News

The head of Chechnya has condemned the US sanctions imposed in connection with the murder of Boris Nemtsov, and said he had no assets in the Middle East that US authorities decided to find.

The Azerbaijani Army is mastering offensive operations in conditions close to the situation at the Karabakh frontline; this is a demonstration of readiness for a forceful resolution of the Karabakh conflict, Baku military analysts believe.

On March 10, Georgian citizen Irakli Kvaratskheliya committed suicide after being detained while trying to cross the border with Abkhazia. According to eyewitnesses, Irakli Kvaratskheliya was beaten after his detention.

Khidirnabi Kazuev, a native of Dagestan, said that he was plotting not a terror act, but a murder of pop singer Philipp Kirkorov by order of showman Maxim Galkin. Investigators should verify the Khidirnabi Kazuev's testimony, the defence insists.

Delegates of the Tangim mosque complained to the Prosecutor of Dagestan about regular raids held by law enforcers and detentions of believers. The Prosecutor promises to render his assistance, but if the pressure on the believers does not stop, the leaders and the public council of the Tangim mosque will seek a meeting with Vladimir Vasiliev, report participants of the meeting.

Today, soldier Gamlet Avakyan has died on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. He fell into a gorge, investigators report.

After the court refused to release him, David Kirkitadze, an activist of the opposition "United National Movement" (UNM) party, declared his distrust in the court and called into question the participation of his advocates in the trial.

Amiran Borchashvili, a citizen of Georgia, a native of the Dumashturi village in the Pankisi Gorge, who fought on the side of the "Islamic State" (IS), a terrorist organization banned in Russia by the court, was killed in Syria, the State Security Service (SSS) of Georgia reports.

Two of the law enforcers involved in the Mikhail Benyash's case as witnesses failed to confirm in court their testimonies about a fight between advocate Mikhail Benyash and policemen, reported advocate Alexander Popkov.

After his detention in Moscow, opera singer Vadim Cheldiev told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that law enforcers asked him strange and ridiculous questions. He associates his detention with the activities of his charitable foundation "Iron Ziu".

The Chechen TV and Radio Company published a video filmed in 1998, in which Akhmat Kadyrov criticized Aslan Maskhadov's opponents. Residents of Chechnya interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" noted that the video appeared against the background of discussions between blogger Tumso Abdurakhmanov and Chechen officials.

Azerbaijan will not initiate a large-scale war in Nagorno-Karabakh, but local confrontation in the conflict zone cannot be ruled out, believe Armenian political analysts and military experts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot".

The phenomenon of torture and severe ill-treatment of persons detained by members of law enforcement agencies remain widespread in Chechnya and the neighbouring republics, but the Russian authorities persistently fail to improve the situation with human rights in Northern Caucasus in the light of the Council of Europe's recommendations, the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) states.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ordered the Russian authorities to pay more than one million euros of compensation to relatives of 11 people detained by soldiers during the second Chechen military campaign. The ECtHR began to appoint more substantial compensation to relatives of disappeared persons, notes an advocate from the "Legal Initiative".

In Armenia, law enforcers detained a soldier of the Nagorno-Karabakh Defence Army on suspicion of killing regular soldier Karen Karapetyan.

The Untsukul District Court of Dagestan recognized the fact of officials' inaction after a counterterrorist operation (CTO) in the residential settlement of Vremenny.

Ayub Tuntuev, a former security officer of the President of Chechnya, sentenced in cases on a terror act and on an attack on Pskov paratroopers, was found dead. The prisoner complained to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) about torture, rights defenders remind.

In the course of the second exchange of fire within two days on the border with Iran, a man who tried to illegally enter the territory of Azerbaijan was killed, the law enforcement bodies report today. This is the third victim of armed incidents, which were reported since March 10.

Today, soldier Karen Karapetyan has died from a gunshot wound on the territory of a military unit. The investigation into the circumstances of the incident is underway, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for Nagorno-Karabakh reports.

An investigation into the case against four natives of Dagestan, accused of plotting explosions at a concert of Russian pop singer Philip Kirkorov in Makhachkala, has been completed, an advocate reports today. According to him, the defendants deny that they were plotting a terror act.