News

Mikhail Savva, Professor of the Kuban State University, sentenced conditionally for a fraud, was questioned by the police as a witness in the case of Elena Shablo, Director of the "Levados" Centre.

Today, the State Commission of Nagorno-Karabakh (NK) on war prisoners, hostages and missing persons has appealed to the mission of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Nagorno-Karabakh asking for help in establishing the whereabouts of the crew of the helicopter that was shot down by Azerbaijanis, and in the return of the pilots.

The murder of Tarkhan Batirashvili, a commander of a radical Islamic grouping of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), was announced today by the head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov.

Today, at about 12:00 a.m. Moscow time, the health condition of two hunger-strikers in Karaman got aggravated. The arriving ambulance doctors rendered the first aid to them.

Igor Gamula, the head coach of the "Rostov" FC, has been disqualified for five matches of the Russian Football Championship for racist remarks against players of his football team. This was announced by the press service of the Russian Football Union (RFU) on November 12.

In Dagestan, representatives of the authorities have not yet met participants of the protest hunger strike in Karaman. Meanwhile, on November 12, protesters were visited by representatives of the Prosecutor's Office, the police and the FSB, who show interest in identifying the protesters.

The investigating authorities have repeatedly refused to open a criminal case against an agent of the Russian FSB for the StavropolTerritory under the complaint filed by Kurman-Ali Baichorov, the Imam of Kislovodsk. According to the defender of the Imam, who is accused of drug trafficking, the FSB agent exceeded his power, used violence and falsified evidence.

On November 12, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Azerbaijan announced the airspace over the "occupied territories" closed for flights. Such decision was made after the incident with the Mi-24 helicopter shot down yesterday in Nagorno-Karabakh.

On November 12, the OSCE Observation Mission produced a weekly report on the situation at the border checkpoints "Gukovo" and "Donetsk" in the Rostov area of the Russian-Ukrainian border. OSCE observers record the increase in the number of border crossings in both directions by people in military uniform. The UN believes that the lack of effective border control prevents the establishment of peace in Donbas.

Six hunger-strikers from Makhachkala, Dagestan, who demanded resignation of Ramazan Abdulatipov, the head of the republic, have stopped their protest action for health reasons. Officials from Abdulatipov's administration stated that Dagestani authorities have started to implement the agreements earlier reached with the hunger-strikers.

Three persons perished today in the crash of the Mi-24 helicopter shot down today by the Azerbaijani military forces. Such incidents may expand the scale of the Nagorno-Karabakh crisis, said Lamberto Zannier, the OSCE Secretary General.

On November 12, the Supreme Court (SC) of Azerbaijan refused to satisfy the cassation complaint lodged by journalist Parviz Gashimli against the earlier rejection of his demand to hold a repeated partial judicial trial. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed about it by the lawyer Elchin Sadygov, who believes that without the above partial re-trial the consideration of the appeal complaint will be biased.

Today, in the Rostov Region, five residents of the city of Zverevo have declared an endless hunger strike demanding to return the suspended donations for housing and communal services.

The South Ossetian President has instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of South Ossetia to establish diplomatic relations with the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics (DPR and LPR, respectively).

In Rostov-on-Don, the house of Boris Batyj, an activist of the Rostov branch of the "December 5 Party", has been searched, and several hard disks were seized. This was reported by Sergey Davidis, a staff member of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" and a member of the standing committee of the "December 5 Party".

Members of the Lak National Council have called a provocation a hunger strike declared by residents of the villages of Tarki, Kyakhulai, and Alburikent, who demand to transfer Karaman land to their Jamaat. The Lak National Council has urged the authorities to solve as soon as possible the problems of immigrants, who, according to the members of the Lak National Council, may turn into an interethnic conflict.

In Dagestan, only 35 children from the settlement of Vremenny of the Untsukul District go to schools, and other 75 children have not started their studies, local residents report. Officials from the Education Department for the Untsukul District deny the information.

On November 10, the Krasnodar Regional Court considered an appeal filed by Darya Polyudova, an activist of the "Rot Front" against her arrest and upheld the lower court's decision to extend the arrest until late November. This was told to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by Viktor Chirikov, an activist of the Krasnodar branch of the All-Russian democratic movement "Solidarity".

Continuation of the hunger strike in Makhachkala and involvement of new protestors represent a destructive position and violate earlier agreements with the authorities. This was stated by Denga Khalidov, the Adviser to the Dagestani leader.

The police will supervise the Children's Centre "Zabota" (Care) in Makhachkala; however, today the institution operated in its normal mode, said Zarema Alieva, the head of the centre.