News

This morning, residents of the central part of Makhachkala, have blocked Yaragskiy Street in protest against the electricity outage in their homes that lasts for several days already. The action lasted for about 2 hours.

Opinions of Russians about the situation in Northern Caucasus and ways of further development of the region remain unchanged. According to the sociology poll conducted in July by the "Levada Centre", the number of optimists is by 12% higher that the number of pessimists. In the opinion of sociologists, the lack of information about the situation in the region is affecting Russians' viewpoints.

The human rights organization "Committee against Torture" (CaT), which was put earlier into the registry of foreign agents, has sent a notification about self-liquidation to the Department for the Nizhny Novgorod Region of the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ).

According to law enforcers, four out of those killed on August 3 in a special operation in Nalchik, have joined militants this year. One of them is the main suspect of killing the Police Colonel Takhir Guziev.

Today, the Tsumadin District of Dagestan has been put under the legal regime of the counterterrorist operation (CTO). Power agents are searching for a grouping of militants.

Within the last two weeks, Nalchik saw two special operations that resulted in deaths of 12 people, regarded as militants by law enforcers. Political analysts predict more special operations and draw attention to the transfer of armed clashes into the territory of cities.

On August 3, at the session of the court, which considers, in Rostov-on-Don, the case of the Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov, accused of preparing a terror act in the Crimea, six witnesses were questioned, including three "secret" ones. One of the latter – a woman – said that Sentsov had expressed the idea to blow up the monument to Lenin.

Svetlana Sviderskaya, a resident of Rostov-on-Don, intends to challenge the ruling of the Oktiabrskiy District Court of the city, which has fined her today by 20,000 roubles for participating in a picket, not coordinated with the authorities.

Gennady Afanasiev, the key witness in Sentsov's case, was tortured during the investigation, said his advocate Alexander Popkov after visiting his client at the SIZO (pre-trial prison).

Marat Balkarov, a resident of the village of Dugulubgey of Kabardino-Balkaria, charged with illegal possession of ammunition, has lodged his complaints to the Prosecutor's Office and the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" stating about ill-treatment and his refusal from his earlier evidence given to power agents.

The number of residents of Armenia ready to take part in protest actions in support of retired colonel Volodya Avetisyan has reached 200. As reported by Gagik Sarukhanyan, the organizer of the picket in support of Avetisyan in Yerevan, it is not excluded that the action will continue in the regions of the country.

In the area of the administrative Chechen-Ingush border, where a major special operation was conducted, a search for militants continues. Locals report movements of large forces of power agents and that military helicopters take part in the special operation.

The militants killed today in a special operation in Nalchik were members of the "central sector" and involved in a number of crimes, including the assault on July 31 on Police Colonel Takhir Guziev, law enforcers report. A woman is among the casualties.

A group of six militants has been liquidated in a counterterrorist operation (CTO) conducted in Nalchik, said a law enforcement source from the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR).

In the Baku Court of Grave Crimes, at a session, where the case of rights defender Leyla Yunus and her husband is considered, the health condition of the latter – Arif Yunus – has sharply worsened; they had to call an ambulance.

Detention of heads of two district of Dagestan and investigators' statement about suspicions against Sagid Murtazaliev, head of republic's branch of RPF; special operations in Ingushetia, which resulted in killing eight persons; end of judicial inquiry into Said Amirov's case, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of July 27-August 2, 2015, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

During the week from July 27 to August 2, 2015, the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus claimed at least nine human lives. These are the results of calculations run by the "Caucasian Knot" based on its own materials and information from other open sources.

An event "Year of Inaction" was held in Nalchik in memory of the slain journalist Timur Kuashev bringing together journalists and public figures from the republics of Northern Caucasus and Moscow.

The participants of the rally, organized in Uryupinsk, state violations of their constitutional rights and inaction of the authorities in the context of the planned mining of nickel in the area of the Khopyor River.

The arrest of the head of the Kizlyar District, the detention of the head of the Buynaksk District and searches of houses of Sagid Murtazaliev and Khizri Shikhsaidov have signs of political pressure and connected with the forthcoming election of the Mayor of Makhachkala, said the experts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.