslims, but to the dense development of a place in question, the Batumi City Mayoralty states in its appeal against the court's decision which had obliged city officials to review their decision.

Investigators convinced Oleg Kozlovsky to take a polygraph test to verify that he had told the truth about his kidnapping in Ingushetia.

Law enforcers have detained Rasul Gasan, a graphic designer, and forced him to remove from social networks his satirical clip, in which the policemen standing in a cordon during a protest rally against election frauds are dancing a folk dance.

The cost of a Hajj tour for Azerbaijani Muslims is 4490 US dollars, while Georgian Muslims can make their Hajj to Saudi Arabia for USD 3800. This is higher than the minimum tour cost for pilgrims from Dagestan – USD 2610.

On February 18, Elena Milashina, an observer of the "Novaya Gazeta" newspaper, submitted an application to the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) with a demand to investigate the attack on her and the lawyer Marina Dubrovina, committed in Grozny.

A court in the Stavropol Territory has sentenced Zelimkhan Bapkhoev, a participant in clashes with law enforcers in Magas, to one and a half years in a settlement colony. He will be back at large on March 2, his advocate has stated.

Most of the manganese ore mines have stopped working, because of the protest action launched by residents of the village of Shukruti, who are seeking compensation from the "Georgian Manganese" Company for their damaged houses.

Relatives of three residents of Derbent reported their disappearance in Grozny. One of the disappeared persons criticized the authorities of Chechnya, and shortly before their disappearance, the Derbent residents posted a video on social networks with them smoking in front of the "Heart of Chechnya" Mosque. Instagram users suggested that fact became the reason for their disappearance.

The Parliament of Georgia supported the appointment of Irakli Shotadze to the position of General Prosecutor of Georgia. Opposition MPs boycotted the parliament meeting.

In Grozny, five hipsters have told authors of the project "(Un)safe city" that non-standard clothes, rap enthusiasm or atheistic views cause condemnation in the Chechen society and may become a reason for detention of a person by law enforcers.

Today, in the Stavropol Territory, a court has found Ingush activist Akhmed Nalgiev guilty of attacking law enforcers during protests against the border agreement with Chechnya. The defence did not agree with the verdict of guilty.

Today, the Dorogomilovsky District Court of Moscow has pronounced a verdict in a case on financing terrorists. Shavri Gadjiev, a resident of Makhachkala, who is accused of transferring 10,000 roubles to terrorists, was sentenced to eight years of imprisonment in a high-security penal colony.

Azerbaijani journalist Polad Aslanov, accused of treason, has testified at a trial in the Baku Court on Grave Crimes. The defendant denies the charges brought against him and claims that he is being prosecuted for his professional journalistic activities.

The positions of the Azerbaijani troops were shelled, including from sniper rifles, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of Azerbaijan reports today.

During the hearings in a case against Yunis Safarov and other persons accused of participating in the Ganja events, the defence requested the court to transfer the trial to Ganja or the Baku Court on Grave Crimes. The court pronounced a decision to send the motion to the Ganja Court of Appeal for consideration and postponed the trial indefinitely.