News

The Armenian National Congress (ANC), which has initiated collection of signatures under the appeal to the Constitutional Court (CC) of Armenia challenging the outcomes of the referendum, managed to collect only 19 instead of required 27 MPs' signatures. However, the oppositionists announced a new justification for going to the CC.

The circumstances of deaths of some soldiers that figure in the case of Nikolai Karpyuk and Stanislav Klykh are counter reality, said the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial".

Baku held a preparatory court session on the case of Mamed Ibragim, an activist of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA). His defence has petitioned on termination of the criminal case and on changing his freedom restriction measure.

The father of one of the figurants in the case of raping a minor, who is participating in a hunger strike in Makhachkala, has been hospitalized today to the central hospital because of heart problems.

Relatives of Nukhudin Zubairov, Shamil Gadjiev and Magomed Khairulaev, residents of the Kizilyurt District, have refuted the data of power agents that the above trio had been militants' helpers. Relatives demand to have their bodies for burial.

In the territory of the 102nd Russian military base in Armenia first session of the court that considers the murder in Gyumri of seven members of Avetisyan family took place.

In Chechnya, at the request of the prosecutor's office, investigating authorities have opened a criminal case against two local residents, suspected of their intention to go to Syria and join militants.

Today, the last five heavy-duty trucks, whose drivers kept protesting against the "Platon" system in Kashira Highway, have left the park and headed to Volgograd, said Alexei Ulyanov, the coordinator of the action.

A team of experts from the Moscow Helsinki Group (MHG) and the "Sova" Information-Analytical Centre has written a report "Life without rights. Status of Ahiska Turks Cypriots in Southern Russia in 2015". Most of the problems with accommodation of Meskhetian (Ahiska) Turks in Southern Russia are caused by absence of their Russian citizenship, the authors assert.

Drivers of heavy-duty trucks are ready to go to work, but they will not stop speaking out against the "Platon" system, said Alexander Kotov, the head of the union of professional drivers.

In Makhachkala, the leaders of the Juma Mosque, located in Hungarian Fighters Street, which is considered a Salafi mosque, called on Muslims to beware of travelling to the "Islamic State" (IS).

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has upheld the complaint of 14 applicants from Azerbaijan about violation of their rights during the 2010 parliamentary elections and decided that the applicants should receive compensations from the Azerbaijani authorities in the amount of 135,000 euros.

Kabardino-Balkaria has opened a criminal case against Inna Blenaova, a resident of Nalchik, on suspicion of collaborating with Robert Zankishiev, the leader of the local branch of the "Islamic State" (IS), a terrorist organization banned in Russia, who was killed in the course of a special operation conducted on November 10.

Nadezhda Savchenko came to a court session in Donetsk wearing a T-shirt with an appeal to Vladimir Putin, asking for information about the fates of Ukrainians detained in Russia. Putin did not rule out an exchange of prisoners under the principle "all for all".

The fight against the "Platon" system will continue, although Putin's proposal to abolish the vehicle tax and introduce seasonal patents looks interesting, Volgograd truckers who stay near Moscow believe. According to their story, on December 18, they plan to go home.

Today, the Lefortovo Court of Moscow has extended by three months the detention of Alexandra Ivanova (Varvara Karaulova), arrested on the case of attempting to join the "Islamic State" (IS), the terrorist organization prohibited in Russia.

In the Karachay-Cherkessian Republic (KChR), on the initiative of several non-governmental organizations, the Union of NGOs and active citizens has been created. The Union is positioning itself as an independent organization.

Yesterday, in the Kizilyurt District of Dagestan, power agents entered two shootouts, during which three people were killed. One of the shootouts occurred in Kizilyurt, the second one in the village of Komsomolskoe, said the republic's Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA).

The protest of truckers, who oppose the introduction of truck tolls on federal highways, continues only in Dagestan out of the regions of Southern Russia. No more than 60 persons are still striking near Khasavyurt.

At the request of Sergey Obukhov, a State Duma MP, Igor Vasiliev, the leader of the Sochi branch of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF), had a meeting with the 64-year-old Nadezhda Tumanova, who has been living for more than a year at the Adler railway station.