News

Today, the Armenian Ministry of Defence (MoD) has reported that in the Tavush Region, three persons have been injured in an explosion of a mine and hospitalized.

Activists from the Yerevan State University have marched to various universities of the city with an appeal to students to join their action against the nomination of Serzh Sargsyan to the post of the Prime Minister of Armenia.

Mikhail Savostin, an oppositionist from the city of Mineralnye Vody, was arrested on suspicion of possession of drugs. He himself claims that the drugs have been planted to him, and his advocate believes his client is being prosecuted for political reasons.

On April 12, the Georgian authorities sharply criticized the new report prepared by the Freedom House and voice their disagreement with the thesis about a significant reduction in the level of democracy in the country. The Armenian Minister of Justice reproached the rights defenders of biased attitude. In the report prepared by the Freedom House, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia reached the worst estimates since 2009.

A Muslim activist and blogger, known as Salman Sever, had two passports. One was issued in the name of Maxim Baidak, under which he was put on the wanted list by the Russian law enforcement bodies, while the second one was issued in Ukraine in the name of Bogdan Kalyussky. The possession of two passports issued in different names made it possible for law enforcers to assume that Kalyussky-Baidak illegally crossed borders with forged documents.

On April 12, The Azerbaijani militaries shelled an Armenian civilian truck, the Armenian Ministry of Defence has stated.

The Azerbaijani early presidential election was held under severe restrictions for the opposition and was accompanied by violations, the observers from the OSCE and the PACE have stated. In their turn, the Azeri Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and the President's Administration have blamed these observers for their prejudgement.

The participants of the today's rally have elected an initiative group, whose members are entrusted to supervise the course of investigation into the murder of Khusey Makitov, a resident of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR).

Today, at about 6:00 p.m., six activists of the movement "Reject Serzh!" tried to set up a tent near the Opera Theatre in central Yerevan. Policemen have interfered and took away the tent, after which the protesters have partially blocked the traffic, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

At a spontaneous rally today, residents of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR) have decided to apply to the General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) with a demand to take the murder of Khusey Makitov, a resident of the settlement of Elbrus, under control.

Theologians of Ingushetia treat a proposal of the Interreligious Council of Russia (ICR) to declare Wahhabism an extremist ideology as an attempt to legitimize the persecution of believers for their beliefs.

Today, the Azerbaijani Central Election Commission (CEC) has announced the unconditional Ilham Aliev's victory at the presidential election. The oppositional "Musavat" Party has treated the election as illegitimate.

Usman Lorsanov, a resident of Grozny, whose relatives were not aware of his whereabouts for more than two weeks, is now being kept at one of the police stations, the "Caucasian Knot" was told by the relatives of the young man.

Relatives of the workers who died when a shift bus fell into the Kerch Strait are dissatisfied with the fact that only a driver and a bus owner are accused of the incident. The relatives want to initiate criminal proceedings against the employer company and demand compensation for material and moral harm.

The funds raised during a concert in the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria will go to support the needy Syrian Circassians.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev has been re-elected for his fourth term with a higher result than Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko, his Russian and Belarusian colleagues, respectively.

In Grozny, law enforcers have detained relatives of Chechen blogger Tumso Abdurakhmanov, who stays in Poland to hide from persecution. The law enforcers threatened the detainees and demanded from them to record a video complaint against Tumso Abdurakhmanov, the blogger himself reports.

According to the Central Election Commission (CEC), the overall voter turnout at the early presidential election in Azerbaijan made 74.5%, but the analysts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" treat this figure as highly overstated. Still, according to exit polls, the incumbent Ilham Aliev has won from 82.7% to 86.5% of the votes.

Today, the MPs from the "Elk" oppositional faction have lit flares at the parliament session and urged residents of Armenia to go out to protest against Serzh Sargsyan. However, the political analysts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" believe that the faction's call is sooner aimed at promoting the opposition and poses no serious threat to the ruling party.

In Azerbaijan, at the early presidential election, during first seven hours of voting, over three million people had voted, the Central Election Commission (CEC) has reported. However, oppositional activists tell about "roundabouts" (carrousels) and observers' non-admission to polling stations.