News

The head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, has announced "sanctions" against human rights defenders, threatening to apply harsh measures to those of them who decide to visit the republic.

Despite the sale of almost 50,000 sacrificial animals, prices during this year's Kurban-Bairam (Eid al-Adha) have significantly gone up compared to 2017, residents of Azerbaijan assert. Some residents of Baku also criticized a short weekend on the occasion of the holiday.

The German Prosecutor's Office has reported an arrest of a Russian citizen suspected of storing explosives and plotting a terror act. The suspect detained in Berlin is a native of Chechnya, the German media report. However, the Chechen Minister of Press and Information has questioned the Chechen origin of the arrested person.

The Reporters Without Borders (RWB) and the Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS) have reminded the German Chancellor of a large number of imprisoned journalists and repressions of oppositionists' relatives in Azerbaijan. Rights defenders associate hopes for the release of blogger Mekhman Guseinov with Angela Merkel's visit to Baku.

In 2018, at least five persons were tortured in Southern Russia, including a 16-year-old teenager. As a result, one person died, the "Meduza" writes. According to the edition, this year, at least 58 cases of torture were registered in Russia.

Within the last 24 hours, the ceasefire regime on the troops contact line was violated for 87 times, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence (MoD) has stated.

The head of Chechnya has treated the rights defenders, who criticized law enforcers' work during and after the recent series of attacks committed in the republic, as enemies.

The existing Russia-West tense relations, and the Georgia's position on the issue hinder the international recognition of Abkhazia's independence, the participants of the conference "Ten Years of Recognition: Outcomes and Prospects" have pointed out. They noted the problems of repatriation of Abkhazians, who face language and everyday life difficulties at their homeland.

The "Islamic State" (IS) a terrorist organization, banned in Russia by the court, is training teenagers in special camps and has long been using children in terror acts, the analysts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" have stated, explaining that minors cause less suspicion in law enforcers.

On Wednesday, August 22, two tourists suffered in the mountains of Kabardino-Balkaria from a lightning strike. One of them died in rescuers' hands; and his 35-year-old woman-companion was hospitalized.

Law enforcers have detained relatives of the teens, who attacked policemen, and interrogated friends of the murdered young men, residents of Chechnya have stated. Users of social networks doubt the necessity to shot dead the attackers.

Vitaly Gabniya, a vice-president of Abkhazia, said that he leaves the post, having treated the brawl he took part in as an example of inefficiency of the republic's law enforcement system. He has also warned about a possible aggravation of the situation in Abkhazia.

In its complaint to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), Georgia has accused Russia of oppressing ethnic Georgians in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, paying special attention to the death of Gigi Otkhozoriya and Archil Tatunashvili.

In the city of Norilsk, suspects in recruiting militants into the "Islamic State" (IS, a terrorist organization, banned in Russia by the court) were detained, the press service of the FSB Department Krasnoyarsk Territory has reported. The day before, on August 20, teenagers in Chechnya committed attacks on law enforcers.

More than 100 Russian women, serving their sentences for assisting terrorists in Iraq, asked to help them to return to their homeland, said Tatiana Moskalkova, the Russian Ombudsperson.

The principle of collective responsibility, which is used by law enforcers in Chechnya in the fight against militants, is inefficient. This is written by the "Novaya Gazeta" in the comment on the damnation of the father of Magomed Musaev, a young man killed during the attack on policemen on August 20.

Tabarik Dudaeva, a 46-year-old native of Chechnya, living in Kalmykia, filed a complained about beating. Users of social networks from Chechnya demanded to investigate the incident. A lot of users from Kalmykia apologized for the actions of their fellow countrymen.

Scientists engaged in oriental studies note that appeals of the IS (the "Islamic State", a terrorist organization, banned in Russia by the court, – note of the "Caucasian Knot") were heard by Chechen teenagers who improved the tactics of solo attacks and organized a series of incidents.

Mikael Arutyunyan, a former head of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of Armenia, who left office after the "velvet revolution", was put on the wanted list under the case of the dispersal of protests in Yerevan in 2008. Narek Sargsyan, a nephew of the third president of Armenia, is also wanted.

A resident of Dagestan died of a stroke during a hajj in Saudi Arabia, Rushan Abbyasov, deputy chairman of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims (SAM) of Russia, has stated.