News

Public prosecutors succeeded in seeking a toughening of the verdict against Ramazan Gagiev, who hit a fighter of the National Guard of Russia at a rally in Magas. The court prolonged the term of imprisonment for the activist from four to eight months.

The authorities of Azerbaijan have no right to delay the return of their citizens from Russia and force them to live in a tent camp in Kullar, and this is the basis for a claim to be filed with the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), human rights defenders note.

Ruslan Alkhanov, the Chechen Minister of Internal Affairs, instructed his subordinates to monitor the compliance with the mask regime even more strictly. Instagram users note that the coronavirus prevention measures in the region are already excessive.

A soldier from Chechnya was sentenced to eight years of imprisonment in a penal colony after he had shot and killed his colleague in Damascus for quarrelling in the presence of their commander.

On August 11, Aziz Mamiev, the deputy chairman of the youth organization of the opposition "Musavat" Party, was fined for violating the mask regime and then released from a police station. The activist considers the punishment as unlawful.

Leila Djash, the head of the Baksan branch of the Association of Victims of Political Repression, has treated the criminal prosecution of her son Khasan for theft as illegal. According to her version, her son's signatures under the confession protocol had been forged.

The court has dismissed the complaints against the arrests of Sarvan Djumaev, Babek Muradov and Yashar Kerimov, members of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA). The advocate and the PFPA have stated violations of the procedure and the detainees' rights to defence.

Azerbaijani citizens continue arriving at the tent camp near the Dagestani village of Kullar. A day after another group of Azerbaijanis was sent to their homeland, the number of camp residents again exceeded 700 people.

Supermarket workers in Grozny are intimidated by strict checks and are closely monitoring the presence of medical masks on customers, local residents report. Ramzan Kadyrov and his entourage are demonstratively ignoring the mask regime, and this noticeably annoys people, analysts note.

The Islam prohibits mutilating surgeries, unless they are done on doctor's prescription, said Zainulla-Haji Ataev, the head of the Fatwa Division under the Dagestani Muftiate. He has assured that the Spiritual Administration of Muslims (SAM, or Muftiate) is preparing a ban on female circumcisions.

A court in Baku has refused to satisfy the petition for the conditional early relief (CER) of Orkhan Bakhyshly, an activist of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), who had served half of his prison term. His defence will appeal against this decision.

Amid mass protests, the Belarusian State TV Company showed a group of detainees, who repented before law enforcers, promising "not to make a revolution." In this context, Telegram users have recalled the apologies and humiliation of the residents of Chechnya in the stories broadcast by the "Grozny" TV Channel.

Aslan Bzhaniya, President of Abkhazia, found himself in a vulnerable position in front of Moscow after his aide Akhra Avidzba had rammed a gate on the Russian border, journalists note. The diplomatic status which Akhra Avidzba referred to cannot be used for personal travels and does not give the right to violate the Russian border, lawyers explain.

In Germany, the court has reviewed a Mokhmad Abdurakhmanov's case and refused to recognize his posts on the social network as extremist.

In Saint Petersburg, Terman Alimagomedov, a former militant from Dagestan, rendered resistance while the police tried to detain him and was shot dead by a policeman. The police found firearms and ammunition in the suspect's car, the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) reported.

While commenting on the information stating that people who do not have symptoms of the coronavirus infection also address an ambulance, Ramzan Kadyrov has said that residents of Chechnya should call an ambulance only in exceptional cases. People may call an ambulance not only because of the suspicion of COVID-19, Instagram users and residents of the republic note.

Dmitry Kraskovsky, a resident of Krasnodar, was detained and died after being beaten in a SIZO (pre-trial prison). According to investigators, inmates of the detainee beat him to death. A wife of the deceased detainee appealed to the "Committee against Torture" (CaT) and claimed her husband had been subjected to pressure.

The authorities of Nagorno-Karabakh announced fundraising for Armenian families in Beirut, where a powerful explosion took place. The first shipment of food aid was sent to the Lebanese capital.

Slovakia declared three Russian diplomats personae non gratae and expelled them from the country. The local authorities suggest that the diplomats worked for the secret services and were involved in the murder of Georgian citizen Zelimkhan Khangoshvili in Berlin.

In Chechnya, employees of various public institutions monitor compliance with the mask regime in shops and catering outlets, entrepreneurs report. According to them, surveillance is being conducted even from parked cars.