News

The police detained one of the transgender women who were attacked in Tbilisi and activist Nata Peradze, who stood up for the detainee.

Sevgiya Ismailova, who managed to escape from her relatives in Azerbaijan and return to Russia, is safe, reports the head of the "Russian LGBT Network".

In 2019, the Azerbaijan's authorities continued to maintain rigid control, severely curtailing freedoms of association, expression, and assembly. Some of the persons sentenced on politically motivated charges remained in prisons, and the persecution of critics of the authorities continued, the international human rights organization "Human Rights Watch" (HRW) states in its report.

In 2019, in Dagestan, the law enforcement bodies stopped activities of 11 secret units of the "Islamic State" (IS), a terrorist organization banned in Russia by the court. This was reported by Igor Sirotkin, the deputy director of the Russian FSB and the chief of the administration of the National Antiterrorist Committee (NAC).

Starting from January 12, the Azerbaijani troops fired about 650 shots at the positions of the Defence Army, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) Nagorno-Karabakh reports.

In Tbilisi, the court imposed a fine on Zurab Djaparidze for participating in a protest action held by supporters of a change in the electoral system. The fine was imposed two months after the protest action had taken place. Zurab Djaparidze accused law enforcers of falsifying materials on his alleged failure to obey to the police. The activist claimed he would not pay a fine.

The Azerbaijani positions on the border with Armenia and in the Karabakh conflict zone were shelled 23 times within 24 hours, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of Azerbaijan reports.

At the national elections in Nagorno-Karabakh, citizens with health problems will be provided with the necessary conditions at polling stations for voting. This was announced by Srbui Arzumanyan, the chair of the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Nagorno-Karabakh, during a CEC's regular meeting held on January 15.

Today, investigators have charged Bagaudin Khautiev, a participant of a rally in Magas, with participation in an extremist community, which, according to the law enforcement bodies, had been created by protest leaders in Ingushetia.

Malsag Uzhakhov, the chairman of the Council of Teips (family clans) of the Ingush People, has faced the third criminal charge.

During their Friday raid conducted on January 17, 2020, law enforcers demanded documents not only from those who drove away from the “Tangim” Mosque in Makhachkala in their cars, but also from pedestrians. They stopped more people than usual.

After escaping from her relatives in Baku, the Russian citizen, Sevgiya Ismailova, is in a shelter of one of the NGOs. On January 17, her relatives, in the presence of policemen, returned Ismailova's documents; she is preparing to return to Russia.

Ramzan Kadyrov’s another temporary sick leave doesn’t threaten his political image; however, the new Russian Prime Minister may have questions for the head of Chechnya, the political analysts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" have noted.

In the Stavropol Territory, the court found Timur Oziev, a participant of a rally in Magas, guilty of assaulting a fighter of the National Guard of Russia for political reasons.

Georgy Kutoyan, the former director of the National Security Service of Armenia, was found dead with a gunshot wound. This was reported by Naira Arutyunyan, the press secretary for the Investigating Committee of Armenia.

The recommendations of the Chechen Ministry of Tourism on choosing appropriate clothes when visiting the republic were voiced amid a small interest of tourists in the region, note agents of the travel agencies. Dress code tips for Chechen guests are appropriate, but violating those dress code rules will not create problems for tourists, human rights defenders suggest.

In Chechnya, during raids, gas service workers enter yards of people's houses without asking for permission and threaten to cut them off the service, local residents report. Instagram users explained the gas debts by the poor situation of Chechen residents.

According to a survey published by the National Democratic Institute, more than half of Georgian residents consider the activities of the country's authorities as ineffective. The decline in the confidence in the authorities is caused by the deterioration in the economic situation of people, explain political analysts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot".

Yunis Safarov, a defendant in the case on an attempted assassination of the Ganja Mayor, demanded from the court to ensure the publicity of the trial and also claimed a violation of his rights to visits of relatives and phone calls at the SIZO (pre-trial prison).

In the past year, the number of checkpoints on the border between Chechnya and Ingushetia has increased. So far, law enforcers are calm and do not cause unnecessary problems to residents of Ingushetia who travel to the neighbouring republic, residents of the Sunzha District said.