News

Today, the European Union has announced its willingness to work with the newly elected parliament of Armenia, since the principles of democracy had been observed during the elections. The US Department of State has noted that the parliamentary elections in Armenia were held in a free and competitive environment.

The results of the elections could be expected, believe political analysts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot". On December 10, the "velvet revolution" was completed in Armenia, noted political consultant Armen Badalyan.

Suspected members of the Georgian, Armenian, and Azerbaijani organized criminal groupings were detained during a special operation in Lyon, the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) for Georgia reports today.

Over the past 24 hours, the positions of the Azerbaijani armed forces in the Karabakh conflict zone were shelled 24 times, and border villages in the Tovuz District came under fire, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for Azerbaijan reports today.

There were violations at the parliamentary elections in Armenia, but they were not widespread, members of observation missions have stated at a press conference in Yerevan. According to human rights defenders, these elections were the first free and competitive ones in recent years, but during the electoral campaigns, parties and blocs used the "hate speech".

Law enforcers have searched the apartment of activist Darya Atdaeva, who demanded to investigate the circumstances of the killing of two people in a special operation in Nevinnomyssk, human rights defenders have informed.

The defence of Oyub Titiev, the head of the Grozny office of the Human Rights Centre "Memorial", treats keeping him at SIZO (pre-trial prison) and the extension of his arrest for three months more as unjustified. The rights defender himself has treated the last court judgement as expected and complained that he receives not all the letters addressed to him.

The case of the resident of Chechnya, whom investigators treat as a participant in the attack of the militants of Shamil Basaev and Khattab on Dagestan in 1999, has been sent to the court, the General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) has reported.

The criticism of Ramzan Kadyrov addressed to Vitaly Mutko, one of Russian Vice-Premiers, is caused by the fact that the head of Chechnya sees himself as a federal-level politician and is seeking to expand his influence, Dmitry Oreshkin and Alexei Malashenko, political analysts, believe.

The police have asked to move the tent of activist of the "Force in Unity" movement into the territory of Georgia, but the protesters have managed to maintain the status quo, David Katsarava, the head of the movement, has stated.

The court has upheld the demand of the prosecution and extended the arrest of Oyub Titiev, the head of the Grozny office of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", until March 22, 2019.

Over the past 24 hours, positions of Azerbaijani militaries were shelled from Armenia and the territories "near the occupied villages," the country's Ministry of Defence (MoD) has stated.

The Baku Court of Appeal (BCA) refused to satisfy the complaint against the verdict against the oppositionist Orkhan Bahyshly, sentenced to six years in prison on charges of drug possession. Orkhan insists on the political background of his case.

More than 50 Azerbaijani activists have appealed to the authorities of the country and the European Union (EU), calling to accelerate the work on a new agreement on strategic partnership. They have urged to include the issue of legal and political reforms as priorities into the agreement.

The transfer to Chechnya of territories of Dagestan will cause discontent among the republic's residents, experts have suggested. Residents of Dagestan have confirmed that they are ready to protests, if the issue arises of changing the republic's border.

Socio-economic problems will affect Nikol Pashinyan's rating; however, there will be no sharp drop in the trust in the government, the Armenian political analysts, interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot", believe. In their opinion, only concessions in the Karabakh issue can crash his rating.

Early parliamentary elections in Armenia; decision of the Constitutional Court of Russia on the border agreement between Chechnya and Ingushetia; approval of the sentence to Vladimir Bessonov by the Rostov Regional Court; failed court hearing in the Vladimir Tskaev's case in Vladikavkaz; publication of report on honour killings in Northern Caucasus, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of December 3-9, 2018, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

Out of 144 reports received by the police about violations at the Armenian parliamentary elections, 58 contain crime attributes. The country's Investigating Committee has announced that 38 received reports about violations contain features of criminal offenses.

On the eve of the court session, scheduled for December 10, on the case of Oyub Titiev, the head of the Grozny office of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", Kumi Naidoo, the Secretary General of the human rights organization Amnesty International (AI), spoke in Oyub's support. He posted in the Twitter his photo in a T-shirt with Titiev's portrait.

During the week of December 3-9, at least one person perished in the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus; there is no information about any wounded ones. These are the results of the calculations run by the "Caucasian Knot" based on its own materials and information from other open sources.