News

Hostilities in the Karabakh conflict zone; coronavirus infection spread statistics in the Caucasus; major military exercise in Southern Russia and Southern Caucasus, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of September 21-27, 2020, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

Fights in the Karabakh conflict zone continue for the second day; the city of Terter was shelled from the territories controlled by the authorities of Nagorno-Karabakh, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence (MoD) has reported. The Armenian MoD has accused the Azerbaijani side of using heavy flamethrowers.

The Defence Army of Nagorno-Karabakh captured 11 armoured vehicles of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan, the Armenian Ministry of Defence (MoD) has reported. The Azerbaijani MoD, in its turn, has reported about the captured and destroyed Armenian armoured vehicles in the battlefield.

During the week from September 21 to September 27, 2020, no information was received about any victims of 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.

Armenia can discuss the issue of recognizing the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh, Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan, stated on September 27 at an emergency parliamentary session related to the discussion of the introduction of a state of emergency. The recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh independence by Armenia depends on the scale of aggression, analysts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" believe.

Lusine Karakhanyan, the Minister of Education of Nagorno-Karabakh, has announced the decision to close all the educational establishments since September 28 amid the ongoing hostilities. Local residents have supported the decision.

Female relatives of the detained colleagues of Yuri Nagoev, a former deputy chief of GIBDD (traffic police) of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR), have appealed to the General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) with a demand to check Nagoev's complaint about torture and prevent the same treatment of their relatives.

The Armenian government has announced the martial law and general mobilization in connection with the hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh. Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan, announced this on September 27 in his Facebook page.

Ramzan Kadyrov and his entourage arrived in the village of Roshni-Chu for the funeral of Vakha Agaev, a Russian State Duma MP, who died from coronavirus; the whole group was without protective medical masks. At the crowded funeral, no sanitary rules, which are mandatory for ordinary citizens, were observed, residents of Chechnya have pointed out.

Law enforcers are investigating a street conflict in the northern French town of Evreux, during which a 27-year-old Chechen was shot dead.

Georgian authorities have handed over to Russia a native of Dagestan, Batyr Magomedov, against whom a case had been initiated in Russia for involvement in the armed underground. The defence's arguments of the threat of his unjustified criminal prosecution were ignored, said Gela Nikolaishvili, an advocate.

The 37-year-old resident of Kaspiysk had joined a terrorist grouping; then, he bought a pistol and cartridges and planned to attempt to kill law enforcers, investigators assert.

The court found Elvin Muradov, the author of the song about the leader of the Muslim Unity, guilty of illegal weapon dealing and sentenced him to two years and three months in colony. His defence claimed the absence of reliable proofs of his guilt, and activists have treated the verdict as politically motivated.

Clergymen of Ingushetia are drafting their common position about the length of wedding motor corteges and the fines to be imposed for violating the rules for organizing weddings, the assistant to the republic's Mufti has stated. The imposition of sanctions for violators is justified if the clergy and authorities strictly control the enforcement of the rules, public figures believe.

The ban on sale and reprimands for using alcohol in Chechnya are pushing young people to find an alternative to a glass of high quality wine in the use of pharmaceutical preparations that cause drug intoxication, local residents believe.

Lizan Isakova, a resident of Chechnya, and her son Khazbulat, convicted in the case of a fraud with disabled status, could not have committed their scam without the help of medical experts and officials, social network users are sure.

Semyon Simonov, an expert from the Moscow Helsinki Group, who was suspected of failing to admit the fine, imposed on the "Southern Human Rights Centre" headed by him in the Krasnodar Territory, is being prosecuted for political reasons. This was stated by the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial".

Anar Abdulla, a journalist, intends to appeal against the fine imposed on him after his detention in front of the Ministry of Education of Azerbaijan. His defence is drafting a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in connection with Abdulla's previous detention, when he covered an action.

The "Nash Gorod" (Our City) movement began collecting signatures to the appeal addressed to the General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) with a demand to open a case on threats to kill received by Svetlana Anokhina and punish the Dagestani law enforcers for inaction after Svetlana's complaint.

The authorities of Azerbaijan exceeded their powers when they restricted the rights and freedoms of citizens during the coronavirus pandemic, the Centre for Election Monitoring and Democracy Education (CEMDE) concluded. In the country, at least 95,000 people were brought to administrative responsibility for violation of the quarantine.