News

Azerbaijan has completed the preliminary investigation into the case against journalist Khadija Ismayilova. The defence treats the charges as unfounded and intends to appeal to the court with a request to stop criminal proceedings and to release the arrested journalist.

Today, protesters against the increase of electricity tariffs staged a sit-in strike in Bagramyan Avenue in Yerevan. They demand from the Armenian President to sign a decree cancelling the decision of the Commission on Regulation of Public Services (CRPS) to increase electricity tariffs.

The activities of the Union of Writers of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR) have been suspended until September 17 this year. This decision was made by the head of the Department for the KBR of the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) because of violations of the legislation regulating the work of non-profit organizations (NPOs).

The defence intends to achieve acquittal of Elvin Abdullaev, a member of the youth committee of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), sentenced to six years in prison on charges of illegal drug dealing.

The Vernichenko family from Sochi has finally lost their house, which earlier slid into the pit intended for building the nearby residential complex "Kurortny".

Mourning rallies, laying flowers and lighting candles have been held tonight in the southern regions of Russia in honour of the Day of Memory and Grief.

Last night two members of the so-called "Khasavyurt" grouping were shot dead during a special operation, said a Dagestani law enforcement source. According to his version, the members of the illegal armed formation (IAF) were killed in the Khasavyurt District of Dagestan.

Works to eliminate the aftermath of severe flooding in Tbilisi; decision to raise electricity tariffs in Armenia, causing protests; European Games in Baku at the background of international criticism of the situation in Azerbaijan, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of June 15-21, 2015, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

The capital of Georgia has launched a full inventory of citizens' property damaged by the recent severe flooding. All the victims will be awarded the status of ecological migrants.

The advocate of Ramzan Belyalov, who is kept in the Pyatigorsk SIZO (pre-trial prison) named "Bely Lebed" (White Swan), has filed complaints to the Russia's General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) and the Chief Investigating Department (ChID) of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) because of the unwillingness of investigators to interrogate the witnesses, who can confirm the alibi of his client in relation to the militants' attack on the city of Budyonnovsk.

During the week from June 15 to June 21, 2015, at least three persons suffered from the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus; two of them were killed and one was seriously wounded. These are the results of the calculations run by the "Caucasian Knot" based on its own materials and information from other open sources.

Today in Khosta, local residents have blocked the construction of a high-rise building, which was launched by a private developer in the protected area. According to locals, the construction site has no passport and no markings. The action was attended by about 15 persons.

A lawsuit on defence of his honour and dignity and compensation of moral harm was lodged to the Leninsky District Court of Stavropol by the Kislovodsk Imam Kurman-Ali Baichorov, who demands to attract as respondents the STRC (State TV and Radio Company) "Stavropolye" and Mark Tolchinskiy, the head of the press service of the Chief Department of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) for the North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD).

Tbilisi has hosted a protest action under the motto "We Need No Zoo!" The organizers intend to demand from local authorities to close the zoo and open a refuge for savage animals instead.

On June 18, in the course of construction works, several dozens of cubic meters of soil slid into the pit, prepared for the construction of the residential complex "Kurortny". The collapsed soil was bearing the private house of the Vernichenko family. As of June 21, the house had entirely slipped into the pit.

Specialists from the Dagestani "Rospotrebnadzor" (Russian Federal Agency for Consumer Supervision) have established that the untreated sewage discharge into the Caspian Sea have caused the appearance of a cholera vibrio of the third pathogenicity group – a causative agent of acute intestinal diseases.

Protesters against the rise of electricity tariffs have marched along central streets of Yerevan.

The members of the toponymic commission under the Sochi Mayoralty have decided not to install this year a memory plaque of Boris Nemtsov. However, they recommended the initiators of the perpetuation to raise the same issue after a year will have passed after the assassination of the politician.

There is no threat of any epidemic in Tbilisi after the flooding; however, the volunteers and civil servants involved in clearing obstructions may het vaccinated against stupor if they wish to.

The Azerbaijani rights defender Emin Guseinov, who has received temporary asylum in Switzerland, has serious health problems, his relatives assert. According to his brother Mekhman Guseinov, during Emin's stay in the Swiss Embassy, his "old diseases got aggravated."