News

Demonstrations on May Day; release of journalist Zhalaudi Geriev; aggravation in the Karabakh conflict zone, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of April 29-May 5, 2019, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

A resident of the village of Kveshi, located on the border with South Ossetia, was detained on May 5, the Georgian State Security Service (SSS) has reported today.

The General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) of Azerbaijan has allowed trips abroad for three journalists and a writer, who had been prohibited from leaving the country in connection with the criminal case against the "Meydan TV".

Activists of the "Strength in Unity" movement decided to start patrolling the territory of the "David Garedja" Monastery Complex since May 7, in order to prevent Azerbaijani border guards from blocking the road to the monasteries.

In the course of the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus, during the week from April 29 to May 5, 2019, no victims were reported. These are the results of the calculations run by the "Caucasian Knot" based on its own materials and information from other open sources.

Emin Babaev, a member of the "Republican Alternative" (ReAl) Party, was detained on charges of disobeying the police and was kept in custody for more than 24 hours, although the judge has postponed the trial and released him, said Natig Djafarli, the Secretary of the Party.

The Georgian activists, who lined up in a living chain near the "David Garedja" Monastery Complex on the border with Azerbaijan, were closely watched by border guards of the two countries. Mamuka Bakhtadze, the Georgian Prime Minister, has stated that the solution of the problems of border demarcating and disputed territories will take a lot of time.

Law enforcers have announced a federal search for Akhmed Pogorov, a co-chairman of the World Congress of the Ingush People, who figures as a witness in the case of clashes at a rally in Ingushetia. Mr Pogorov could face an arrest, his advocates say.

In Chechnya, theologians have set the size of Zakat Al-Fitr (alms mandatory for Muslims) and Kaffarat (redemptive action for breaking the fast) in the amount of 100 and 50 roubles, respectively.

On Friday, May 3, law enforcers conducted another raid near the "Tangim" mosque in Makhachkala. At least two parishioners were taken to the police station.

Shafag Agabalaeva, the editor-in-chief of the website "Bakupress.az" has gone on a hunger strike after her arrest within a drug dealing case. Her supporters have suggested that she was slandered for her publications about the sale of psychotropic drugs at pharmacies. Her website had written a lot about the problem of drug addiction, human rights defenders have stated.

Aganik Zoroglyan, a military serviceman, was seriously wounded by a shot from the Azerbaijani side, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) has reported.

Law enforcers threatened with a murder to Olga Moskvitina, an intersex activist, detained at the "Monstration" event in Makhachkala on May 1. According to her story, after the detention, she was forced to undress.

Azerbaijan has problems with access to information and an extremely limited advertising market; journalists are harassed; and websites are blocked, participants of the conference in Baku have stated. They called on the authorities to ensure the freedom of local media.

From April 28 to May 4, Azerbaijani soldiers fired more than 3000 shots at the positions of the Defence Army, Ministry of Defence (MoD) of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) has stated.

Participants of the Cossack gathering and a meeting of the Council of Atamans in the Kalachyovsky District of the Volgograd Region have drawn attention of the authorities to the cruel beating of the farmer Evgeny Sychov, a Cossack. His son told about his father's years-long conflict with the natives of Chechnya, but the police believe that it was just a domestic incident.

Georgian MPs have approved the introduction of fines, arrests and corrective works for sexual harassments in public places and at work.

Ramzan Kadyrov continued his remote dispute with blogger Tumso Abdurakhmanov about his father and equated Akhmat Kadyrov with Prophet Muhammad. Residents of Chechnya have treated this comparison as incorrect. Kadyrov has equated his father to the prophet in an effort to win believers' sympathy, Orientalists believe.

On May 3, relatives of Giorgi Mamaladze, a priest, who was found guilty of trying to poison the patriarch's secretary, launched an action demanding from the Georgian Church to submit a petition asking to pardon the convict.

In Baku, a group of journalists timed their protest action against the restriction of their right to leave Azerbaijan to the World Press Freedom Day marked on May 3. The protesters were accepted at the Prosecutor's Office and promised that soon the ban on their leaving the country would be lifted.