News

Nika Gvaramiya, Director General of the "Rustavi-2" Georgian TV Company, has stated that he will not dismiss journalist Giorgi Gabuniya, who made abusing statements on air addressed to the Russian President Vladimir Putin.

After the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" had appealed to the Prosecutor's Office, the authorities of Adygea cancelled the restrictions contradicting the law concerning the venues of solo pickets.

The court pronounced a decision to leave Ismail Nalgiev, the coordinator of the organization "Choice of Ingushetia", under arrest in Nalchik until September 25. An investigator did not justify the request to extend the activist's arrest, claimed advocate Andrei Sabinin.

The law enforcement bodies did not give out the body of Zelimkhan Musaev, killed while attacking policemen, to his family members and forbade holding a mourning ceremony to commemorate him, his relatives reported. The ban on memorial ceremonies is not practiced in other regions of Russia, note scientists engaged in oriental studies.

Only 18% of respondents consider falsification of drug possession cases to be rare incidents, the "Levada Centre" releases the results of its survey after criminal prosecutions of Moscow journalist Ivan Golunov and activists in Northern Caucasus.

Members of the Russian State Duma voted for the introduction of economic measures against Georgia. The question of a ban on the import of Georgian wines and sorts of water and on the remittances was submitted for approval to the Russian government. The President of Georgia called on the Russian authorities "not to react to the actions of radical forces."

Aidyn Gurbanov, arrested in connection with riots in the city of Ganja, received no treatment in custody and fell into a coma at the last phase of his cancer, his wife said. The investigator refused to change Gurbanov's freedom restriction measure.

Giorgi Gabuniya, who insulted Vladimir Putin on air of the "Rustavi-2" TV Company, did not violate the legislation, but his statement's lexicon is unacceptable, said Mamuka Zhgenti, an expert at the Georgian Institute of European Values. The incident can be considered settled, as the Georgian authorities have reacted to it, said Valery Chechelashvili, the head of the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies.

The Supreme Court (SC) of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR) has refused to satisfy the complaints of the Ingush activists, Khasan Katsiev, Akhmed Nalgiev and Rashid Aushev, about the extension of their arrest until September 25, 2019.

Lawyers of the Committee against Torture (CaT) have lodged a complaint to a Moscow court about the investigators' refusal to interrogate the head of Dagestan, Vladimir Vasiliev. Rights defenders are sure that the facts known to him about Gasanguseinovs' murder must be added to the case files.

Opponents of the "March of Dignity" have announced their plans to meet every day in front of the building of the Georgian Parliament, where actions are held for resignation of the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA). They demanded to repeal the anti-discrimination law and to ban public LGBT actions.

Karen Grigoryan, a 35-year-old unemployed resident of Stepanakert and a father of two children, has gone on an endless hunger strike, demanding a meeting with Bako Saakyan, the President of Nagorno-Karabakh. He called the solution of social problems as the aim of his action.

Instead of the disrupted "March of Dignity", LGBT activists in Tbilisi held a rally outside the building of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Georgia and demanded the resignation of the minister. Supporters of traditional values promised to disrupt the LGBT action, but missed each other.

The President and the Prime Minister of Georgia must apologize to President Vladimir Putin and all of Russia for the words of the journalist Giorgi Gabuniya pronounced on air of the "Rustavi-2" TV Company, Ramzan Kadyrov, the Chechen leader, has stated. He called for "imposing the toughest sanctions" on Georgia.

The Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" found the statements by Lizan Isakova, a resident of Grozny, made on air of the Chechen TV that human rights defenders were involved in a fraud with the status of a disabled person, as "absurd." The woman's disability was defined and documented by officials, the blogger, Tumso Abdurakhmanov, has reminded.

Today, the last plane from Tbilisi landed in Moscow, after which direct Russia-Georgia flights have stopped. The Russian authorities have estimated the airlines' losses at 3 billion roubles.

Ruslan Adjiev, a resident of the village of Mutsalaul, Khasavyurt District, has reported that the police treats him as an extremist and have placed him on the so-called "prophylactic registry".

Attack on policemen in Chechnya; adoption of OSCE resolution calling on Russia to abolish the recognition of independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia; recognition of the leaders of Ingush protests to be political prisoners, – read about these and other events in the weekly review of the main developments in the Caucasus during the week from July 1 to July 7, 2019, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

LGBT activists have abandoned their idea to hold the "March of Dignity" in Tbilisi because of the threats received from activist groups that promised to disrupt the event.

Giorgi Gabuniya, a "Rustavi-2" presenter, has abused Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Georgia's President and Prime Minister have treated Gabuniya's statement as a provocation; and several hundred people gathered in front of the "Rustavi-2" building and demanded an apology.