News

A Sunday School for school-age children with free lessons of the Lezgin language was opened in Moscow under the Federal Lezgin National-Cultural Autonomy (FLNCA). Adults can visit lessons on a paid basis.

Today, the Moscow City Court (MCC) has dismissed the complaint lodged by the ex-Mayor of Makhachkala Said Amirov and his nephew Yusup Djaparov, convicted earlier for preparing a terror act, against the decision to extend their arrest.

As a part of the procedural "provisional measures", the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has urgently requested the Azerbaijani government to provide answers to questions regarding the health state of the rights defender Intigam Aliev.

Today, the Moscow City Court has refused to grant the appeal to postpone the punishment for ex-militiaman Dmitry Pavlyuchenkov, who was sentenced for involvement in the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, an observer of the newspaper "Novaya Gazeta". Advocates of Dmitry Pavlyuchenkov have filed a motion to postpone the punishment, since Dmitry Pavlyuchenkov was diagnosed with a number of diseases.

Today, the centre of Astrakhan has hosted a series of solo pickets. The protest actions were timed to the today's meeting of the Regional Duma. Supporters of Oleg Shein, a deputy of the Regional Duma, who came to the pickets, demanded to preserve the direct election of the City Mayor.

A court in Grozny has sentenced Said Mazhaev, a resident of the Staropromyslovskiy District of the Chechen capital, accused of involvement in the warfare in Syria as a militant, to two years of imprisonment. Relatives and friends of Said Mazhaev treat the verdict as overly severe.

The Khosta District Court of Sochi has sentenced Olga Martynyuk, a teacher of world literature, to one year of imprisonment in a penal settlement-colony for beating a court marshal. Olga Martynyuk and her advocate do not agree with the sentence, and they intend to file a complaint against the verdict within 10 days.

In Sochi, the initiative group of residents of the residential district of KSM gave up its claim to revoke the city administration's permission for construction of a shopping centre on the river bank. The activists have explained their decision by distrust of the Court.

On November 10, in Dagestani territory of Karaman, five members of Tarki Jamaat went on a hunger strike demanding to allocate land plots for villagers of Tarki, Kyakhulai, and Alburikent. The hunger strike involves three men and two women.

Today, policemen came to the Makhachkala children's education centre "Zabota" (Care), the former Children's Club "Amanat", and demanded to close the institution, the employees of the centre report.

Today, Fikile Mbalula, the Sports Minister of the Republic of South Africa (RSA), and Danny Jordan, the head of the RSA's Football Association, have asked the FIFA to react to the statements of the head coach of the FC "Rostov" Igor Gamula, which he made on October 31 after defeating the "Urals" in the Russian Football Premier League.

The General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) of Georgia has re-qualified the charges against the former President Mikhail Saakashvili in the case of beating Valery Gelashvili from the article of abuse of power to an article of inflicting grievous bodily harm. The same charge has been presented to Saakashvili's ally Vano Merabishvili.

The Russian Society "Memorial" has appealed to the Supreme Court (SC) asking to reschedule the consideration of the claim of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) on liquidation of the Society from November 13 to a later day, Arseniy Roginskiy, the head of the Society, said today. On November 20, at the conference of the "Memorial", rights defenders intend to discuss and eliminate the MoJ's claims.

Six Makhachkala hunger-strikers, who demand resignation of Ramazan Abdulatipov, the head of Dagestan, have decided to continue the action, stating that they will continue it until they see the documents and draft decisions to meet their demands.

This morning, at the Baku airport, blogger Mekhman Guseinov, a staff member of the Azerbaijani Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS), was detained while he attempted to fly out of the country. He was brought to the police station on suspicion of forging a passport.

During the week of November 3-9, 2014, at least seven persons fell victim to the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus. Of them, two persons were killed, and five others were wounded. These are the results of calculations made by the "Caucasian Knot" based on its own materials and information from other open sources.

Split in the ruling coalition of Georgia after resignation of Defence Minister Irakli Alasaniya; festivities in Russia on National Unity Day; open festival "Kunaki" of documentaries and author's TV programmes of Northern Caucasus in Sukhumi, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of November 3-9, 2014, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

The Elista City Court has found Andrei Ovchinnikov, a resident of the Volgograd Region, guilty of inciting ethnic enmity and hatred by means of the Internet and sentenced him to 200 hours of compulsory labour.

In Dagestan, in the course of the counterterrorist operation (CTO) carried out in the village of Djuli of the Tabasaran District, law enforcers killed a suspected militant and detained two others.

In Dagestan, residents of the village of Vremenny of the Untsukul District have reported on the long-term truce in the village. According to the villagers, there are no reasons to prolong the counterterrorism operation (CTO) regime. Local law enforcers have confirmed the information about the absence of incidents in the CTO zone.