News

Alexander Dolzhenko, a former manager of the “Dalnaya Step” Company, who was sentenced on April 6 to two years in colony and hospitalized after sentencing, has been placed today into a SIZO (pre-trial prison) cell. Prison doctors found no reason for hospitalizing him into the SIZO medical unit, said his wife Irina.

The Russia’s Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is trying to attract the Administrative Centre of Jehovah's Witnesses in its local communities in Russia to responsibility for the sanctions imposed by the courts not on them. Their defence has stated it at the Russian Supreme Court (SC) and insisted that accusations of extremism remain unproved and the evidence was planted.

The complaint, sent to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in connection with the verdict passed to Igor Stenin, the leader of the movement "Russians of Astrakhan", has been registered by the Court.

The advocate and the wife of Alexander Dolzhenko, the former arbitration manager of the “Dalnaya Step” Company, have condemned the guilty verdict passed by the Elista City Court (ECC) and stated Alexander’s innocence. The defence has appealed against the verdict, since it believes that Dolzhenko's rights to defence had been violated at the trial.

Investigators have added to Aram Manukyan, accused in the case of capturing the building of the police patrol-and-post service (PPS) regiment in Yerevan, a charge under another article of the Armenian Criminal Code.

After the liquidation of the Administrative Centre of Jehovah's Witnesses, the believers may get under criminal cases for violating the anti-extremist legislation, the spokeswoman of the Russia’s Ministry of Justice (MoJ) told the Supreme Court (SC) on April 6.

It is unlikely that political forces in Armenia will organize protests against the outcomes of parliamentary elections, as they will not be able to ensure the mass character thereof; and it will quickly bring the protest movement to nothing, local political analysts believe.

More than 20 people from Chechnya have appealed for help in connection with persecutions for their non-traditional sexual orientation; five of them have already left the republic, the "Russian LGBT-network" has reported.

Today, over 200 passenger cars took part in the motor rally in support of the truckers, who are on a strike against the "Platon" system, held near the village of Manas. The participants of the motor rally and truckers complained about provocations and pressure of power agents.

Today, law enforcers of Rostov-on-Don have made at least five visits in response to reports about suspicion objects. No explosive devices were found, said the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF).

Today, the strike of truckers of the Volgograd Region, who take part in the All-Russian action against the "Platon" system, was visited by Andrei Bazhutin, the leader of the Association of Russian Carriers (ARC). According to Mr Bazhutin and truckers, the authorities of the region are trying to establish a dialogue with them; while the protesters hope to convey their position to the Russian State Duma.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has no information about the offences committed under the influence of the literature of Jehovah's Witnesses, the spokesperson of the MoJ told the court. According to his story, the claimants also have no data about the number of religious associations of Jehovah's Witnesses.

Three Astrakhan fighters of the Russian “Natsgvardia” (National Guard of Russia), wounded in a shootout in Astrakhan, undergo preparations to be sent to a hospital in Moscow. Two of them stay at a resuscitation ward in a grave condition. This was reported by an official of the Department of the National Guard in the Astrakhan Region.

Five truck drivers were released from a police station after the protest action held in the vicinity of the Dagestani village of Tukhchar. Six other protestors are still being kept at the police station. This was reported by a father of one of the detainees.

In 2016, Northern Caucasus faced the noticeable intensification of armed clashes, and effectiveness of militant activities a number of losses of law enforcers in per every killed militant increased more than two times in comparison with 2015. The above trend persisted in early 2017, primarily because of the recent aggravation of the situation in Chechnya.

Today, in Russia, cinemas have shown the American film "Aftermath" based on the story of Vitaly Kaloev, a native of North Ossetia, who in 2002 lost his wife and children in a plane crash over Lake Constance. Vitaly Kaloev was sentenced for killing an air traffic controller whom he treated as a person guilty of the tragedy.

Candidates nominated by the Kabardino-Balkarian Human Rights Centre (HRC) did not join the new composition of the Public Oversight Commission (POC). Meanwhile, the Commission includes former policemen and staff members of the Department of federal Penitentiary Service (known as FSIN). This was reported by members of the human rights centre.

Investigators believe that the attackers on power agents were also involved in shelling policemen on April 4.

In the case of Mardiros Demerchyan, who complained about torture at a police station, a protocol on administrative violation drawn up on June 12, 2013 disappeared. The court refused the defence's proposal to examine the photocopies of the protocol.

At the request of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), the courts' decisions to recognize the literature of Jehovah's Witnesses as extremist were attached to the materials of the case against the Administrative Centre of the Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia. According to an advocate, almost all 17 motions filed by the defence were dismissed by the court.