News

Today, nine villagers have been detained in Azerbaijan for trying to enter into the non-demined territories of Nagorno-Karabakh despite the ban imposed by the authorities, the police report. Residents of the Terter District do not rule out looting among the motives of people who enter the restricted area, despite the risk of being blown up by mines.

The criminal case on the murder of Boris Nemtsov did not include all the materials at the disposal of investigators, claims Mikhail Maglov, the editor of the Scanner Project, one of the co-authors of the journalistic investigation about the involvement of natives of Chechnya in the politician's assassination.

The exact number of prisoners of war (POWs) and civilians remaining in Azerbaijani captivity is unknown, the chief plenipotentiary of Armenia for the Diaspora matters has stated today. There are women among those in captivity, Armenian MPs have noted today, calling on the world community to pay attention to the problem.

Having appointed Khas-Magomed Kadyrov as Mayor of Grozny, Ramzan Kadyrov gave preference to his family ties, and this undermines the position of people from the inner circle of the head of Chechnya, Svetlana Gannushkina and Ruslan Kutaev have pointed out.

Amid the visit to Georgia of Charles Michel, President of the European Council (EC) and his talks with Georgian authorities, the opposition has changed the format of its protest actions by excluding picketing.

The Azerbaijani journalists, Polad Aslanov and Afghan Sadygov, continue their hunger strike, their wives have informed.

The chronology of calls, videos and information about air travel points to involvement of several other Chechen natives in Boris Nemtsov's murder; they were not convicted, although their names are known, says the joint journalistic investigation of the "Mediazona" and the "Scanner Project".

The employees of the "Rosgvardia" (Russian National Guard), recognized as the suffered party at the riots at a rallies in Magas in 2019, said at the trial that they have no claims against the protest leaders, since they had not seen them at the rally, advocates have stated.

The authorities have used administrative resources when organizing a rally in Yerevan and will do the same in case of elections, but the opposition has enough supporters to effectively control the voting, political analysts believe.

In Kabardino-Balkaria, a court sentenced Circassian activist Martin Kochesoko to three years of imprisonment.

The General Prosecutor's Office of Nagorno-Karabakh has started to investigate a case on the deaths and capture of dozens of civilians during the combat actions in the autumn of 2020. The tragedy occurred, because the local authorities failed to carry out the evacuation of civilians, the Ombudsman claims.

In 2020, out of 103 cases of violence against journalists registered by human rights defenders in Russia, 40 cases took place in Chechnya. The unfavourable situation with the freedom of the Internet has also developed in Dagestan, Ingushetia, North Ossetia, Adygea, and Kuban.

About 200 people gathered in front of the parliament of Abkhazia to express their indignation at the trip of presidential aide Benur Kviraya to Georgia. The administration of President Aslan Bzhaniya claimed that Benur Kviraya visited Georgia after he had resigned from his post as the aide to the President of Abkhazia.

Today, in Yerevan, activists have blocked one of the streets with the demand to close the criminal case against Robert Kocharyan, the second President of Armenia.

The police have opened a criminal case against Ingush activist Bagautdin Myakiev for damaging property during his stay in a Nalchik SIZO (pre-trial prison), sources reported.

Today, Nagorno-Karabakh rescuers have resumed searches for the bodies and remains of military servicemen and civilians in the battlefields of the conflict zone, the emergency service of the unrecognized republic has announced.

Today, opposition supporters went out to a protest action in Tbilisi demanding the release of political prisoners and hold repeated parliamentary elections. Protesters tried to block the road, after which law enforcers detained seven of them.

Adam Elzhurkaev, a theologian, has scolded three Kurchaloi women detained by law enforcers for providing occult services, the regional TV channel reports.

Three suspects of beating up Abubakar Tsagalaev, a native of Chechnya, and Vazha Bochorishvili, a citizen of Georgia, have been arrested in the Yaroslavl colony; two are under house arrest. The whereabouts of the remaining suspects are being established.

The two attacks committed in Uchkeken since early December have little in common, the analysts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" believe.