News

The Ganja Court for Grave Crimes has sentenced Karabakh soldier Arsen Bagdasaryan to 15 years of imprisonment on charges of an attempted murder, an attempted act of sabotage, and involvement in a criminal organization.

The official mission of observers of the International expert Centre for Electoral Systems (ICES) in Stepanakert has recognized the elections in the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) to be in line with the international standards of electoral law and democratic act of free expression of the will of citizens.

The authorities of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) put pressure on voters and actively used their administrative resources during the elections, said the leaders of the oppositional parties "National Revival" and "Movement-88".

At the court session in Azerbaijan, Arsen Bagdasaryan, a soldier of the Nagorno-Karabakh, has delivered his final speech and asked for the minimum penalty.

The Georgian Parliament has approved a number of bills aimed to reform, starting July 1, the country's criminal-correction system. The package of documents has been sent to the president for signing.

The parliamentary elections in Nagorno-Karabakh are not legitimate. This was announced by the statements made by the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Georgia and Ukraine.

According to the preliminary information, at the parliamentary elections in Nagorno-Karabakh, the majority of votes 47.35% have been won by the parliamentary "Free Homeland" Party.

During the week from April 27 to May 3, 2015, the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus claimed at least two human lives; and no data about wounded persons was reported. These are the results of the calculations run by the "Caucasian Knot" based on its own materials and information from other open sources.

May Day rallies and demonstrations in the southern regions of Russia and the countries of South Caucasus; voting at the elections to the Parliament of Nagorno-Karabakh; resignations of two Ministers in Georgiathat was followed by consideration of the Government's composition in the Parliament; fire at a military training ground in the Rostov Region; amnesty in South Ossetia; start of consideration of the substantive case against Said Amirov in court, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of April 27-May 3, 2015, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

According to the leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh, the statements made by the US and EU on their refusal to recognize the elections do not affect the democratic nature of the expression of the people's will.

The Ministry of Education (MoE) of Chechnya has warned that this year's Unified State Examination (USE) will be taken by school graduates under video control and online broadcasts from classes. The continuous toughening of control at the time of the USE is worsening the outcomes, by causing panic among graduates and disturbing their concentration, said parents of Chechen schoolchildren.

The capital of Karachay-Cherkessia hosted a rally-concert dedicated to the 58th anniversary of the return of the Karachay people from exile.

The authorities of Tinatin Khidasheli, the Acting Minister of Defence, and Gigla Agulashvili, the Acting Minister of the Environment and Natural Resources, are illegitimate, as they remain members of parliament, Georgian political analysts believe.

The video clip filmed in Makhachkala by a car registering device and placed on the YouTube, showing a guard beating out of his jeep that accompanied the motorcade with a truncheon the side mirrors of surrounding cars, has caused a great resonance on the Internet.

The spokesman of the US State Department has announced that the United States does not intend to recognise the results of the parliamentary elections held in Nagorno-Karabakh on May 3.

A 17-year-old high school girl from the village of Djokola in the Pankisi Gorge went to war in Syria. According to one of the teachers, the 17-year-old girl has not been attending classes for several days, and soon after that she left the territory of Georgia.

Tarkhan Batirashvili, also known as Umar al-Shishani, a field commander of the "Islamic State", which was declared a terrorist organization, was killed in Iraq. This has been reported today by the news agency "Alforat".

Yazidis of Armenia have appealed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with a request to "raise at the international level the issue of destruction of Yazidis in northern Iraq near Telafar." This was told to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by Gamlet Smoyan, the leader of the public organization "National Union of Sinjar Yazidis".

In Kizilyurt, a resident of Dagestan, who was on the federal wanted list, blew himself up while the police tried to detain him. This was reported by the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) for Dagestan.

On May 1, Grozny held a demonstration, which, according to the Council of Trade Unions of Chechnya, was attended by about 100,000 people. Residents of Chechnya claimed being forced to take part in the May Day demonstrations.