News

Law enforcers questioned students and teachers of the Grozny Medical College, where the young people killed in an attack on the Saint Michael the Archangel Church studied. The questioning was accompanied by threats, the students reported.

Eleven persons detained in Karachay-Cherkessia were adherents of the organization "At-Takfir Val-Hijra"*, a law enforcement source announced on May 24.

Today, the court in Adler has closed the case of Mardiros Demerchyan, who was accused of stealing some cable from the construction site, and of a false denunciation against policemen; however, the court did not rehabilitate him, Yuri Marikovsky, his advocate, has stated.

Today, Ilham Aliev, President of Azerbaijan, has signed a decree to pardon 634 convicts; however, it touched only 12 persons from the list of political prisoners; many of them were near their release time without pardoning, rights defenders assert.

The Armenian authorities can use force in case if supporters of the unit "Sasna Tsrer" do not stop acts of disobedience, political analysts and rights defenders assert.

In Krasnodar, five activists from the "Social Justice" Foundation and the movement "Putin's Detachments" are spending their fourth day on hunger strike in protest against frequent checks of the movement and the local authorities' attempts to close the Foundation. The hunger-strikers believe the local authorities underestimate the importance of support for the President by the "Putin's Detachments".

In Malgobek, two girls were hospitalized after they had been hit by a BMW car, driven by a 15-year-old teenager, the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) reports.

The statement of the Chechen rights defender Oyub Titiev that the marijuana had been planted on him was checked; however, it was confirmed only by his words, the investigator has stated today at the court session.

Today, Giorgi Margvelashvili, the Georgia's President, has signed a decree to pardon 143 prisoners. 84 pardoned inmates will be released today; and 59 others will have their terms reduced.

The information about poor conditions for deployment of policemen seconded on the eve of the FIFA World Cup to Volgograd is not true, reports the Department for the Volgograd Region of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) after checking a message posted in social networks.

The authorities of Kabardino-Balkaria are working on a project to create a ski patrol to ensure order at resorts in skiing areas, reports Murat Shogentsukov, Minister for Resorts and Tourism of the region.

Bogdan Kalyusskiy, also known as Salman Sever, has received a certificate of the status of refuge seeker, Arthur Sakunts, a rights defender and the head of the Vanadzor Office of the Helsinki Civil Assembly, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent on May 22.

Salekh Rustamov, a citizen of Russia, was arrested in Azerbaijan on charges of illegal drug dealing. His relatives report that he is tortured and asked the Russian Embassy to clear out the situation.

The Israeli Knesset (Parliament) has accepted for consideration a bill on the recognition of the massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide.

During a detention in Makhachkala, Yunus Abdurakhmanov, a resident of Dagestan, was planted a grenade and rounds, his relatives claim. According to the relatives and friends, Yunus Abdurakhmanov's friend defamed him under torture.

On April 20, Arsen Arzumanyan, the head of the Kotayk City Police, hampered the work of journalist Tirair Muradyan, who covered the action of Nikol Pashinyan's supporters, investigators have stated today.

A former inspector of the patrol-and-post service (known as PPS) in Derbent, who had beaten a teenager and forcibly kept him in a car, was accused of exceeding his powers, investigators report.

FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura has expressed her concern over the case against Oyub Titiev, the head of the Grozny branch of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial". She has stated the need for a fair trial.

On the first day at large, Afghan Sadygov, who was recognized as a political prisoner, announced he would continue his journalistic activities.

Today, Nikol Pashinyan, Prime Minister of Armenia, has re-voiced his demand to stop actions of civil disobedience. He has called such actions the sabotage.