News

A fire was the cause of the explosion at the filling station (known as AZS), located in Tumanyan Street, near the railway station in Kizlyar.

Today, at the first sermon pronounced by Imam Khamzat Chumakov at the Nasyr-Kort mosque there were much more believers than usual, Musa Barkinkhoev, the chairman of the Union of Young Writers of Ingushetia, who visited the sermon, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. According to his assessment, there were about seven thousand people at the mosque at the usual attendance of five thousand.

An action in Grozny, dated to the anniversary of annexation of the Crimea by Russia, was held today under reinforced security measures and, according to the Mayoralty, brought together ten thousand people. The interviewed participants said that they had been obliged to be present at this action.

Today, the Nalchik City Court has issued a conditional sentence to Elvira Khakhundokova, accused of aiding the militant leader Yuri Bitsuev. She was released in the courtroom, said Zaur Shomakhov, her advocate.

The extraordinary congress of Muslims of Ingushetia, which is scheduled for March 29, will consider the resignation of Mufti Isa Khamkhoev, said Ulan Evloev, Chairman of the Board of Clans under the republic's administration, adding that the congress of Muslim is convened by the Council of Alims of the Muftiate.

Representatives of the USA, the European Union (EU) and international organizations have positively treated the decree of President of Azerbaijan to pardon and release a group of political prisoners. At the same time, they deem it necessary to release all the remaining activists.

Ivan Shmalyuk, who stood against the demolition of cottages in the Dzerzhinsk District of Volgograd, complained to the police about his detention near the building of the regional administration and his beating.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has found a violation of the rights of Azerbaijani rights defender Rasul Jafarov. On March 17, the ECtHR pronounced the decision to recognize the arrest of the rights defender as illegal and obliged the government of Azerbaijan to pay him compensation in the amount exceeding 32,000 euros.

The Presidential Human Rights Council (HRC) has demanded to carry out a thorough investigation into the attack in Grozny on Igor Kalyapin, a member of the HRC, and to punish the guilty persons. The actions of the persons who attacked Igor Kalyapin contradict the mentality and customs of the Chechen people, locals claim.

The decree on pardoning issued by the President of Azerbaijan has not solved the problem of political prisoners in the country. Despite the release of a number of activists and journalists, 90 percent of political prisoners stay in prisons, rights defenders report.

In Derbent, a fire at the "airport" mosque occurred on March 17, at about 2 a.m. in the morning. No one was injured. The building of the Salafi mosque in Derbent is completely burned down, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told by believers of the mosque. According to them, fire-fighters ignored their requests to extinguish the fire.

Investigators had violated defendants' rights; and the first-instance court had failed to take into account the arguments of the defence, the convicts in Said Amirov's case said in their last plea at consideration of their appeal complaint. They called on the Supreme Court (SC) of Russia to make a verdict of acquittal.

The attack in Grozny on Igor Kalyapin is a continuation of the attack on rights defenders and journalists, committed on March 9 in Ingushetia, said Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of the Russian President.

The Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev has signed a decree to pardon 148 persons. The text of the document is posted on the website of the President of Azerbaijan.

Supplying gas to 1600 consumers in the Khasavyurt District of Dagestan stopped, because of an improvised explosive device (IED) found at the distribution manifold.

Almost 3500 Russian citizens left for Syria and Iraq to take part in the combat actions in the ranks of the terrorist organization "Islamic State" (IS), banned in Russia. This was reported by Vladimir Makarov, the deputy head of the Chief Department to Combat Extremism of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA).

In the Khasavyurt District of Dagestan, law enforcers detained three local residents, who were involved in the terrorist organization "Islamic State" (IS) and were plotting terror acts in Russia, reports the press centre of the National Antiterrorist Committee (NAC).

Today, the Baku Court of Appeal (BCA) has released Azerbaijani journalist Rauf Mirkadyrov from custody. The BCA has replaced the journalist's actual sentence to imprisonment with the suspended sentence with a probation period of 5 years.

In Dagestan, law enforcers beat a brother of Ramis Mirzakhanov, a deputy of the Tabasaran District Assembly, who was killed in 2014. This was reported by Ruslan Mirzakhanov himself. He associates the attack on him with his efforts to bring to responsibility the persons guilty of his brother's death.

The attempt on Imam Khamzat Chumakov may involve radical Salafis. This opinion was expressed by Alexei Malashenko, a member of the Scientific Council of the Moscow Carnegie Centre. Shortly before the attempt, Imam Chumakov "lost" the protection of the Chechen authorities, notes journalist Orkhan Djemal.