News

In the course of the regular military exercises in Northern Caucasus, soldiers and officers are practicing defensive tactics, explain Russian political analysts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot". Their Georgian counterparts associated the military exercises in Russia with the political crisis in Georgia.

The murder in France of blogger Imran Aliev is an act aimed to intimidate critics of the Chechen government, believes Tumso Abdurakhmanov. The killer was hunting for Minkail Malizaev, whom the French authorities refused to provide police protection, suggested activist Djambulat Suleimanov and human rights defender Daniel Mihailovic.

A new "warning conversation" with people detained for driving cars in a state of alcoholic intoxication, for using of narcotic and psychotropic substances, and "for other illegal actions" was arranged by Rustam Aguev, the chief of the Department for the Kurchaloi District of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Today, Mher Pogosyan, a resident of Stepanakert, has ended his protest rally against the construction of a hydroelectric power plant (HPP). The protestor says that he is satisfied with the creation of a commission to examine environmental harm. Mher Pogosyan called for an anti-corruption inspection.

Ramzan Kadyrov has appointed his cousin Idris Baisultanov the Minister of Education of Chechnya. Earlier, Idris Baisultanov held the post of the deputy head of the Chechen leader's administration. Ramzan Kadyrov continues to build his own "power vertical axis" in Chechnya, local residents suggest.

Four out of the six regions of the Southern Federal District, including the Volgograd and Rostov Regions, the Krasnodar Territory, and Adygea, are in the "red" area, the report suggests. This means that 30 or more facts of restriction of digital freedom were registered in the region or at least one case of violence as a result of online activity of citizens. In the North-Caucasian Federal District, the "red" area included Ingushetia, Chechnya, and the Stavropol Territory.

The court session on the murder of Julietta Gukasyan in Gyumri has been postponed for the fifth time because of the non-appearance of the accused Russian soldier. The Russian party has demanded to ensure his safety. The command of the Russian military base does not want in principle to bring soldier Razgeldeev to court, Arthur Sakunts, a human rights defender, has stated.

Alexander Kananyan, a resident of Karvachar, a city in the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), has stopped his protest hunger strike after the start of a commission on studying the environmental impact of minor hydropower plants (HPPs). Meanwhile, his supporter, Mger Pogosyan, continues his hunger strike.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has obliged Russian authorities to pay 80,000-88,000 euros to residents of Dagestan and Ingushetia, who complained about kidnapping of their relatives by law enforcers.

French investigators consider a politically motivated killing to be the main version of the death of the Chechen blogger, Imran Aliev, sources have informed.

A colleague of Vagram Avagyan, a conscript soldier, who perished in a military unit of the Defence Army of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), has been charged with non-statute relations (hazing).

In Sukhumi, protesters have refused to interrupt their action demanding to adopt the anti-corruption law. They plan to spend the nights in the squire in front of the Parliament until an anti-corruption law is adopted by the MPs.

Ramzan Kadyrov has explained that his calls to execute authors of rumours about Chechnya were misunderstood; therefore, there is no reason to check his threats – as follows from the investigators' answer released today by the Committee against Torture (CaT).

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has awarded 30,000 euros of compensation to Biyarslan Akaev, a native of Dagestan, who has claimed that law enforcers had tortured him with electric current.

Today, Amirkhan Bekov, Maksharip Batygov, Ismail Khamkhoev, and Magomed Barakhoev have been detained after a raid conducted by law enforcers in three Ingush and one North-Ossetian villages.

Chechen blogger Imran Aliev was murdered in France after a native of Chechnya who came to Europe succeeded in gaining confidence in him, acquaintances of Imran Aliev reported.

The head of the investigating team in charge of the investigation into a case against the Ashikov brothers and Omar Abdurashidov, accused of financing terrorists, ordered to remove Sapiyat Magomedova from the case. The investigators suggest that the advocate who earlier represented the interests of Omar Abdurashidov can no longer defend Raip and Ziyavudin Ashikov because of the conflict of interests.

The positions of the Azerbaijani troops have been shelled, including from heavy machine guns, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of Azerbaijan reports.

An employee of the car technical service station has confirmed to the court that three out of eight Dagestanis, who were then declared killed in Chechnya, were kidnapped before his eyes, the advocate has narrated.

In Baku, the trial of Polad Aslanov, accused of high treason and threat of murder, began with charges against the judge. In the opinion of the journalist and his advocates, the judge who had earlier worked for the Ministry of National Security (MNS) is interested in a guilty verdict.