News

A resident of the Urus-Martan District has posted in the WhatsApp his apology to the employees of the gas supplying company, whom he had accused of "injustice." The man has apologized fearing the coercion to publicly repent on the TV, local residents have suggested.

The website "Aravot-ru.am" has been blocked in Russia for refusing to remove the data on the Sochi businessman of Armenian origin from the material about the cooperation of the Armenia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) with crime bosses, the editorial board of the website has reported.

About 50 residents of Rostov-on-Don gathered for a picket demanding to decriminalize the article on "undesirable organizations" and stop the criminal prosecution of the local activist Anastasia Shevchenko.

The Georgia's Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) has detained 17 people on charges of storing and mass dissemination on the Internet of video records that violate the privacy.

In 2008, the opposition tried to involve military servicemen in the political confrontation. The second President of Armenia, Robert Kocharyan, has stated at the trial that he had stopped these attempts.

The North-Caucasian District Military Court has instructed investigators to check the applications of Pavel Grib that he had given confessions under pressure. The court also agreed to question the doctor from Ukraine, Vasily Pritula, who had supervised Pavel Grib since childhood.

The "Islamic State" (IS, earlier ISIL), a terrorist organization, banned in Russia by the court, has declared Mansur Beltoev, the Ingushetia resident killed in the attack on Chechen law enforcers, to be its militant; however, it marked the Stavropol Territory as the place of the attack.

The administration of President Putin has extended the term for the consideration of the demands of Ingush activists, namely, the resignation of the head of Ingushetia, and the cancellation of the border agreement with Chechnya and the transfer of the Prigorodny District. The postponement was explained by the need to study additional documents, Magomed Mutsolgov has informed.

Several Derbent townspeople have suffered in a charity event organized by Senator (Member of the Federation Council) Suleiman Kerimov, after which the police stopped the food distribution.

Murtazali Gasanguseinov has stated today during his picket that he does not want to meet the head of Dagestan, Vladimir Vasiliev, since the latter had called the murder of Murtazali's sons a mistake.

Out of the 31.7 billion roubles lost by Gazprom because of the thefts, imputed to Raul Arashukov and four other top bosses of Gazprom structures, at least 27.4 billion were embezzled at gas supplies to Dagestan. Gas thefts were also committed in the Stavropol Territory and Karachay-Cherkessia, investigators assert.

The Baku Court of Appeal (BCA) has dismissed the complaint against the arrest of the activist Rafael Guseinzade after his solo picket in support of political prisoners.

The participants of a prophylactic talk with detainees for drug use and distribution, which was shown on TV, did not come there voluntarily, residents of Chechnya have informed. They also recalled the principle of collective responsibility in force in the republic.

Today, at a protest rally in Makhachkala, Murtazali Gasanguseinov, has stated that he was outraged by the words of the head of Dagestan, Vladimir Vasiliev, and refuses to treat the death of his sons as a "tragic accident." He also reproached Mr Vasiliev for refusing to meet him.

On January 30, Vagarshak Avetisyan, sentenced to life imprisonment on murder charges, declared a hunger strike demanding a reconsideration of his criminal case and a meeting with the head of Armenian Ministry of Justice (MoJ), the "Tert.am" reported on January 31 with reference to inmate's relatives.

It is unlikely that the process of fixing Chechnya's borders with the Stavropol Territory and North Ossetia will pass without disputes, and could create grounds for acute interethnic conflicts, the political analysts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" assert.

The human rights organization "Amnesty International" (AI) has reacted to the administrative case, initiated against Roman Zaitsev, the coordinator of the "Open Russia", for his participation in the activities of an "undesirable organization". Russian authorities are holding a "vicious campaign" of fight against the opposition, rights defenders assert.

Law enforcers are holding "talks" with opponents to the construction of hydroelectric power plants (HEPPs) in the vicinity of the Pankisi Gorge and convince them not to protest, local residents inform.

Robert Kocharyan, the second president of Armenia, has just taken part in the "Case No. March 1" film by the Russian journalist Roman Babayan, but was not his customer thereof, the advocate Ayk Alumyan told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The criminal prosecution of Mikhail Benyash, a lawyer from Kuban (Krasnodar Territory), has the aim to prevent him from defending detainees at rallies, the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" believes.