News

The European Parliament has disseminated an appeal addressed to Azerbaijani authorities urging to immediately release Arif and Leyla Yunus, Rasul Jafarov, Intigam Aliev and Gasan Guseinli. The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that all the above activists of Azerbaijani human rights organizations have been criminally prosecuted.

The Supreme Court (SC) of the Russian Federation has upheld the verdict of the North-Caucasian District Military Court passed to the dismissed Mayor of Makhachkala Said Amirov, who was convicted on charges of plotting a terror act.

The European Court of Human Rights has pronounced its decision in the case of "Makaeva vs. Russia". In Russia, the case was investigated by Natalia Estemirova and Akhmed Gisaev, employees of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial". Aima Makaeva, a resident of Grozny, the applicant in the case, filed a complaint about kidnapping of her son Apti Zainalov by law enforcers. The ECtHR has found out that the kidnappers were state agents. Furthermore, the ECtHR has found violations of the applicant's rights and awarded the mother of the kidnapped man a compensation of 60,000 euros.

Today, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has pronounced the decision in the case of the disappearance of 16 residents of Chechnya in 2001-2006. The ECtHR has found Russia guilty of human rights violations and obliged the country to pay more than one million euros of compensation to 43 applicants residing in Chechnya.

On September 17, in Krasnodar, Dmitry Shevchenko, the deputy coordinator of the "Ecological Watch for Northern Caucasus" (EcoWatch), was attacked while he was filming the process of tree pruning in the course of the reconstruction works conducted in the Friendship Park. An unidentified man, who led the works, knocked out a video camera from the activist's hands, the website of the "EcoWatch" reports.

In central Grozny, law enforcers drove a young woman dressed in Muslim clothing away to some unknown place. Eyewitnesses of the incident are not aware of her further fate. They believe the young woman was kidnapped. Officials from the law enforcement bodies refused to comment on the information.

In Astrakhan, while filming a story of the deaths of Russian soldiers near the border with Ukraine, members of the Moscow BBC office were attacked by unidentified men. At present, the reporters are in Moscow, and they are in safety, the Russian BBC service reports today.

On September 17, in Moscow, in front of the building of the General Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation, a solo picket was held in support of Evgeny Vitishko, a Krasnodar ecologist, serving his sentence at the penal settlement-colony in the Tambov Region. The solo picket was held by Sophia Rusova, the Adviser to the Chairman of the "Yabloko" Party, the press service of the political organization reports.

The Azerbaijani General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) has started a check of the media reports about the biased investigation into the beating of journalist Tapdyg Farkhadoglu (Guliev). Prosecutors have assigned the re-investigation to be conducted under the personal supervision of the General Prosecutor, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

Participants of the discussion held on the sides of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva have condemned the impunity for the murder of the ‘Caucasian Knot’ correspendent Akhmednabi Akhmednabiev and other journalists.

In August 2014, at least 31 people fell victim to the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus; of whom 21 people died and 10 were wounded. These are the results of calculations run by the "Caucasian Knot" based on its own materials and information from other open sources.

In Volgograd, the Territorial Election Commission (TEC) rejected the demand of Natalia Latyshevskaya, a candidate from the "Rodina" (Motherland) Party, to recount votes after the elections to the Regional Duma.

In the Adzhar city of Kobuleti, Georgia, local residents hold a protest action in front of the building, where they plan to open a medrese. Some of the protesters stay there day and night.

In Azerbaijan, 76 convicts serving their life sentences in Gobustan Prison have appealed to President Ilham Aliev asking to reconsider their cases. Copies of the appeal were also sent to the country's Parliament, Ombudsman and the Public Alliance "Azerbaijan without Political Prisoners".

Today, the advocate of Sabina Abakarova, convicted in Dagestan for possessing a "suicide belt", received the verdict in written form and declared his intention to appeal against it. According to his story, the judicial investigation had shown that the belt was planted into the house of his client.

The Ukrainian refugees accommodated in the Rostov Region continue coming back home. According to regional authorities, every day over 400 of them leave the territory of the region.

Under instruction of the General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) of Armenia, the Special Inquiry Service (SIS) has launched an investigation into the attack on a female journalist of the "A1+". SIS agents try to find out whether there are grounds for criminal prosecution, a source from the SIS told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent on September 16.

At the trial in Sochi of Oleg Vronsky, the former city Vice Mayor, and Anzor Pruidze, Director General of the LLC "Yugspetsstroy", the prosecution witnesses have evidenced. The defence demands from the incumbent Mayor Anatoly Pakhomov to appear at the trial, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

The Prosecutor's Office has illegally refused to open a criminal case on the fact of beating Tapdyg Farkhadoglu (Guliev), a correspondent of the Turan Agency, said the lawyer Ruslan Aliev, who is representing the journalist's interests.

On September 16, a recount of votes at Polling Stations Nos. 312 and 315 of the Voroshilov Territorial Election Commission (TEC) of Volgograd changed the outcomes of the voting in favour of Gennady Murylyov, the candidate from the "Edinaya Rossiya" (United Russia) Party. His opponent from the "Rodina" (Motherland) Party – Natalia Latyshevskaya – demanded a vote recount at other 10 polling stations.