News

The Armenian authorities allocated about 257,000 US dollars for the celebration of the Citizen's Day. The money should have been spent on solving urgent problems, the residents of Armenia interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" believe.

A consul from the Russian diplomatic mission in Cairo could not visit the arrested Ingushes – the Egyptian law enforcers refused to let the consul to prison and to a court session.

The restoration of monument to Joseph Stalin in his homeland in Gori will increase the number of tourists, Ketevan Yardalashvili, the head of the local tourism information centre, has explained her idea.

The "Georgian Dream" Party decided to take into account, in the draft law on the appointment of judges, only two recommendations of the Venice Commission, treated the rest of them to be political. This displeased the opposition, whose activists held a protest march during the sitting of the parliament.

Four Ingush students have stopped their hunger strike in a Cairo prison, because they have brought themselves to exhaustion, Khadishat Pugoeva, the wife of one of them, has stated.

The Supreme Court (SC) has refused to satisfy the complaint lodged against the sentence of Djakhangir Gadjiev, a former head of the International Bank of Azerbaijan, sentenced to 15 years in prison for a large theft.

Chechen blogger Tumso Abdurakhmanov published at least 20 messages received from residents of the republic. Employees of Chechen organizations complain of being forced to work at subbotniks (voluntary cleaning works) and attend rallies and sports events. They also complain of deductions from their salaries.

In the Stavropol Territory, the court of Mineralnye Vody sentenced local residents to 2-5 years of imprisonment in a penal colony for extorting money from LGBT people under the threat to disclose their sexual orientation.

Alibek Mirzekhanov, a native of Dagestan, accused of having links to militants and recruiting supporters for the "Islamic State" (IS) banned in Russia by the court, will be kept in custody until June 20.

A case on the death of a soldier who died after getting a wound in a military unit is being investigated under the article of "bringing to suicide," the Investigating Committee of Armenia reports.

More than 200 people were involved in a subbotnik (voluntary cleaning work) to clean slopes of the Terek ridge, where a horse hiking campaign announced by Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov would take place. Residents of Chechnya claimed their forced participation in the subbotnik.

In a dispute with blogger Tumso Abdurakhmanov, theologians voice the position of the Chechen leader, and they are involved in the dispute to use their authority to protect the memory of Akhmat Kadyrov, experts believe.

After having searched his office and home, law enforcers came two days in a row to the home of Magomed Mutsolgov, the head of the Ingush human rights organization "Mashr". He himself believes that they are acting under pressure from the authorities.

A contract serviceman was taken to a hospital in Armenia with a gunshot wound, the country's Ministry of Defence has reported. Doctors assess his condition as extremely grave.

Two sisters from Saudi Arabia, who are hiding in Georgia from their relatives' persecutions, have asked the UN for protection, fearing a return to their homeland.

Zograb Mnatsakanyan and Elmar Mamedyarov, the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan, respectively, agreed to take measures to allow relatives to visit inmates. The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) has stated that simultaneous reciprocal visits of relatives to convicts will be a guarantee of personal security for those who have to spend their prison terms in a foreign country.

Miyasat Kitalaeva, a resident of Makhachkala, accused of involvement in the armed underground and kidnappings, was kept by militants in the forest against her will, and didn't join their regiment, her defence insists.

Every year, authorities of Ingushetia interfere with the actions dedicated to rehabilitation of repressed nations, Ismail Nalgiev, an activist, has stated, adding that officials telephoned the organizers of the rally and tried to press on them through their relatives.

A criminal case has been instituted against a 20-year-old man on suspicion of his participation in an illegal armed formation (IAF) in Makhachkala, investigators have reported.

The complaint of Aslan Cherkesov, a native of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR), about the ban to pray is a sufficient reason to check the prison where he is being held, Valery Borschov, a lawyer and a co-chairman of the Moscow Helsinki Group, believes. Cherkesov's custody conditions are inhuman, said Valery Slepukha, a former head of the Public Oversight Commission (POC) of the Krasnoyarsk Territory.