News

Catholic communities of Southern Russia and countries of Southern Caucasus have changed the format of Easter services and abandoned the traditional mass celebrations in order to take precautions against coronavirus spread danger.

The curfew is inefficient as a measure against coronavirus spread; and the fines imposed for appearing in the street at night are excessively high, the rally outside the Georgian Parliament has stated.

The preparatory works for the construction of the Namakhvan cascade of hydroelectric power plants (HPPs) have resumed today despite Georgian authorities' promises. The police did not allow protesters to enter the construction site.

Oppositionist Alexei Navalny is kept in colony in torturous conditions, Volgograd solo picketers assert.

The health condition of Alizamin Salaev, an activist of the Salyan district branch of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), has deteriorated sharply in the colony; however, he receives no medical care, his son has informed.

The essentials, medical equipment and a set of textbooks and literature for the local school have been brought with peacemakers' help to the Tagavard village of the Martuni District, the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) has informed.

Overcoming the COVID-19 epidemic is possible only with the help of vaccinations; and for this, we should convince the population of the vaccine safety, Armenian experts assert.

The defence insists on Polad Aslanov's innocence, since no reliable proofs of his espionage for Iran, the advocate has noted.

Valery Rashkin, a State Duma MP from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, has demanded to check the veracity of the story from the programme "Healthy Life" by Elena Malysheva from Chechnya, which spoke about the absence of the effect of mask-wearing on the coronavirus infection frequency, and about the advantages of cancelling the mask regime.

There are enough places in Batumi, where Muslims can pray, an official from the city Mayoralty stated in court, justifying the Mayoralty's refusal to sanction the construction of a new mosque. About 2000 believers have to pray outdoors due to a deficit of room in mosques, the Adjara Muftiate has objected.

Law enforcers have blocked Ibragim Gadjiev in a car outside the courthouse in Makhachkala with no legal grounds, detained him again and didn't let his advocate and members of the Public Oversight Commission (POC) to enter the police station, Sapiyat Magomedova, an advocate, Uma Askerkhanova, a POC member, have stated.

People in civilian clothes took away Nurmagomed Mamuev, a native of the Urus-Martan District, who had been deported from Berlin, to some unknown place, his wife said. She turned to human rights defenders asking to help in finding him, the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial"* has reported.

The detention of activists outside the office of the Georgian ruling party began after Giya Volsky, a member of the "Georgian Dream" Party, made an obscene gesture towards the protesters.

In Syria, Russian armed forces are using the methods earlier tested in Chechnya, including indiscriminate bombing and cleansings, Ekaterina Sokiryanskaya, Director of the Centre for Conflict Analysis and Prevention, has stated.

Ibragim Gadjiev, a witness in a case against police officers Raip and Ziyavudin Ashikov, was brought to a police station in Makhachkala. Law enforcers refused to let advocates visit him.

The Georgian opposition’s reluctance to abandon the idea of holding repeat parliamentary elections has led to a threat to disrupt Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic integration, members of the ruling “Georgian Dream” Party suggest. The restriction of EU funding will hit the entire Georgia, although only the country’s authorities should be responsible for the political crisis, the opposition argues.

The Department for Dagestan of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) scheduled a check after receiving reports about unreasonable beating of Ibragim Gadjiev by the police during his detention, the MIA reports.

The actions of the Russian troops in Syria result in bombing victims and human rights violations. After resettlement to Russia, Syrian Circassians face financial and social problems, the human rights defenders note in a joint report.

Ibragim Gadjiev, a witness in the case of the policemen, Raip and Ziyavudin Ashikov, has spent the night in the passenger car blocked by law enforcers in a cordoned-off area near the building of the Kirov District Court of Makhachkala.

The Russian militaries should investigate the incident with the vehicle transporting the bodies of perished Armenian servicemen, otherwise the efficiency of the peacemaking mission in Nagorno-Karabakh will be questioned, political analysts believe.