News

The Kirsanov District Court of the Tambov Region has granted a petition on appointing Elena Shmakova, an ecological activist from the city of Tuapse, a public defender Evgeny Vitishko. The consideration of the petition lodged by the advocate Sergey Loktev on softening the Vitishko's punishment has been rescheduled for July 31.

Appointment of second life sentence to Ali Taziev; dispersal of protest in Bagramyan Avenue in Yerevan; administrative arrest in Sochi of journalist Anna Gritsevich; resignation of Acting Mayor of Makhachkala Magomed Suleimanov; explosion at military factory in Azerbaijan with fatalities; statements at trial of Amirov about torture during investigation, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of July 6-12, 2015, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

The psychological and psychiatric examination of the defendants in this case will help to establish the motive of Boris Nemtsov's murder. It should reveal whether the perpetrators acted for hire or because religion-motivated hatred, the "Kommersant" reports.

During the week from July 6 to July 12, 2015, at least two persons perished in the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus. These are the results of calculations run by the "Caucasian Knot", based on its own materials and information from other open sources.

The Department of the FAS (Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service) for the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR) has instructed the administration of the Zolsky District to eliminate violations of the "Law on Competition" in allocation of the land of the former collective farm.

Larisa Sotieva, who was prohibited to work in South Ossetia, was exposed to undeserved treatment in Tskhinvali, said the non-profit organization (NPO) "International Alert", where Sotieva is working. The latter was also supported by Timur Tskhurbati, a South-Ossetian journalist, and Arda Inal-Ipa, a member of the Public Chamber of Abkhazia.

The Batumi City Court is considering a complaint lodged by the managers of the Muslim boarding house in Kobuleti about the pressure from local residents who oppose the work of the institution. According to rights defenders, the opposition in Kobuleti is stimulated by the local Orthodox clergy.

The conflict of the head of Dagestan Ramazan Abdulatipov and the former Acting Mayor of Makhachkala Magomed Suleimanov has brought no serious losses to either party, said the experts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot". They saw here the authorities' intention to put a person without ambitions to the post of the Mayor.

The work of the employees of the Committee against Torture (CaT) and the Joint Mobile Group (JMG) in Northern Caucasus will continue, said rights defenders.

On July 10, the Sovietskiy District Court of Makhachkala found Ibadullo Nabotov, a budun (employee) of the mosque situated in Hungarian Warriors Street of illegal possession of weapons.

On July 10, Russian border guards set up information banners on the border with South Ossetia, by capturing part of Georgian territory near the Baku-Supsa pipeline, says a statement by the Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA).

On July 9, at the trial of the former Mayor of Makhachkala Said Amirov, Abdulmajid Akhmedov, one of the defendants, said that he was tortured after detention and during the investigation.

Rasul M., born in 1970, a resident of the village of Novoe Solkusheno, Naur District of Chechnya, who was considered kidnapped, has returned home.

Chechnya is holding large-scale religious events to mark the birthday of Kunta-haji Kishiev, one of the most revered saints in the republic.

The political experts, interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot", believe that Vasily Golubev, the current acting head of the region, is the undisputed leader at the upcoming election for governor of the Rostov Region.

On July 10, a court in Azerbaijan satisfied the petition of the Bar Association asking to exclude the lawyer Khalid Bagirov from the Bar. The lawyer himself told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent about it.

Readers of the "Caucasian Knot" have finished voting at the first stage of the contest "Hero of the Caucasus-2014" and elected the first among equals out of the candidates representing Southern Caucasus. The winner of the contest is the 47-year-old Artak Kirakosyan from Armenia, who held a study on security in the border villages, which are exposed to fire.

Chechen law enforcers have arrested a resident of the Chechen city of Urus-Martan, who deported from Turkey after being detained on the border with Syria. According to the spokesman of the Investigating Department for Chechnya, the arrested man was in the same group with the earlier detained Muslim Akhmaev.

The ecologist Vladimir Kimaev, who was released today in Adler (district of Sochi) after his administrative arrest, has begun preparing, together with Anna Gritsevich, a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, a number of applications demanding to bring policemen to justice.

Today in Baku, a group of believers has attempted to hold an anti-Israeli protest, by dating it to the so-called "Quds Day". Police stopped the action and detained some of its participants.