News

The public criticism of religious views of Sufism followers in Chechnya, expressed by the blogger, Tumso Abdurakhmanov, is inappropriate, said Akhmet Yarlykapov, an Islamic scholar. In his turn, Ruslan Kutaev, the President of the Assembly of Caucasian Nations, believes that the polemic on religious topics will not cause significant damage to the blogger, but some people will get disappointed in him.

The scandal around the towers destroyed by vandals has triggered violent Internet discussions among residents of Chechnya and Ingushetia, whose relations had been strained after changing their mutual borders, an expert on the Caucasus has noted.

Magomed Ozdoev, a participant in the March rally in Magas, has stated that he had attacked three employees of the "Rosgvardia" (Russian National Guard) not because of his political convictions, but in response to beating him up with a truncheon.

Raul Khadjimba, the President of Abkhazia, has refused to voluntarily leave his post; but he is ready to meet representatives of the bloc of oppositional forces and hold talks, Dmitry Dbar, an MP of the People's Assembly. Aslan Bzhaniya has already arrived in Sukhumi.

The killing of the Azerbaijani border guard will not be an occasion to exacerbate the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, analysts have predicted.

The President of Abkhazia, Raul Khadjimba, must step down so that the protests in the country do not lead to tragic consequences, the "Aitaira" Party has stated amid the storming of the building of the presidential administration.

A court in Moscow has ruled on 21 out of 28 protocols, drawn up against the structures of the "Memorial" and their leaders, on the initiative, in particular, of the Ingush branch of the FSB (Russian Federal Security Bureau). The amount of fines imposed on human rights defenders for the absence of the marking of "foreign agent" in their publications has reached 4.2 million roubles.

The act of blogger, Mukhamed Nosaev, who threw banknotes into a crowd of Volgograd residents, fails to meet the Chechen decency rules, residents of the republic pointed out.

For the period of investigation, a court in Poland has released Dashgyn Agalarov, an Azerbaijani activist, who has called the charges against him far-fetched and politically motivated, from custody. Fikret Guseinli, a "Turan" TV presenter, has noted the help of international human rights defenders in Agalarov's case.

Relatives of Archpriest, Giorgi Mamaladze, have threatened to publicize the facts discrediting the Georgian Church, should they refuse to pardon the priest. The theologians interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" express doubts that the Patriarchy was interested in Mamaladze's imprisonment, but indicated that his case inflicted a serious blow to the image of the church.

The Prosecutor's Office (PO) of Saint Petersburg has conducted a series of checks of the "Matilda" movie by the film director, Alexei Uchitel, which in 2017 was opposed by authorities of the republics of Northern Caucasus, and found no violations of the law.

On January 8, after meeting the Georgian Ombudsperson, the convicted Archpriest Giorgi Mamaladze agreed to stop his hunger strike and started eating. His advocate treats his health condition as critical.

Lasha Chkhartishvili, an activist of the Labour Party, has been fined by 3000 laries (GEL) for resisting the police during his arrest on January 3, 2020. The activist himself treats ruling as politically motivated, noting that oppositionists had never been so largely fined under this article before.

On January 6, Gegam Khachatryan, a contract soldier, died at his combat post in one of Armenian military units; investigators believe that he committed suicide.

The court pronounced a decision to arrest for two months a man detained for disseminating false news about the Prime Minister of Armenia. The suspect was accused of inciting hostility.

For several months, a husband and a wife were forced to work for free at a farm not far from Karabudakhkent. Their second attempt to escape from labour slavery was successful, the movement "Alternative" reported.

Children and grandchildren of Ingush political prisoners sent dozens of drawings to the contest organized by the "Neotlozhka" (Urgent Help) public group in support of arrested participants of a rally in Magas. The authors of the drawings expressed their protest against injustice and the desire to see their relatives at large, noted relatives and friends of the contest participants and Marina Ken, a jury member.

While criticizing a statement voiced by the Chechen Mufti concerning the immortality of Kunta-Khadji Kishiev, blogger Tumso Abdurakhmanov raised questions of faith, which should not be a reason for discussions, some YouTube users noted.

One of the leaders of the Kurchaloi ROVD (District Interior Division) instructed his subordinates to seize cars from violators of the traffic regulations and send drivers to clean up the streets.

Anar Mamedov, the editor-in-chief of the "criminal.az" website, has treated the lawsuit filed against him on protection of one's honour and dignity as unjustified. Activists have stood up in his defence.