News

Aslan Cherkesov, a native of Nalchik, convicted for murdering a football fan Yegor Sviridov, is tortured in jail, his mother told rights defenders.

The decision to hold a constitutional referendum in the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) contradicts to the position of the international community, which recognizes this territory as a part of Azerbaijan; therefore, the outcomes of the referendum have no legal force, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) has announced today.

Supporters of Arthur Sargsyan, accused of helping the "Sasna Tsrer" grouping, have treated his prosecution as unjustified. They managed to convey a letter demanding the release Sargsyan to the Public Prosecutor General.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has started its communication with the Azerbaijani government on two sets of cases involving complaints about violations of the freedom of assembly and refusal to register NGOs. The ECtHR offers the authorities to answer the asked questions within three months.

Arthur Sargsyan, accused of helping members of the "Sasna Tsrer" detachment, is unable to get out of his bed, but intends to continue his hunger strike in protest against his arrest, said the advocate Tigran Egoryan.

Today, the North-Caucasian District Military Court has begun considering the case on the preparation of a terror act in central Rostov-on-Don. The defendants – Maxim Smyshlyaev, a resident of Rostov-on-Don, and Arthur Panov, a citizen of Ukraine, refused to plead guilty. Besides, Panov put forward a petition demanding to recognize him a prisoner of war.

The Moscow District Military Court has pronounced the verdict of guilty in the case against Aslan Baisultanov, a native of Chechnya, and two members of his grouping, charged of plotting an explosion in Moscow. They were sentenced to 3-14 years of imprisonment.

The Prosecutor's Office of Chechnya has announced launching the investigation into the case of incitement to hatred or enmity against blogger Ilya Davydov who shot a humorous video about the Koran. The blogger himself claimed having no opportunity to carry out broadcasts on the Internet.

On February 13, on Elbrus, the flame of the 3rd Winter Military World Games was lit through parabolic mirrors by Abdul-Halim Olmezov, President of the Federation of Mountaineering, Rock-Climbing and Sport Tourism of Kabardino-Balkaria, and Aniuar Geduev, a CSKA athlete, a silver medallist in freestyle wrestling of the 2016 Olympic Games, reports the "TASS" with reference to a source from the press centre of the Winter Military World Games.

In Rostov-on-Don, the North-Caucasian District Military Court has launched a re-trial in the case against Ruslan Zeitullaev, who is charged of creating in Crimea of a regional unit of the organization "Hizb ut-Tahrir", banned in Russia.

Said Saipudinov, a resident of the neighbourhood Shamkhal of Makhachkala, was kidnapped by armed men in masks, his relatives told the "Caucasian Knot".

More than 200 Azerbaijani builders have been released from the Derbent police after their documents had been checked and the protocols on administrative violations were drawn up against them. This was reported by an official of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) for Dagestan.

Residents of Ingushetia should, as members of a military police battalion, ensure in Syria the safety of the Russian air force grouping, said Yunus-Bek Evkurov.

The mass arrest of Azerbaijanis in Derbent has no political pretext and has to do with the local conflict around the programme "Dilapidated Housing", Zardusht Alizade and Mekhman Aliev, the Azerbaijani political analysts, believe.

The Russia’s Ministry of Justice (MoJ) demands to fine the Krasnodar public organization "Southern Human Rights Centre" (SHRC) for its failure to get registered in the registry of “foreign agents”. The MoJ calls its activities political; however, fails to provide evidence that the Centre is funded from abroad, said Semyon Simonov, the Chairman of the Centre.

205 Azerbaijani citizens were detained during a raid of the Federal Migration Service (FMS) in Derbent and are kept for four days in the gym of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Dagestan.

The administration of the Yerevan prison hospital did not allow MPs to visit the ward of Arthur Sargsyan, who declared hunger strike and who was accused of supporting members of the group "Sasna Tsrer" (Daredevils of Sassoun). MP Edmond Marukyan called those actions illegal.

Five months passed since the murder of Gasanguseinov brothers in the Dagestani village of Goor-Khindakh. However, the investigation into the case of the murder has not moved forward. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), the young men were killed in a special operation, which was jointly carried out by the police and FSB agents. Meanwhile, the FSB has not confirmed the information. This was reported by the article "Our children were killed by mistake" prepared by Irina Gordienko and published today on the website of the newspaper "Novaya Gazeta".

A resident of Makhachkala has been brought to hospital with a knife wound to his chest area, got from another teenager of his age. According to the preliminary information, the victim was stabbed during the game "Blue Whale", reports a source from the law enforcement bodies of Dagestan.

Extradition of Russian blogger Lapshin from Belarus to Azerbaijan; refusal to institute proceedings against Ingush human rights activist Mutsolgov; reshuffle in the Dagestani government and cancellation of the decision on the construction of the museum in the park of Makhachkala - see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of February 6-12, 2017, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".