News

The leadership of the Chechen Republic has received a task to send two battalions of 600 people each to Syria. Apti Bolotkhanov, a participant of the warfare in Donbas, will supposedly command one of them, the "Novaya Gazeta" has reported today with reference to its anonymous sources.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has found reasonable nine complaints lodged by citizens of Georgia against their expulsion from Russia in 2006. On two of them, compensations have been awarded totalling to 76,000 euros; the amounts on the remaining seven complaints have not yet been defined.

The Azerbaijani authorities had failed to properly organize the inquiry into the complaint lodged by Ramil Pirgurban about his torture by the police, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has stated and appointed a compensation of 19,000 euros to the applicant.

The demand to wear hijabs in state institutions of Chechnya restricts women's rights, believe the rights defenders interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot".

The homes of the young people, killed in the counterterrorist operation (CTO) in Grozny on December 17-18, after a series of attacks on policemen, fail to hold the commemoration ceremonies (tezet), mandatory in such cases, said the neighbours. According to their story, there is no one to hold the tezet, as almost all the males, detained at night on December 17 are still in custody at the police.

On December 19, Chechnya held the funeral of four law enforcers killed in a special operation and as a result of attacks on policemen in Grozny. According to the updated information, three people were killed as a result of the attacks, and one more man died from a gunshot wound got during the special operation. This was reported by a source from the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA).

Militants who on December 17 and 18 attacked policemen in various districts of Grozny acted within two groupings, and they communicated with each other. This was reported by a source from the Chechen law enforcement authorities.

Advocate Luiza Buraeva, who represents the interests of Rustam Aptaev, a resident of Chechnya, detained by Ali-Yurt villagers on suspicion of an attempted assassination of preacher Isa Tsechoev, has filed a complaint against the decision on the administrative arrest of her client.

On December 17 and 18, the attacks on policemen and shootouts in Chechnya were organized by militants of the "Islamic State" (IS). This was declared by the statement released by the "Islamic State", banned in Russia by court and recognized as a terrorist organization.

The father of Akhmad Akrashev, one of the killed men involved in shootouts with law enforcers in Grozny on December 17 and 18, perished in Grozny during a special operation carried out against militants in 2005. Istamul Mamaev and Ibragim Mazhaev, two other men involved in the shootout, were put on police prevention registration lists. The killed Islam Altemirov was a student of a Saratov institution of higher education, and he arrived in the Chechen capital on December 14. This was told to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by a source from the local police.

In 2016, the second phase of the Bzugu wastewater purification plant was not completed, although the authorities promised to commission it back in 2014, environmentalists and activists of Sochi have stated. According to their version, the Bzugu facilities are the "last protracted Olympic object."

The oppositional "United National Movement" (UNM) has called on the Georgian Parliament to adopt a resolution in connection with the events in Aleppo; and the UNM has brought in a respective draft.

Magomet Kushtov, a native of Ingushetia, had been accused of kidnapping in 1999 of Laura Lichtman, an Israeli citizen, because of investigators' error, his relatives told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The attack on policemen and shootouts in Chechnya indicate the presence of people in the republic, who can activate for committing sabotage actions and who are disgruntled with actions of Chechen authorities, said the experts, interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot".

Today, the judge, who is running the case of citizens of Azerbaijan, accused of riots in the settlement of Nardaran, has dismissed over 50 defence's motions; in particular, he refused to admit the defendants to the trial. In protest against his actions, all the defendants went on hunger strike.

Alexander Grebenschikov, the First Deputy Governor of the Rostov Region, has visited Gukovo, where he met miners of the "Kingcoal" Company.

After the attacks on law enforcers, committed in Grozny, power agents detained dozens of relatives and friends of the attackers, relatives of detainees, who asked not to reveal their names, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Today, the Armenia's Court of Appeal (CoA) has upheld the verdict to Valery Permyakov, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of a family in Gyumri.

The four persons killed in Grozny on December 18 have been identified. All of them took part in killing policemen in the Staropromyslovsky District of Grozny, said a local law enforcement source.

Attack of militants on policemen in Grozny; people's assembly held by opposition in Abkhazia; detention of a suspect of assassination attempt on Ingush Imam Tsechoev, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of December 12-18, 2016, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".