News

At the trial of Nemtsov's murder, a witness, who was performing, together with the defendant Shagid Gubashev, orders for transporting bulk mixes, found it difficult to confirm or refute the details of telephone calls indicating Gubashev's presence in a settlement near Moscow at the same time with Boris Nemtsov.

The Prosecutor's Office has asked the human rights organization "Legal Initiative" to provide the research materials on victims of female genital cutting (circumcision) in Dagestan, including personal data of victims of this surgery.

Without a court's request, the investigating bodies have sent documents to the Supreme Court (SC) of Chechnya, which were added to case files against Zhalaudi Geriev, a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, convicted on charges of illegal drug possession, said his advocate. The defence demands to check the legality of such actions of the above bodies.

At the trial of Mardiros Demerchyan, a builder of Olympic facilities in Sochi, Nikolai Krasko, who figures in the case as a suffered party, has stated that he had nothing to do with the establishment of the company, which was building Olympic facilities; he does not know Demerchyan, accused of stealing a cable from the Olympic construction site; and does not regard himself as a suffered party in the case.

At the trial of the case related to an attempt to create a Caliphate in the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR), four defence witnesses have stated that on the day of the attempt on Police Colonel Arthur Tembotov in December 2013, the defendants Oleg Miskhozhev and Akhmed Balkarov worked in another district of Nalchik.

A native of Chechnya, detained by believers of the mosque of Ali-Yurt, has confessed to his involvement in the planned attempt on Ingush preacher Isa Tsechoev, the imam of the mosque. This was reported by a supporter of the religious figure.

Against the backdrop of the indifference of federal and local authorities, citizens of Russia have a request for a "strong hand" and the methods of Ramzan Kadyrov in addressing problems. This opinion was voiced by Orientalist Alexei Malashenko, journalist Orkhan Djemal, and human rights defender Svetlana Gannushkina.

The court hearing on the lawsuit filed by Arsine Khandjyan, a Canadian actress, who accused the Armenian police of her unlawful detention during the riots in Yerevan, was postponed because of the absence of a representative of the defendant. The judge forbade journalists to shoot video of court hearings during the whole trial. This was reported by an advocate of Arsine Khandjyan.

The Baku Court of Appeal (CoA) has rejected the motion put forward by the defence of Giyas Ibragimov, which demanded a partial re-investigation of his case, and appointed a consideration of the appeal on the merits on December 26. An advocate of Ibragimov has treated the refusal as unwillingness of the court to conduct a fair consideration.

The efficiency of ruling has dropped in the Volgograd Region, said the residents of Volgograd, interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot". According to their story, the Governor failed to establish a dialogue with the inhabitants of the region.

The Dagestani journalist Magomed Magomedov believes that behind his prosecution there is a group of policemen, who wanted to take revenge on him for his human rights activities and the scandal with drunken law enforcers in the mosque.

The farmers' demands are ignored by Russia's leadership, said agrarians of the Krasnodar (Kuban) and Stavropol Territories, who announced a new "tractor march" to Moscow. The farmers, who arrived in Moscow, were promised an appointment with the leadership of the Council of Federation and the President's Administration, but over three days it did not take place.

Chaotic high-rise build-up has covered most of Makhachkala, seismologists assert. Violations in construction of high-rise buildings may lead to destruction thereof in case of a strong earthquake, residents of Makhachkala are afraid.

At the Baku Court of Grave Crimes, at the trial of theologian Elshan Mustafaoglu, accused of treason, his advocate has asked, in his closing speech, to acquit his client.

Twelve servicemen from the unit of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) stationed at the Khankala military base near Grozny, were dismissed from service for their refusal to go to Syria, said the sources, adding that all the fired militaries are local residents.

Today, at the Supreme Court (SC) of Chechnya, the presiding judge has restricted the video recording, having treated the trial, which considers the complaint against the verdict to Zhalaudi Geriev, a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, "a one-man's theatre".

In the post-war years, Chechnya has achieved greater independence than the self-proclaimed Chechen Republic of Ichkeria had wanted, the journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza believes. Djohar Dudaev, the President of Ichkeria could not even dream of such a level of federal subsidies, which now Chechnya receives, the rights defender Yan Rachinsky has noted.

After visiting two boxing gyms in Nalchik, where athletes had their training sessions in extreme unsanitary conditions in unfit premises were training, Yuri Kokov, the head of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR), has ordered to conduct a comprehensive inspection of children's sports institutions, said to the press service of the head of the republic.

When executing decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), Russian authorities are just paying compensations, while those responsible for atrocious crimes remain unpunished. This was stated by activists of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" in their comments on the resolution of the Committee of Ministers (CoM) of the Council of Europe (CE) on the ineffective investigation into the cases of extrajudicial executions and torture in Chechnya.

The Soviet District Court of Makhachkala has granted the investigators' petition to extend the house arrest of Magomed Magomedov, a journalist of the newspaper "Novoye Delo" and the former official spokesman of the mosque located in General Omarov Street. The house arrest was extended until January 12, 2017.