News

During the week of January 21-27, 2019, at least five persons suffered in the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus: four perished and one was wounded. These are the results of the calculations run by the "Caucasian Knot" based on its own materials and information from other open sources.

In 2018, none of residents of Chechnya joined the Syrian militants, although 15 people tried to do it, the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) has reported, stating the success of their actions to prevent extremism.

Talekh Bagirzade, the leader of the "Muslim Unity" Movement (MUM), and others convicts under the "Nardaran case", are exposed to "unprecedented pressure" in prison, Mr Bagirzade's supporters announced on January 27. The Azerbaijani Penitentiary Service has denied this information.

Investigators have incorrectly reproduced the circumstances, in which policemen had allegedly found narcotic drugs in the car of Oyub Titiev, a rights defender and the head of the Grozny office of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", his advocate has stated today.

Start of the Chechen and Dagestani authorities' activities to clarify the borders; attack on policemen in Nalchik; closure of blogger Mekhman Guseinov's case in Azerbaijan, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of January 21-27, 2019, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

The video, in which three natives of Kaspiysk swear allegiance to the leader of the "Islamic State" (IS, earlier, the ISIL), a terrorist organization banned in Russia by the court, was found on them after the shootout at the DPS (road-and-patrol service) post, sources have reported.

Within the last 24 hours, the armistice regime in the Karabakh conflict zone was violated for 24 times, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence (MoD) has reported today.

Abkhazia has hosted exercises of the personnel of the Russian military base. The servicemen have mastered reconnaissance of transport routes and ensuring the anti-aircraft and anti-sabotage defence.

In Pyatigorsk, law enforcers have detained Ekaterina Danko, a solo picketer in support of Chechen LGBT people.

In Volgograd, nine activists have held solo pickets demanding to release the Rostov activist Anastasia Shevchenko and all Russian political prisoners.

After the attempt to hold an unsanctioned march in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, in support of political prisoners, the court decided to arrest ten out of the 15 activists detained by law enforcers.

The film by the Russian journalist Roman Babayan "Case No. March 1" has raised criticism among relatives of those who perished in Armenia in those days; they treat it as an attempt to whitewash Robert Kocharyan's actions.

Eldar Iraziev, a popular actor and blogger in Dagestan, was beaten up three days ago in Makhachkala, Shamil Khadulaev, the head of the Dagestani Coordinating Council of NGOs, has stated. According to sources, the reason for the attack on the blogger was in his statements.

Two residents of Beslan and a resident of the village of Suadag were detained in Vladikavkaz after beating DPS (road-and-patrol service) inspectors.

On Saturday, January 26, Mger Egiazaryan, a deputy head of the "Armenian Eagles-United Armenia" Party, died in a Yerevan prison. He was holding a hunger strike against the fraud charges imputed to him.

Zarifa Sautieva, who worked as deputy director of the Memorial Complex of Repression Victims, has associated her dismissal with her participation in rallies against changing the border with Chechnya.

Gia Parulava, suspected of espionage, has been arrested for two months. During a search, a grenade, ammunition and an electric detonator were found on him, the State Security Service (SSS) of Abkhazia has reported.

The Russian presidential administration has promised to monitor the construction of a new school, which residents of the Terechnoye village in the Khasavyurt District of Dagestan had been waiting for six years. The works will start in February, the contractor has assured.

The head of Chechnya has instructed the heads of the five districts bordering on Dagestan to prepare detailed maps of the border areas within two weeks.

By its support for public punishment of the teens, who have confessed to committing vandalism in the Kizlyar City Park, the society of Dagestan has shown the adherence to the Chechen practice of public apologies. The republic has a demand for public condemnation of the offenders, journalists believe.