News

On March 23, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) announced the suspension of the activities of the management centre of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia. This decision will affect the religious communities throughout the country, stated Yaroslav Sivulsky, a representative of the centre of Jehovah's Witnesses.

Arthur Sargsyan, a supporter of the opposition, fell victim to ill-treatment. This opinion was voiced by Armenian rights defenders interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot". They believe that the responsibility for his death should be borne by the investigator, the supervisory prosecutor and the judge who ordered to arrest the activist.

On March 23, Katerina Kalustova, the magistrate judge of the judicial district No. 92, summoned Gennady Kuk, a 90-year veteran of World War II, and announced that the money in the amount of 43,891 roubles earlier debited from his account at Sberbank in favour of Limited Liability Company (LLC) "Sochivodokanal" will be returned to his account within a week.

At the trial in the case on plotting a terror act in Rostov-on-Don considered by the North-Caucasian District Military Court, Arthur Panov has announced that he is resuming his hunger strike interrupted on February 18. Meanwhile, the defendant has demanded to extradite him to Ukraine.

During the consideration of the complaint filed by Murtazali Gasanguseinov, the father of the killed shepherds, the prosecutor has announced that the verification confirmed the complainant's version about the lack of evidence proving the connections of the killed men with militants.

The decree on pardoning signed by the Presidential of Azerbaijan has not solved the problem of political prisoners. This opinion was voiced by members of human rights organizations and opposition parties interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot".

Today, the court has ruled that the Investigating Department for Dagestan of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) should eliminate the violations committed during the consideration of the complaint filed by the father of the Gasanguseinov brothers, shepherds killed by law enforcers.

In Derbent, during the celebration of Nowruz-Bayram, the authorities refused the principle of polyethnicity and did not focus on differences in the name of the holiday among the peoples celebrating it. This was reported by members of the autonomies.

In Volgograd, owners of trading stalls and pavilions gathered for a conference on the protection of their rights. However, the building rented in advance was closed and controlled by the police. Entrepreneurs protest against the fact that when a new scheme of non-stationary trade objects was adopted, their trading stalls and pavilions were excluded from it.

The investigative actions at the Dagestani Ministry of Education (MoE) are connected only with the case of a large-scale bribe in the administration of additional education, and they did not affect the work of the department, reports the MoE.

On May 10, fighters of the battalion of the military police sent from Ingushetia to Syria will return home. This has been reported today to Yunus-Bek Evkurov by Vladimir Ivanovsky, the head of the Chief Department of the Russian Military Police.

During the confrontations arranged on March 21 and 22, Magomed Aushev has identified two other policemen. According to the resident of the Ingush village of Ekazhevo, they tortured him. Earlier, Magomed Aushev identified one of the policemen and claimed that he used violence against him.

Officials of the Chechen Ministry of Construction paid their foreign contractors through the "laundromat scheme", a network of one-day "money laundering" companies. 22 billion US dollars were withdrawn from Russia through such companies. This was reported by the newspaper "Novaya Gazeta" with reference to the story of the construction of a brick factory in Grozny, investigated together with the Slovenian edition "Delo".

Today, the public prosecutor has filed a motion to extend for three months the period of detention in custody for the defendants in the case of the Boris Nemtsov's murder. The court has postponed the pronouncement of the decision until March 28.

In Makhachkala, a monument to killed journalists will be built near the renovated Press House. This was announced by Dagestani leader Ramazan Abdulatipov in Instagram.

In the case against Nikolai Nesterenko, Deputy Cossack Ataman of Anapa, the court has questioned staff members of the city administration and the judge who considered the claim filed by Nikolai Nesterenko against the Mayoralty. According to his advocate, the defendant himself is willing to abandon the land plot in question and pay damages to the Mayoralty.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has extended until April 1 the deadline for receiving objections from the defence to the response of the Russian authorities in the case of Mardiros Demerchyan, a Sochi builder, who claimed to be tortured.

A cassation complaint against the court verdicts on the case of Zhalaudi Geriev, a journalist of the "Caucasian Knot", has been sent to the Presidium of the Supreme Court (SC) of the Chechen Republic. The violations committed by the first-instance and appeal courts had affected the outcome of the case, says the statement of the SC.

The voting at the second round of parliamentary elections in Abkhazia, scheduled for March 26, will have low turnout, the Abkhaz journalists Anton Krivenyuk and Ibragim Chkadua believe. There is no mandatory turnout threshold in the second round; so, it will not affect the outcome of the elections, the chairman of the CEC of Abkhazia has noted.

In case of an increase of Anatoly Bibilov's chances to win, the incumbent Leonid Tibilov will try to disrupt or falsify the election of the president of South Ossetia, said the Russian and South-Ossetian political analysts and politicians, interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot".