News

As reported by the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), some 10,000 people took part in the rally against the presidential election in Azerbaijan. The protesters have stated that the authorities had initiated early election in order to make them non-alternative.

About 300 people gathered at a rally in Yerevan demanding to remove Serzh Sargsyan from power and release political prisoners.

On March 9, at a presentation in Makhachkala, organizers of the project "Fathers and Daughters", designed to break a stereotype about an authoritarian power of a head of a Caucasian family, admitted that the project had also revealed problems in family relations.

In Baku, the action under the slogan: "No robbery, stop the monarchy!" has been arranged by the National Council of Democratic Forces (NCDF), the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA) and the "Musavat" Party. This is the first joint rally arranged by those opposition forces since 2013.

In the period from March 4 to 10, the Azerbaijani armed forces more than 2500 times shelled the positions of the Defence Army, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for Nagorno-Karabakh reported.

Residents of Georgia are affected by a hurricane. The strong wind damaged roofs of dozens of houses and fell down trees. Besides, rivers left their banks and damaged roads and flooded houses.

An electronic library with legal acts, teaching aids, fiction and scientific books will provide prisoners with knowledge about their rights and the opportunity to get engaged in self-education. This was reported by rights defenders who presented the project of the Internet resource "Prison Library" in Baku.

The European Parliament (EP) refused to observe the presidential election in Azerbaijan. Rights defenders interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" associate the refusal of MEPs with their fear to spoil relations with Baku on the eve of signing of a new partnership agreement and to provoke its turn towards Moscow.

Giorgi Kvirikashvili, Georgian Prime Minister, has announced his readiness for a dialogue with the authorities of Russia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Oppositional MPs treat it as a sign of Georgian authorities' "powerlessness".

On March 8, Ramzan Kadyrov's mother and wife were decorated by the Order of Fatherland's Honour, established only a week ago. Local residents suggest that in this way the Chechen parliament has demonstrated its devotion to the head of the republic.

Employees of the Central Election Commission (CEC) have held a large-scale dissemination of leaflets calling for participation in the Russia's presidential election on March 18, residents of Chechnya report. In its turn, the CEC asserts that the campaign is purely informative and aimed at increasing the interest in the election.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) for Azerbaijan has announced large-scale exercises of the Azerbaijani army to be held on March 12-17.

The Untsukul District Court has changed the freedom restraint measure of Umargadji Abdurakhmanov to house arrest, his advocate Eldar Temirkhanov has reported. Abdurakhmanov is suspected of aiding militants.

Ramazan Abdulatipov, a senior field investigator from the Department for Economic Security and Counteracting Corruption of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) for Dagestan, was detained while taking a bribe, sources report. The information has not been confirmed officially.

In Moscow, at an evening held in memory of the people who fell victim to the deportation of the Balkar people, Sulieta Kusova-Chukho, a culturologist and journalist, suggested restoring abandoned mountain auls (villages) to honour the memory of their ancestors.

The Parliament of Georgia should resume the discussion of the bill on gender quoting at elections, as the authorities had undertaken to eliminate the inequality of men and women. This was stated by local human rights organizations.

From their religious viewpoint, residents of Dagestan and Chechnya have no uniform opinion about the celebration of the International Women's Day. The residents of Kabardino-Balkaria interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" have recalled the anniversary of Balkarians' deportation.

The funeral of Ramzan Geroev, who perished in the crash of a Russian military aircraft in Syria, was held today in Ingushetia. Internet users are negative to the participation of Ingush servicemen in the Middle East conflict.

About 20 people went out to an unsanctioned action in Makhachkala, demanding to punish those guilty of killing Gasanguseinov brothers and clarify the fate of others missing. They handed their appeal addressed to Vladimir Vasiliev, the acting head of Dagestan, to Mayoralty employees.

The transgenderers, who gathered today in front of the Georgian Ministry of Justice, have demanded the right to indicate in their personal documents the gender to which they relate themselves. The police detained one of the men, who threw eggs at the transgenders.