News

On June 2-4, Rostov-on-Don hosted the festival of the bard's song club "Sozvezdie", which attracted song performers from the Krasnodar Territory and the Volgograd and Voronezh Regions. In total, the festival was visited by about 200 people.

Circassian activists have created an initiative group and announced a fundraising to hire an advocate to challenge the court's decision to impose a fine on Ruslan Gvashev for his participation in a prayer on the Circassian Memorial Day.

Leyla Mustafaeva, the wife of Azerbaijani journalist Afghan Mukhtarly, has announced the decision of the journalist's family members to refuse applying for Georgian citizenship. The woman has explained the decision by her reluctance to live and work in the country where her husband had been kidnapped.

The parties to the Karabakh conflict are not ready to reach compromise, and while negotiators from the OSCE Minsk Group are inactive, a new war is almost inevitable. This opinion was voiced by Russian and Azerbaijani political analysts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot".

Residents of Ingushetia interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" have criticized the postponement to July 11 of festive events in honour of the 25th anniversary of the republic. The Ingush residents intend to celebrate the date on June 4.

Journalist Afghan Mukhtarly was transported through an uncontrolled section of the Georgian-Azerbaijani border. This was reported at a press conference by Azerbaijani advocate Nemat Kerimli. People in uniform pushed Afghan Mukhtarly into a car parked near the house where he lived, and later with a plastic bag on his head, he was taken out of the country.

In Baku, searches have been conducted in the office of the Internet TV Kanal-13 (Kanal13.tv) and the apartment of its executive director Aziz Orujov, who was earlier arrested. Computers, electronic carriers and documents were confiscated, said employees of the TV channel.

Georgian authorities are ready to help the family of the Azerbaijani journalist Afghan Mukhtarly with the necessary legal procedures, Giorgi Kvirikashvili, the Prime Minister of Georgia, has stated. He asked the President to grant citizenship to Mukhtarly's wife and children.

In connection with disappearance of a 14-year-old girl-resident of Kaspiysk, a criminal case was initiated under the article "Murder", the Prosecutor's Office of Dagestan has stated.

Leyla Mustafaeva, the wife of Afghan Mukhtarly, an Azerbaijani opposition journalist, has changed her decision to leave Georgia.

Journalist Nijat Amiraslanov, who is serving his administrative arrest, was tortured and forced to retract his appeal against the court's decision. This was reported by advocate Elchin Sadygov and journalist Khadija Ismayilova.

In the centre of the Georgian capital, the memorial to Heydar Aliev, the third president of Azerbaijan, was poured with paint.

Dmitry Remizov, a journalist of the agency "Rosbalt", has told the court that a law enforcer used force against him and demanded to confirm his acquaintance with Maxim Smyshlyaev, accused of plotting a terror act in Rostov-on-Don.

Six fighters of a military unit of the National Guard (Natsgvardia) of Russia killed on March 24 in an attack of a group of militants on the military unit in the Naur District of Chechnya were posthumously awarded the Orders of Courage.

The case against Aziz Orudjev, the executive director of the "Internet TV Kanal-13" (Kanal13.tv), is connected with his professional activities, and after the journalist's arrest, the online channel giving the floor to human rights defenders and oppositionists faced difficulties.

The defence of Afghan Mukhtarly, an Azerbaijani opposition journalist, has filed an appeal with a request for his immediate release. This was reported by an advocate.

In Armenia, 20 NGOs treat as illegal the actions of policemen in the course of detention of Argishti Kiviryan, a coordinator of the agency "Armenia Today".

The Amnesty International (AI) has handed over to Russian Embassies in several European countries signatures to the petition "Shed light on repressions against homosexuals in Chechnya!" Since April 5, throughout the world, it has gathered over 663,000 signatures.

Valentina Cherevatenko, a Novocherkassk rights defender, has been accused of malicious default of the law on foreign agents.

The colony in the Tambov Region, where Igor Stenin, the leader of the movement "Russians of Astrakhan", was serving his term, has received a court order on his acquittal; and Igor Stenin was released.