News

The Russian government should report whether the investigation into the case on the murder of Boris Nemtsov, in which natives of Chechnya were sentenced, was effective and whether the right of a politician's daughter to defence was respected, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) notes.

The woman from Gudermes, whose death provoked interference of Ramzan Kadyrov in a conflict between the two families, was regularly beaten in her husband's family, the newspaper "Novaya Gazeta" reports today.

Two persons detained in Austria on suspicion of involvement in the murder of blogger Mamikhan Umarov are natives of Chechnya, who have been living in Europe with refugee status for more than 15 years, the Austrian media and sources from the Chechen Diaspora report.

Spread of the coronavirus infection in the Caucasus; voting on amendments to the Constitution of Russia; murder in Austria of a blogger criticizing Ramzan Kadyrov, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of June 29-July 5, 2020, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

During the week from June 29 to July 5, 2020, no casualties or wounded persons were recorded during 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.

Mamikhan Umarov has complemented the list of critics and opponents of Chechen authorities assassinated in Europe in recent years. At the same time, Umarov himself had cooperated for many years with Austrian special services, trying to identify Chechen killers sent to Europe, the members of the Diaspora, who knew him personally, assert.

Inna Musaeva, a resident of the Karachay-Cherkessian Republic, said that she has recognized her uncle and several other Psyzh villagers in the detention footage posted by special services. The detainees are accused of extremism, and, according to Musaeva, they were under physical pressure.

The murder in Vienna of the blogger, Mamikhan Umarov, was a punishment for insulting and criticizing the Chechen leadership, Instagram users believe. Umarov's brother was killed; his mother was bullied in order to find out the whereabouts of her son, the blogger, Tumso Abdurakhmanov, has pointed out.

Ramzan Kadyrov's statement about the veracity of the voter turnout on the vote on constitutional amendments looks unconvincing amid stories of state servants about coercion to vote, social network users assert.

Mamikhan Umarov, whose murder in Vienna on July 4 was reported by sources, became famous for his harsh criticism and insults to the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, his relatives and his adviser Shaa Turlaev. A similar style of criticizing Kadyrov was used by Mansur Stary, the blogger assassinated in France.

A team of killers has arrived in Moscow from Grozny "to neutralize the remnants of the opposition," Vladimir Osechkin, the founder of the Gulagu.net project, stated one day before the court's decision to arrest him in absentia. Osechkin has linked his criminal prosecution with the attempts of special services to take control over his human rights project.

Azerbaijani legislation has collisions regarding the conditional early relief (CER); and they are often used to refuse applying CER to political prisoners, rights defenders have claimed in their comments to the case of oppositional leader, Babek Gasanov.

A court in the city Sumgait has left Djavid Mamedzade under arrest. The activist has every reason to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) claiming to recognize his arrest illegal, his advocate believes.

The head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, has appointed his relative, Khas-Magomed Kadyrov, earlier the Mayor of the city of Argun, to the post of the Secretary of the Security Council of the republic. Kadyrov continues strengthening his power by appointing his relatives and fellow villagers to leadership positions, despite their age and managerial skills, Instagram users and residents of Chechnya have noted.

Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov was buried in the village of Kirovaul, Kizilyurt District; the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, came to express his condolences to his relatives.

In Sochi, a memorial sign has been installed in the place of the fort built by Russian troops in 1837 during the Caucasian War. This sign will split the society, Zurab Gadjiev believes. Any mentioning of the terrible events of the Caucasian War is painful for the Circassian people, Ruslan Gvashev, an activist, has explained.

Residents of Dagestan, Chechnya and the Krasnodar Territory are promised to have their money prepaid for the Hajj travel within two weeks; while in Kabardino-Balkaria, they had not taken money in advance. The decision of the Saudi authorities to abolish the international Hajj is justified in the pandemic condition; Islam admits Hajj non-fulfilment in case of an emergency, theologians have stated.

The investigation conducted by the Georgian State Security Service (SSS) regarding the story of the "Mtavari Arkhi" TV Channel about the coronavirus situation in Marneuli violates the media freedom, Nino Lomdjariya, the Ombudsperson of Georgia, has stated. Initiating a case against the TV Channel for a journalistic plot is unacceptable, the Coalition "For Media Advocacy" believes.

The mother and brother of Khusei Makitov, the murdered resident of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR), filed a lawsuit demanding compensation for moral harm, estimated by them at 5 million roubles. The family's advocate insists that the FSB should pay the money, not the convicted officer Pavel Sterlyagov.

People arrested in a criminal case on protest actions at a tent camp arranged on the border of Dagestan and Azerbaijan believe that they are not guilty. The authorities of the Derbent District and the national-cultural autonomy of Azerbaijanis report different numbers of people who now stay at the tent camp.