News

Karim Kasumov, who is accused of assaulting a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent at a rally of Alexei Navalny's supporters in Makhachkala, has refused to plead guilty. In his turn, he has accused the victim and her colleagues of lying, insisting that he had no idea about their professional status.

The sentence to Said Akhmaev and Lechi Bolatbaev, the bodyguards of Adam Delimkhanov, a State Duma MP, is an example of the widespread in Russia law enforcers' impunity. They are using their service and personal contacts to influence investigators, and "no one wants to deal with Chechen law enforcers," rights defenders assert.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has sent questions to Russian authorities on the complaint of Luiza Tapaeva about the decision of a Chechen court, which left her four children under the care of her deceased husband's father. For the first time, the ECtHR is considering the issue of gender discrimination in guardianship cases in Northern Caucasus, rights defenders report.

The session of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, which will assess the legality of the agreement on the Ingush-Chechen border, is scheduled for November 27.

The police are looking for an alleged accomplice of the two men killed in a shootout in the Urus-Martan District. Relatives of the casualties have complained about the ban to hold a commemoration ceremony.

The beating with the aim of "exorcising ghosts" for healing sick patients, in particular, Murad Soltanov, an Azerbaijani resident, who died during the ritual, has nothing to do with religion, theologians have stated.

A complaint filed by Gezyal Bairamly, the deputy chair of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), sentenced to three years of imprisonment on the charge of smuggling, was partially granted by the Supreme Court (SC) of Azerbaijan. The SC reduced the term of imprisonment by two months. The defence intends to challenge the case at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).

On November 13, the court questioned oppositionist Magomed Khazbiev, accused of insulting Yunus-Bek Evkurov, and decided to proceed to listening to the oral statements of the parties without questioning the leader of Ingushetia.

Over the past day, the positions of the Azerbaijani army were shelled 29 times, reported the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for Azerbaijan.

Salome Zurabishvili continues to receive threats. A group of veterans of the Georgian armed forces condemned the use of military men and veterans for political purposes.

Kidnappers of Rustam Lyanov forced him to record three copies of a video message to his uncle Ibragim Lyanov, the head of the European Ingush Association, with a call to him not to criticize the authorities. According to Rustam Lyanov, he surrendered to the demands for fear for his younger brother kidnapped together with him.

The Baku court has extended until March 7 the arrest of the activists of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), namely, of Babek Gasanov, Agil Magerramov, Ruslan Nasirli, Salekh Rustamov and Vidadi Rustamli, accused of illegally sponsoring the PFPA.

The Supreme Court (SC) of Ingushetia has taken the arrest term already served by the athlete Albert Khamkhoev into account of his conditional imprisonment, but refused to declare him innocent of arms possession.

The Urvan District Court has held its first session on the criminal case on improper payments to the liquidators of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (NPP), who are sufferers in the case. Given the large number of them living in different districts of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR), the court agreed to hold travel sessions at their residences.

The FSB has put two women-residents of North Ossetia, who, according to law enforcers, went to Syria and are fighting for terrorist organizations, on the wanted list.

Administrative protocols were drawn up on 22 activists, who participated in the protest rally in Magas in October, said the journalist Isabella Evloeva and the human rights defender Magomed Mutsolgov. At least three rally participants were fined.

A Moscow court has fined Svetlana Gannushkina, the head of the Civil Assistance Committee, who was detained at a rally with a demand to release Oyub Titiev, the head of the Grozny office of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", by 10,000 roubles.

Murad Soltanov, an Azerbaijani resident, was beaten with sticks to death in an attempt to "drive out ghosts," investigators have suggested.

The participants in the opening ceremony of the mosque in the village of Khaibakh, which was attended by residents of the Galanchozh District, recalled the tragic events of 1944 and honoured the memory of hundreds of people who were burned down in the village during deportation.

Within the last 24 hours, the positions of the Azerbaijani militaries stationed in the Karabakh conflict zone were fired for 24 times, including from heavy machine guns, the country's Ministry of Defence (MoD) has stated.