News

In 2016, the Armed Forces of Armenia and the Defence Army of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) lost 162 soldiers, 51 of them – in non-combat conditions, reports the study of the Vanadzor office of the Helsinki Civil Initiative. Violence in the army has to do with "criminal rules", says Artur Sakunts, the head of the office.

Chechen policemen did not kidnap from Surgut the alleged swindlers, who imitated the voice of Kadyrov, and asked their local colleagues to close their eyes to the detention and removal of suspects, suggested the journalist Orkhan Jemal. Illegal practices are being spread beyond Chechnya, Tatiana Lokshina, a rights defender, has added.

The Russian legislation fails to consider the cultural and ethnic specificities of Cossacks; therefore, possible measures for the rehabilitation thereof are limited, said the participants of a conference held in Volgograd. In their view, the rehabilitation may facilitate the recognition of the decossackization process a form of genocide.

The Baku Court of Grave Crimes has held a preparatory session on the case of Natig Kerimov, an elder of the village of Nardaran. The consideration of the case on the merits in a closed session is scheduled for February 2.

The North-Caucasian District Military Court has sentenced Arthur Teppeev to five years in colony for participation in the Kabardino-Balkarian branch of the "Islamic State" (IS), a terrorist organization, banned in Russia.

Two former senior power agents, convicted in Georgia under the murder case of Zurab Vazagashvili and Alexander Khubulov, have gone on a hunger strike. They state a possible conspiracy against them of other defendants in the case, said the advocate of one of them.

Two CTOs in Dagestan; appointment of referendum date on draft new Constitution of Nagorno-Karabakh; UNM congress in Georgia after the split of the party; gatherings of Chechnya residents who decided to evict militants' families; detention in Spain of a resident of the Rostov Region on US suspicion of creating a computer virus; information about release under CER of Sergey Arakcheev, convicted for killing residents of Chechnya, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of January 15-22, 2017, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

On January 22, tenants of houses located near Tsvetnoy Boulevard in Sochi found that about 0.03 hectares of greenery was covered with concrete and a healthy half-century-old plane tree was felled. They treated the actions as "barbarism" and "crime".

During the week from January 16 to January 22, 2017, in the course of the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus, according to the available information, four persons perished; no wounded ones were reported. These are the results of the calculations run by the "Caucasian Knot" based on its own materials and information from other open sources.

Within six days, activists of fundraising, who reacted to the call of Circassian activists to help to pay for the higher school education of Ragad Gish, a refugee from Syria, collected 70,000 roubles. The outcomes of the campaign indicate the continuity of the Adyg custom of mutual help, said Olga Efendieva-Begret, a co-founder of the NGO "Ochag" (Hearth).

Violations at Polling Station No. 1573 in the village of Endirey were reported by Eduard Ataev, the coordinator of the "Golos" (Vote) movement in Dagestan, and Vladimir Sevrinovsky, a member of the election commission with an advisory vote from the "Yabloko" Party. However, an investigator from the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) refused to open a criminal case, the "Kommersant" writes.

At the session of the North-Caucasian District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don, which is dealing with the case of Abdusalam Ramazanov, a native of the Tsuntin District of Dagestan, accused of an attempt to join militants in Syria, Ramazanov's relatives and fellow villagers gave their evidence: they had not notice any his illegal activities.

The amendments made by the Cabinet of Ministers to the "Registration Rules of Grant Agreements" fail to eliminate legal restrictions on the activities of Azerbaijani NGOs, as well as obstacles in financing from independent sources. This was stated by members of the public association "Civil Society Platform" (CSP).

A flash mob is on in the Armenian segment of the Facebook in support of the detained blogger Alexander Lapshin, whom Belarus is going to extradite to Azerbaijan. The protesters state on their pages that they refuse to purchase Belarus-made goods.

Today, members of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF), supporters of communists, and activists of the public organization "Children of War" have laid flowers at the monument to Lenin in Kurortny Avenue in Sochi. The action participants drew attention to the social challenges that they face, and complained about their low pensions.

The two alleged militants, killed today in the village of Vperyod, Kizlyar District of Dagestan, last December took part in the attack on policemen, when two law enforcers were killed, the Russian National Antiterrorist Committee (NAC) has stated.

The advocate Elchin Sadygov has released a statement of Rakhim Veliev, an activist of the "Nida" movement, who is under administrative arrest and who has complained about beating up and abused by policemen.

According to pre-identification, one of those killed in the house storming in the village of Vperyod, Kizlyar District of Dagestan, was a local resident Rashid Asulbekov. The second casualty has been pre-identified as Ruslan Magomedrasulov, a native of the Khasavyurt District.

Today, at 9:15 a.m., the village of Vperyod of the Kizlyar District of Dagestan was put under the counterterrorist operation (CTO) regime. One of the houses in the village was surrounded by power agents who started a shootout with those in the house.

On January 17, Rashid Selderkhanov, who had been conditionally sentenced for inciting religiuos hatred, did not come home from the police station, where he was to check in, his relatives have reported.