News

The advocates of Zhalaudi Geriev, a "Caucasian Knot" journalist, sentenced in Chechnya to three years in prison, have drafted a cassation complaint against the decision of the Supreme Court (SC) of the Chechen Republic. Meanwhile, Geriev has been temporarily transferred to the SIZO (pre-trial prison) in Chernokozovo.

Tonight in Moscow a march was held to commemorate the slain lawyer Stanislav Markelov and the journalist of the "Novaya Gazeta" Anastasia Baburova.

Following their visit to Azerbaijan, the co-rapporteurs of the Monitoring Committee of the PACE (Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe) have urged the Azerbaijani authorities to reform the country’s judicial system, the NGO legislation, and to free all political prisoners.

The casualty of the shootout that broke on January 17 in Khasavyurt turned to be the 38-year-old Ruslan Magomedov, said the spokesman of the investigating authority.

The head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, has announced the detention of two Chechen natives, who, imitating his voice, tried to extort money from a businessman from Surgut into the Akhmat Kadyrov’s Fund. The video posted by Kadyrov shows the detainees’ confession. The police of the KhMAO (Khanty-Mansi Autonomous District, where Surgut is located) said they did not take part in the detention.

On January 18, lawyers of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" and the European Human Rights Advocacy Centre (EHRAC) applied to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on the fact of a special operation carried out in a Dagestani village of Vremenny (a part of the village of Gimry) in 2014. According to the lawyers of the HRC "Memorial", violations were committed during the above special operation.

Bodies of the militants killed in the Chechen capital on December 17-18, 2016 have not been finally given out to their family members, who learned that their killed relatives were buried in unmarked graves near Grozny. Meanwhile, the law enforcement agencies do not comment on the information.

At the request of Interpol and the FBI, the law enforcement authorities have detained programmer Stanislav Lisov, who arrived to Spain from the Rostov Region on vacation.

At a press conference, Armenian human rights defender has claimed political nature of the sentence for Gevorg Safaryan, a member of the "Constituent Parliament".

Armenian Ombudsman Arman Tatoyan and the Public Council of Armenia have called on the Belarusian authorities to prevent extradition of blogger Alexander Lapshin to the Azerbaijani authorities.

On January 18, the Baku Court of Grave Crimes continued listening to final speeches of the defendants in the "Nardaran case". All of them pleaded not guilty and associated their prosecution with fight against injustice and lawlessness. The defendants have also reminded the Court of the use of torture against them after their detention. This was reported by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent who attended the court hearing.

Today, family members of Rakhmet Kasaev, a fifth-year student of the Stavropol Medical Academy, have claimed his kidnapping, however later the student has been found among the detainees kept at a local police station.

This evening, law enforcers have cancelled the counterterrorist operation (CTO) legal regime, which was earlier introduced within a single section of the Buynaksk and Karabudakhkent Districts of Dagestan.

The shelling from the Azerbaijani side has resulted in the death of soldier Andranik Musikyan. This was reported by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of Nagorno-Karabakh.

On January 17, the Sumgait Court of Appeal of Azerbaijan held a preliminary hearing on the appeal against the sentence of Ikram Ragimov, editor-in-chief of the website "realliq.info", accused of defamation. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told about it by Elchin Sadygov, an advocate of Ikram Ragimov.

The return of Gagik Tsarukyan to the political activities will complicate the situation of the Armenian opposition at the upcoming parliamentary elections in April, since the coalition created by him would "steal" voices of the opposition electorate. This opinion was voiced by Armenian political analysts questioned by the "Caucasian Knot".

On January 17, at a press conference on the results of 2016, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is not exclusively an internal affair of Azerbaijan. The Russian Foreign Minister has made it clear that the only alternative to settle the Karabakh conflict is to solve it in a peaceful way. This opinion was voiced by Armenian experts, questioned by the "Caucasian Knot".

On January 17, Vladislav Ryazantsev, a correspondent of the "Caucasian Knot", who was attacked in Rostov-on-Don, received the decision on appointment of forensic medical examination to be carried out without his involvement.

The Court of Appeal has closed the consideration of an appeal filed against the arrests of four internally displaced persons (IDPs) from the Jabrail District of Azerbaijan, who were arrested for involvement in a protest action against power cuts-off in villages for IDPs. An advocate of the arrested people announced his intention to seek for review of the Court's decision.

When commenting on the first criminal case opened under Article 205.6 of the Russian Criminal Code, adopted in the framework of the "Irina Yarovaya's package of laws", lawyers have noted that the practice of criminal prosecution for failure to inform the police of a crime sharpens the contradictions between the law and the norms of legal culture and the specifics of tribal relations accepted among residents of the Caucasus.