News

Most residents of Georgia support the course towards joining the European Union and the NATO, while 41% of them are negatively assessing the collapse of the USSR, sociologists assert. The Soviet period attracts people by a low level of officials' corruption and better operation of courts, while they associate joining the NATO with ensuring the country's security, political analysts believe.

Public apologies for minor misconduct are contrary to Caucasian traditions, which prescribed highlanders to repent to elders only for serious offences, scientists have stated.

A court in Baku has reduced the prison term of Ikram Ragimov, the editor-in-chief of the "Realliq.info" website, from 5.5 years to 3 years in prison. The defence intends to appeal against the ruling.

Since the start of 2019, in 17 regions of Russia, Northern Caucasus inclusive, secretive units of the "Islamic State" (IS) a terrorist organization, banned in Russia by the court, have been revealed, the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) has reported.

Complaints on behalf of the journalists and human rights defenders, who suffered in an attack on the minibus of the Consolidated Mobile Group (CMG) in Ingushetia in March 2016, have been lodged to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), the Committee against Torture (CaT) has stated.

The observers of the OSCE (Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe) have revealed no ceasefire violations on the troops contact line of Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan.

In Chegem, two persons who were plotting a terror act, were killed a shootout, while no law enforcers were injured, the National Antiterrorist Committee (NAC) reported. The killed suspects were members of a banned terrorist organization, reported a source from the law enforcement bodies of Kabardino-Balkaria.

The counterterrorist operation (CTO), launched today in Chegem, has become the second one in Kabardino-Balkaria in 2019 after a special operation carried out in Nalchik in February.

A detained supporter of the "Islamic State" (IS), a terrorist organization banned in the Russian Federation, manufactured a powerful improvised explosive device (IED) while he was plotting a terror act in Dagestan, the National Antiterrorist Committee (NAC) reported.

In 2018, the Akhmat Kadyrov Foundation increased its assets due to donations up to 3.68 billion roubles. The amount exceeds the official reserve funds of the Chechen Republic by more than 8 times. Meanwhile, the Akhmat Kadyrov Foundation, which owns large Chechen enterprises, showed zero income from entrepreneurial activity.

On September 17, Abulfaz Sadygbeili, an activist of the "Musavat" Party, serving his suspended sentence, was summoned and interrogated at the General Prosecutor's Office of Azerbaijan for two hours as a witness. Abulfaz Sadygbeili compared the situation with the case earlier instituted against him when he was first questioned as a witness, then charged and arrested.

Investigators softened the charge against Adam Badiev, a participant in the protests in Magas. While earlier, he was accused of using violence dangerous to lives of public officers, now the charge implies the use of violence which was not life-threatening.

Law enforcers started a search for militants in Chegem, where the counterterrorist operation (CTO) legal regime was introduced, the FSB Department for Kabardino-Balkaria reported.

The court in Yerevan, which is considering the case of Robert Kocharyan, the second president of Armenia, announced a break until September 20. At the courthouse, policemen detained two activists, accusing them of violating the rules of holding actions.

In Dagestan, about 20 veterans of the Afghan war started an indefinite hunger strike in Makhachkala. They demand housing from the authorities.

The court found Miyasat Kitalaeva, a resident of Makhachkalka, guilty of involvement in a unit of a terrorist organization and sentenced her to a long term of imprisonment. The defence insists the woman is not guilty.

Ruslan Dzeitov, accused of attacking law enforcers at a protest action in Magas, reported a deterioration of his health state at the SIZO (pre-trial prison), his advocate reported. The term of the activist's arrest was extended until December 25.

The "Baku Press Club" resumes its activities after a 16-year break. The project will give an impetus to the development of free media in Azerbaijan, and there will be no censorship on the website of the "Baku Press Club", founders assure.

The defence had convinced the court to release Soso Badjelidze, who was charged with resisting the police and participating in the riots at the June 20 protect action in Tbilisi, from custody on bail.

Law enforcers demand from relatives and friends of the murdered Usman Aziev to confirm that he had prepared attacks on policemen, his relatives assert. The Chechen Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) has not confirmed the detention of Usman's relatives.