News

Chechnya's Prosecutor's Office (PO) has unreasonably filed a lawsuit against the Gazprom to write off the debts of local natural gas consumers. The PO has been instructed to support the Gazprom's appeal, the Russian General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) has announced.

The Azerbaijani President, Ilham Aliev, reacted to Mekhman Guseinov's innocence statement; and investigators have stopped the new criminal case initiated against the blogger, the General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) has announced. Emin, Mekhman's brother, has treated the authorities' decision as a concession to the international community.

The court's judgement on writing off the gas debts of residents of Chechnya has no amount of 9 billion roubles. The Chechen Prosecutor's Office (PO) has removed the debt amount from its press release.

The court has refused to add the conclusions about the incorrect investigation of the cannabis, for the keeping of which Oyub Titiev, a rights defender and the head of the Grozny office of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", is accused, to the case files. The court has explained this decision by violation of the rules for holding examinations.

Activists Zafar Akhmedov, Rafig Bakhyshov and Fizuli Guseinov continue their hunger strike in the office of the "Musavat" Party. The journalist Khadija Ismayilova and activist Aigul Djafarova have stopped their hunger strike. At least five political prisoners continue their protest.

The examination of the cannabis, the keeping of which is imputed to Oyub Titiev, the head of the Grozny office of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", failed to prove its narcotic properties; and the examination results of the wash-offs from Titiev's hands contradict each other. This was stated by experts at the trial. The main proofs in the case are unreliable, said Ilya Novikov, a Titiev's advocate.

Investigators have rejected the demand of relatives of Julietta Gukasyan to transfer the Russian military, accused of killing her, from the territory of the military base to the SIZO (pre-trial prison) of Armenia. On January 17, the refusal was appealed against to the prosecutor's office, Arthur Sakunts, a rights defender, has informed.

Despite the claim of torture, the Makhachkala court has sentenced Yusup Asadulaev to eight years in colony, after finding him guilty of helping Ruslan Darsamov, the leader of the local underground. Asadulaev's brother, who also complained of torture, is being protected by rights defenders, the "Mediazona" has reported.

The authorities of Chechnya use all the methods of influencing debtors to pay utility bills; and the writing off of the multibillion-rouble debts for gas contrary to these methods is unlikely to affect ordinary people, residents of the republic said. Chechen lawyers also think it unlikely that the republic's gas debts will be written off.

The Chechen authorities are ready to make headings for apologies and repentances in mass media so that residents of the republic were responsible "for their words" in social networks or for their actions, said Djambulat Umarov, the Minister of National Policy, External Relations, Press and Information of Chechnya.

On January 20, the head of Dagestan treated the revision of the border with Chechnya as "a planned mandatory work." Social network users have noticed that Vladimir Vasiliev failed to answer the question about the concession of republic's territories.

Five servicemen from the Russian military base situated in Abkhazia fell victim to a fall of an armoured personnel carrier (APC) into the gorge, the Southern Military District has reported.

Gas explosions in multi-storey buildings in Shakhty and Tbilisi; unprecedented court decision to write off Chechen residents' multibillion-rouble debts for gas; completion of receiving documents from applicants running for the position of Makhachkala Mayor; formation of the government and the launch of the new parliament's activities in Armenia; rally in Baku with the demand to release political prisoners, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of January 14-20, 2019, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

In Dagestan, Krasnodar Territory and Adygea, under the guise of charitable activities, members of the grouping raised money for Syrian militants, the FSB has reported.

The fingerprint examinations of the package with the narcotic drug, which, according to law enforcers, was seized from Oyub Titiev, were held with violations, the defence of the head of the Grozny office of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" has stated. The court did not question the expert who came to the session, but agreed to summon another expert for questioning.

The animated film "Armed Lullaby" has been included into the programme of the Berlin International Film Festival, to be held in February. The cartoon tells about the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict through the eyes of a child.

The meeting of the heads of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs (MFAs) of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Paris has shown that the international community is trying to reanimate talks on the Karabakh conflict. However, the agenda failed to include issues related to violations of the armistice regime, political analysts have noted.

Police have detained a 21-year-old resident of Georgia, suspected of attacking employees of the Success Bar.

The singer, who had long doubted about coming to Dagestan, has reported that she is in the republic under reliable security. At the same time, new threats addressed to her and concert organizers have appeared in social networks.

Azerbaijani soldiers fired 1300 shots at the positions of the Defence Army of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has reported.