News

Publications of Chechen media approving the beating up Elena Milashina and Marina Dubrovina indicate that the attack had to do with Ramzan Kadyrov's call to crack down on authors of gossips about Chechnya, human rights defenders believe.

The arrests of Amirkhan Bekov, Isropil Nalgiev and Mukharbek Mamatov, participants of the rally in Magas have been appealed against. Investigators failed to prove their guilt, their advocates assert.

At trial, Ibragim Dugiev, a participant of a rally in Magas, admitted his guilt in attacking a fighter of the National Guard of Russia. The defendant insists that he was not guided by any political motives, but stood up for women and elderly people. The Prosecutor's Office requested the court to sentence Ibragim Dugiev to a year of imprisonment.

During the past 24 hours, the positions of the Azerbaijani Army stationed in the villages on the border with Armenia and in the Karabakh conflict zone were shelled for 21 times, including with sniper rifles, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence (MoD) has reported.

On February 10, Ramzan Kadyrov appointed his nephew, Mayor of Grozny, Ibragim Zakriev, as the head of the administration of the head and government of Chechnya. Local residents treat Zakriev's new appointment to be a continuation of the cadre policy of the head of the region.

After the decision of the Supreme Court (SC) to increase the punishment under the embezzlement case, Gigi Ugulava, a former Mayor of Tbilisi and one of the leaders of the "European Georgia" Party, has voluntarily surrendered to law enforcers. Leaders of oppositional parties and movements treated the toughened verdict as a political repression and refused to negotiate with authorities.

On February 10, relatives of the Derbent residents, accused of terrorism, held a picket demanding to stop lawlessness in the republic. Female relatives complained about health problems of those arrested, and about the obstacles to visiting them.

Due to problems with documents and money, five children from Karachay-Cherkessia, who were taken out of Syria to Moscow on February 7, cannot fly home. Several families were separated due to the absence of documents.

On Monday, February 11, eight persons continued their solo pickets in Makhachkala in support of Abdulmumin Gadjiev, arrested under the case of financing terrorism. The articles written by him are very popular; they cause authorities' reaction, Magdi Kamalov, the founder of the "Chernovik" (Draft) weekly, has stated.

Violations at vote tabulation and facts of pressure on observers are casting doubt on the honesty of the parliamentary elections held in Azerbaijan, the OSCE (Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe) has stated.

The court has sentenced Gigi Ugulava, a former Tbilisi Mayor and one of the leaders of the "European Georgia" Party, to three years and two months in prison.

After escaping from Chechnya, Aminat Lorsanova, a native of Grozny, broke all ties with her relatives who tried to "expel genies from her" by beating her with sticks. Islam does not practice treatment for homosexuality, notes Magomedrasul Omarov, the head of the Dagestani information and analytical centre "Fikr".

An attack on Elena Milashina and Marina Dubrovina was related to their professional activities, notes human rights defender Oleg Kozlovsky, whose kidnapping in Magas has been under investigation for more than a year.

On February 9, a 19-year-old soldier of the Nagorno-Karabakh Defence Army was found unconscious in one of the military units. He died in a hospital.

During the week of February 3-9, 2020, no one fell victim to the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus. These are the results of the calculations run by the "Caucasian Knot" based on its own materials and information from other open sources.

Parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan; attack on journalist Elena Milashina and advocate Marina Dubrovina in Grozny; new arrests of rally participants in Magas; resonance after a murder of a Chechen blogger in France; adoption of an anti-corruption law in Abkhazia, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of February 3-9, 2020, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

A brother and a sister brought among other children from Syria to Moscow have been handed over in Grozny to their relatives, the Chechen Ministry for National Policy has reported.

In the Georgian region of Kakheti, two young men have been detained on suspicion of abducting a 16-year-old girl with the aim to marry her, the police have reported.

During the vote at the parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan, there were cases of ballot stuffing (throws-in), the so-called "roundabouts", observers' inadmissibility and other significant violations, which prevent from establishing the true voters' will, the NGO leaders have stated.

A resident of Ingushetia killed his sister after a leak of the video of Isa Altemirov's detention into the Internet, Facebook and Instagram users have noted. It was the leak that has provoked him, commentators assert.