News

The activities of the "Committee for Prevention of Torture" (CPT), which has replaced the "Committee against Torture" (CaT), which is working in Chechnya, were launched starting August 3. It unites several organizations that work directly with victims and will carry out executive functions.

The Baku Court of Grave Crimes has completed the judicial investigation in the case of the rights defender Leyla Yunus and her husband Arif Yunus. Their defence has stated violations of the law in the course of the trial.

The members of the movement "Arise, Armenia!" demand dissolution of the Commission on Regulation of Public Services (CRPS) of Armenia – they have started collecting signatures on this issue.

Supporters of the retired colonel Volodya Avetisyan have stopped their ten-day-long rally in his support. Karabakh War veterans are preparing a new wave of protests, said Gagik Sarukhanyan, the organizers of the picket.

The social doctrine of Russian Muslims signed by Islam believers is largely reiterating the earlier adopted documents, and in reality will not be a factor of revaluation of views and stimulation of social activity, said the experts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot".

The Prosecutor's Office of the Krasnodar Territory has approved the indictment to the Krasnodar activist Darya Polyudova and transferred her case to the court.

In the evening on August 4, the intersection of Sormovskaya and 30th Irkutsk Division Streets was blocked by residents of Krasnodar, who were outraged about permanent electricity outages in the Komsomolsky micro-district of the city.

The observers believe that rights defenders and the Ombudsperson must protect the rights of Gennady Afanasiev and Alexei Chirnij – the key witnesses in the case of "Sentsov's group".

The loud statements, made by the head of Chechnya in support of suspects of committing grave crimes, are linked to his confidence in the support by the Kremlin, said the experts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot". According to their version, the recent statement in support of Sagid Murtazaliev demonstrates the Kadyrov's intention to protect his retinue.

An official check has been appointed in relation to two Dagestani policemen, who have videoed an interrogation of a Chechen power agent, who, as they said, disgorged himself onto a beach in Makhachkala.

Formally, the trial of Leyla and Arif Yunus in Baku is open; however, their supporters could not attend the today's session.

This morning, residents of the central part of Makhachkala, have blocked Yaragskiy Street in protest against the electricity outage in their homes that lasts for several days already. The action lasted for about 2 hours.

Opinions of Russians about the situation in Northern Caucasus and ways of further development of the region remain unchanged. According to the sociology poll conducted in July by the "Levada Centre", the number of optimists is by 12% higher that the number of pessimists. In the opinion of sociologists, the lack of information about the situation in the region is affecting Russians' viewpoints.

The human rights organization "Committee against Torture" (CaT), which was put earlier into the registry of foreign agents, has sent a notification about self-liquidation to the Department for the Nizhny Novgorod Region of the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ).

According to law enforcers, four out of those killed on August 3 in a special operation in Nalchik, have joined militants this year. One of them is the main suspect of killing the Police Colonel Takhir Guziev.

Today, the Tsumadin District of Dagestan has been put under the legal regime of the counterterrorist operation (CTO). Power agents are searching for a grouping of militants.

Within the last two weeks, Nalchik saw two special operations that resulted in deaths of 12 people, regarded as militants by law enforcers. Political analysts predict more special operations and draw attention to the transfer of armed clashes into the territory of cities.

On August 3, at the session of the court, which considers, in Rostov-on-Don, the case of the Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov, accused of preparing a terror act in the Crimea, six witnesses were questioned, including three "secret" ones. One of the latter – a woman – said that Sentsov had expressed the idea to blow up the monument to Lenin.

Svetlana Sviderskaya, a resident of Rostov-on-Don, intends to challenge the ruling of the Oktiabrskiy District Court of the city, which has fined her today by 20,000 roubles for participating in a picket, not coordinated with the authorities.

Gennady Afanasiev, the key witness in Sentsov's case, was tortured during the investigation, said his advocate Alexander Popkov after visiting his client at the SIZO (pre-trial prison).