News

For the refusal of self-isolation, the Chechen law enforcement bodies threaten dozens of quarantine violators with detention or car seizure. Local residents note that by placing dozens of violators together, law enforcers themselves violated the quarantine regime.

Spread of the coronavirus infection in the Caucasus; special operation in Kabardino-Balkaria; protest actions with the demand to postpone elections in Nagorno-Karabakh, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of March 23-29, 2020, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

Elchin Mamed, the head of the NGO "Legal Enlightenment of Sumgait Youth" and the editor-in-chief of the "Yukselish Namine" (For Revival) website, is accused of theft. He claims that he was detained under a false complaint filed by a woman from Sumgait.

On air of the republic's TV channel, an elderly woman from Gudermes, has repented of providing occult services, and her adult son – of not keep track of her mother. Residents of Chechnya found the son's public repentance excessive.

Vardan Arzumanyan and Mais Bakhdadyan, Karabakh War veterans and supporters of the opposition, continue their hunger strike. Their health condition has aggravated, and they had to call an ambulance, but refuse to stop their protest action.

Breaking their own imposed bans is a usual practice for Chechen authorities, Ruslan Kutaev and Ekaterina Sokiryanskaya have noted in their comment on the solemn opening of the Palace of Arts in Grozny amid the restrictions imposed because of the coronavirus.

Law enforcers with polypropylene pipes in hands are on duty on roads in Chechnya and use pipes against quarantine violators. Local residents report that they beat up people who drive in cars without masks, although it is impossible to buy masks in Chechnya, the "Novaya Gazeta" writes.

The leaders of Nogai NGOs have called to mitigate the freedom restriction measure of Elmira Kenzhibulatova, a resident of the Tarumovka District of Dagestan, who was arrested after her return home from Syria. The woman went to the Middle East to pick up her child and not to take part in hostilities, her relatives and activists assert.

In Abkhazia, the state of emergency has forced the owners of trading outlets to curtail operations; while hotel owners have cancelled reservations, entrepreneurs inform.

The catalogue named "Quarantinum" has collected links to more than 150 resources and projects that will help to fruitfully and with pleasure spend time, despite the restrictions imposed because of the coronavirus, and also to help people at risk to receive the required psychological and legal support.

The police have seized a cell phone from the arrested politician Tofig Yagublu and deleted his records in social networks, his daughter, Nigyar Khazi, has reported. His advocate treats the police's actions as a violation of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR).

82 volunteers are bring foodstuffs and medicines, and help in paying utility bills to older residents of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR), who have to stay at home because of coronavirus infection threat.

By not closing mosques during the coronavirus epidemic, the Ingush Muslim clergy endanger their believers, Facebook users have stated. They advise local residents not to attend services.

Since March 22, Azerbaijani soldiers have fired over 1200 shots at positions of the Defence Army, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) has informed.

At the "Tangim" Mosque in Makhachkala, law enforcers stopped parishioners and copied their personal data. Believers pointed to a reduction in the number of participants in the Friday prayer, linking it with the threat of coronavirus spread.

On March 27, a military serviceman was wounded as a result of a shot from the Azerbaijani side, a source from the Armenian Ministry of Defence (MoD) has stated.

The demand for Hajj pilgrimage among North-Caucasian Muslims has dropped because of the spread of coronavirus and rouble depreciation, tour operators report. Saudi Arabia may cancel the Hajj; and operators will have to return the money to unfortunate pilgrims, said the office of Ilyas Umakhanov, the Hajj Commissioner under the Russian government.

The number of coronavirus cases has reached 329 in Armenia and 83 in Georgia. The significant difference in the number of infected people is explained by the fact that Tbilisi took preventive measures against the epidemic earlier than Yerevan. However, such a gap in figures can be explained also by the fact that the data on the number of coronavirus infected people depends on the number of performed tests, analysts have noted.

After the Mufti's call to people at risk not to visit mosques for coronavirus threat, the collective namaz (prayer) in Grozny on Friday was less crowded.

The head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, has demanded that quarantine violators be imprisoned, deprived of food and buried in pits. The threats may well come true, residents of the republic believe.