News

The Baku Court has found blogger Alexander Lapshin guilty of illegally crossing the Azerbaijani border and sentenced him to three years of imprisonment in a common-security penal colony.

Dmitry Medvedev, the chair of the Russian government, has signed a resolution to allocate money to North Ossetia for completion of the housing arrangement for the victims of the Beslan terror act.

Family members of Sharip Zaipullaev, a resident of the Vladimir Region, who was kidnapped and then found dead in a blown-up car, were invited to re-take DNA sample tests. The body has not yet been given out for burial, the man's relatives reported.

On July 19, Sochi opened the 13th "Crescendo" International Music Festival organized by Denis Matsuev, People's Artist of Russia and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador.

On July 19, the court hearing on the first case against the "Sasna Tsrer" (Daredevils of Sassoun) began with a delay. Court officials did not allow advocates Musheg Shushanyan and Araik Papikyan to enter the court building, since they refused to provide their briefcases for inspection, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

On July 19, the Yerevan Mayor's Office started dismantling a clothing market along Firdusi Street in the centre of the Armenian capital.

Hundreds of people took part in the march for women's rights, organized in central Tbilisi in response to the "Georgians' March".

During his visit to the villages located at the border with South Ossetia, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has announced the support of the Georgia's territorial integrity.

Today, the Baku Court for Grave Crimes has held the final hearing in the case against blogger Alexander Lapshin. In his final speech, Alexander Lapshin has reminded the court that he did not agree with the charges, but expressed his remorse for his trips to Nagorno-Karabakh.

Advocates of the sentenced men have appealed to the Supreme Court (SC) of Russia with a request to revoke the verdict and send the case for a new trial.

Today, in Gukovo, miners have held another picket in front of the "Kingcoal" Company's office. According to the calculations made by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, more than 100 gathered in the square in front of the office building.

In Nagorno-Karabakh, 28 out of 32 deputies of the National Assembly voted for the candidacy of Bako Sahakyan, the current leader of the country.

In Azerbaijan, six local residents were detained on the charge of handing secret information concerning the country's security over to foreign secret services. This was reported by the Azerbaijani State Security Service (SSS).

A mother of a four-year-old boy, captured in the Iraqi city of Mosul, has appealed to the Chechen Prosecutor's Office with a request for help in returning the child home. This was reported by a source from the Chechen Prosecutor's Office.

Blogger Tumsu Abdurakhmanov, a native of Grozny, has informed journalist Zviad Mchedlishvili that he was detained in one of the countries he went to from Georgia.

In his interview to a US TV Channel, Ramzan Kadyrov has claimed that the information about the persecution of homosexuals in Chechnya is being disseminated by human rights organizations which are counting on making money on that.

Philip Budeikin, an administrator of a "death group" in the social network "VKontakte", also known under the pseudonym of Philip Lis, has been sentenced by court to three years and four months of imprisonment in the case on inciting to commit suicide.

Starting from the evening on July 16, in Chechnya, a video record is being actively disseminated among users of social networks, in which Iraqi soldiers demonstrate a Chechen boy captured by them during the battles for the city of Mosul.

Shamsail Saraliev, a State Duma MP from Chechnya, has sent an appeal to Elvira Nabiullina, the chief of the Russian Central Bank, with complaints about discrimination against residents of the Southern Federal District (SFD) and the North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD) by Russian banks. The Shamsail Saraliev's appeal was supported by deputies of the State Duma from other Russian regions.

Ruslan Gvashev, a former chairman of the Board of Elders of Circassians-Shapsugs was hospitalized on the eve of the consideration of his complaint by the Krasnodar Territorial Court, his advocate Marina Dubrovina reports.