News

A Yerevan court has arrested for two months Maxim Baidak, a Muslim activist, the press secretary of the Association of Russian Muhajirs of Turkey, a blogger and political analyst, also known as Salman Sever. He is suspected of forging documents and illegally crossing the Armenian border.

The head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, has spoken against the blocking of the Telegram Messenger in Russia, pointing out that he uses it for personal and business purposes. It happened after the "Roskomnadzor" (Russian Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media) has filed a lawsuit seeking to restrict access to the Telegram in Russia.

The investigation into the murder of Khadjimurad Kamalov, a founder of the Dagestani newspaper "Chernovik" (Draft), did not advance for a long time, since the law enforcement bodies were not interested to resolve the crime and from the very beginning, they had information about involvement of a top-ranking official in the crime. This was stated by Ali Kamalov, the head of the Dagestani Union of Journalists. 

Family members unsuccessfully try to find out the whereabouts of Usman Lorsanov, a resident of Grozny, whom law enforcers had taken away from their house in late March. Relatives fear for the fate of the young man, since his brother was killed after detention in 2017.

The sanctions imposed by the US Department of the Treasury cover Vladimir Ustinov, the Russian president's plenipotentiary in the Southern Federal District (SFD); Suleiman Kerimov, the Senator from Dagestan; and Oleg Govorun, who is in charge of relations with Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Belgium has accepted five LGBTs from Chechnya to protect them from persecutions in their homeland. This was reported by Theo Franken, the State Secretary for Asylum and Migration.

The risk of a large-scale war for Nagorno-Karabakh is minimal, Yerevan military experts believe. However, they did not rule out a new escalation, which may results in more victims than those recorded by the "Caucasian Knot" during the second year of the truce.

The case opened against the resident of the Tlyaratin District, who damaged a video camera of the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent at a rally in Makhachkala, has been sent to the court.

A criminal case against residents of Kabardino-Balkaria, suspected of plotting an attempt on a law enforcer, has been brought to court, the Prosecutor's Office reports.

A court refused to grant the appeals filed by three activists of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA) arrested in Baku before a rally against the early presidential election. The leader of the PFPA announced the political persecution of activists.

On April 5, the Presnya Court of Moscow extended until May 11 the arrest of Ramzan Tsitsulaev, the former plenipotentiary of the Chechen leader in Ukraine.

On April 5, the Armenian capital hosted a protest action, during which activists were symbolically raising funds for the Serzh Sargsyan's retirement. The police forbade the participants of the action to approach the president's residence.

A petition was lodged to the Azerbaijani Ministry of Justice asking for a medical examination of the convicted journalist Afghan Mukhtarly, who complains of severe pains in the heart and lungs, his advocate has stated.

The Georgian authorities announced April 6 to be the mourning day for those who perished in the Mindeli Mine in Tkibuli. Employees of several mines and enterprises are ready to go on strike, said the head of the trade union of the mining, metallurgical and chemical industries' workers.

A tourist from Belgium perished and another one was injured during their descent from Kazbek Mount.

A resident of Khasavyurt, detained on suspicion of a brutal murder of a young woman, may become a target of blood feud. This opinion was voiced by Ekaterina Sokiryanskaya, Director at the Conflict Analysis and Prevention Centre. An ancient tradition remains relevant, since people consider a punishment for a murder to be inadequate, believes Shamil Beno, a Chechen political analyst.

During the past day, the armed forces of Armenia have violated the ceasefire regime 75 times using large-calibre machine guns, reported the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for Azerbaijan.

Six persons were killed and other three were wounded as a result of a collapse at the Mindeli mine in Tkibuli, the Georgia's Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) reports.

Residents of Derbent, who profess different religions, maintain friendly relations. This has been told to the "Caucasian Knot" by members of the Jewish community of the city. Throughout Northern Caucasus, Jews do not face any manifestations of anti-Semitism, said Levi Shabaev, Chief Rabbi for the Southern Federal District (SFD).

On April 4, the "Dmanisi Salvation Fund", set up by activists of the Georgian opposition and NGOs, announced the completion of raising money to buy out a 300-year-old eucalyptus after winning the tender.