News

In Baku, at the trial in the criminal case against activist Giyas Ibragimov, the court has read out the indictment. Giyas Ibragimov has pleaded not guilty of the alleged crime drug trafficking on a large scale. The activist has stated that he is being prosecuted for political reasons because of the graffiti on the monument to Geidar Aliev, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

On September 27, the North-Caucasian District Military Court held a hearing in the case of an attempt to create a Sharia state in the territory of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR). During the court hearing, an indictment was read out. Advocates of the defendants claimed lack of description of the objective side of the crimes in the indictment, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

Photographer Maria Mussova has invited residents of Kabardino-Balkaria, who have their own national Circassian costume, to take part in the project "Reflection".

The referendum on the amendments to the Constitution has been organized in accordance with the laws, and its results reflect the will of the Azerbaijani people. This was stated by the PACE assessment mission. However, members of the PACE mission have urged to strike a balance between the branches of power in Azerbaijan.

84.2% of all the voters have supported the increase of the president's term in office from five to seven years. The remaining 28 constitutional changes voted at the referendum have gained from 83.25% to 91.15% of the votes, the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Azerbaijan has stated today after processing all the ballots.

Today, during a rally in the town of Gukovo, which brought together 170 participants, a resolution was adopted to suspend the hunger strike of miners of the "Kingcoal" group of companies due to the deterioration of protesters' health.

As stated by the "Musavat" Party and the National Council of Democratic Forces (NCDF), the results of the constitutional referendum in Azerbaijan should be abolished because of the boycott of voting and violations in the course of it.

In Abkhazia, after the release of the information about suicide of a young woman from the town of Gudauta, who was allegedly accused of being unfaithful on the basis of SMS, the women's NGOs appealed to the law enforcement authorities with a request to investigate the case. The activists who signed the appeal do not rule out that the incident is a case of so-called "honour killings".

Law enforcers stop cars with people engaged in the funeral ceremony of Ravil Kaibaliev, the deputy imam of the mosque in Kara-Tyube. This has been reported today by the participants of the funeral procession.

A petition demanding a fair trial in the case against Zhalaudi Geriev, a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, sentenced to three years of imprisonment in a penal colony, has collected more than 20,000 signatures.

Investigators suspect a policeman of abuse of power with use of violence. The investigators believe that the suspect has beaten a resident of the farm yard Boguny of the Chertkovo District and unreasonably used a stunning device against him.

In Azerbaijan, the official information of the Central Election Commission (CEC) concerning the turnout at the referendum on amendments to the Constitution does not reflect the actual situation. This opinion was voiced by opposition politicians, interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot". According to them, the referendum failed to reach a 25-percent quorum and its results cannot be recognized as legitimate.

In the period from May till September, within the project "Unknown Caucasus", bloggers have posted on social networks about 4000 images of picturesque parts of Northern Caucasus. This was reported by participants of the project. On September 25, the next stage of the blog tour ended in North Ossetia, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

According to the results of processing of 72.7% of ballots, 91.2% of voters have supported the increase in the presidential term from five to seven years and other proposed amendments to the Constitution. This has been reported today by Mazakhir Panakhov, the chairman of the Central Election Commission (CEC).

In the Rostov Region, the court has sentenced pensioner Valery Dyakonov, a coordinator of the miners' protest actions in Gukovo, to 60 hours of compulsory labour. The pensioner is found guilty of threatening to kill the deputy chief of the Zverevo administration.

An activist Jamil Gadjiev was detained in Baku at the referendum on amendments to the Constitution, where he was present as an observer, Aikhan Gadjibeili, a member of the "Musavat" Party, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Ravil Kaibaliev, the Deputy Imam of the Neftekumsk District of the Stavropol Territory, has been killed today by unidentified persons on the Budyonnovsk-Kara-Tube highway, the "Caucasian Knot" was informed by the regional Muslim community.

By 7:00 p.m. local time, at the referendum completed in Azerbaijan, a total of 3,671,707 voters had cast their ballots, the Central Election Commission (CEC) has stated. The results of exit-polls are just slightly different from the CEC's data.

So far, the three suspected militants, killed in the Tabasaran District of Dagestan, have not been identified. To do so, a genetic examination was appointed, said a law enforcement source.

The office of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" in Makhachkala was addressed by relatives of the 23-year-old Aslan Abdurakhmanov, who stated that he had been kidnapped. According to their story, Aslan went to Makhachkala with his friend Said Saidov, whose whereabouts is also unknown.