News

The recurring incidents of attacks on media workers and obstacles to their activities result from the impunity of criminals who have committed such acts. Meanwhile, journalists fail to use all the means of judicial protection. This was stated by members of Armenian NGOs at the press conference in Yerevan.

Members of the Chechen Diaspora in Austria are sceptical about the information about the alleged participation of the Chechens living in Europe in Ukrainian hostilities. The Ukrainian authorities are supported by nationalists from Sweden, France and Italy, but not by Caucasians, said Orhan Cemal, a correspondent of the Forbes Magazine.

Members of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) have filed five complaints about electoral violations in Volgograd, including illegal voting, obstructing observers to participate in the visiting voting, etc. This was told to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by Katerina Pechenova, the head of the press service of the regional branch of the CPRF.

The "Russian United Labour Front" (Rot Front) and the "Communists of Russia" Parties treat the withdrawal of their candidates from the elections to the Parliament and district soviets of the Karachay-Cherkessian Republic (KChR) held on September 14 as an ungrounded and politically motivated decision. This was stated by members of the Parties.

In Grozny, the court has recognized entrepreneur Islam Bashlaev guilty of distributing the book "Fortress of the Muslim" included in the federal list of banned literature. On September 8, the Zavodskoi District Court of Grozny found Islam Bashlaev guilty of an administrative offense under Article 20.29 of the Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation (storage of extremist materials for mass distribution) and sentenced the defendant to a fine.

Black Sea Circassians and Shapsugs have appealed to the "Adyge Khase" with a request to help in stopping the mining and transporting of sand and gravel from the valley of the Ashe River. The experts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" state that the ongoing development of natural resources puts into question the existence of the Shapsug people as an ethnic group.

On September 11, in Nagorno-Karabakh, Stepanakert hosted a presentation of the book written by Anna Terkott-Astvatsaturyan and titled "To Nowhere: The Story of Exile", telling about refugees who left Azerbaijan in the course of the Karabakh conflict. Participants of the presentation have noted that after 20 years, the refugee problem has not been solved yet.

Magomed Shapiev, the Acting Prosecutor of the Gunib District, is suspected of opening fire on a policeman and wounding the victim, sources in the law enforcement bodies report.

Idris Cherkhigov, 25, a nephew of the Chechen leader, was approved as the head of the Kurchaloy District of Chechnya by secret ballot of Deputies of the District Soviet, the local administration has reported.

The prosecutor's request to sentence a minor Shagen Arutyunyan to five years of deprivation of liberty has become possible only because the society puts up with this situation, the mother of the accused teenager believes.

The ban on wearing of religious clothing introduced at the Pirogov Medical University in Moscow is not logical. Clothing has no influence on the educational process, and the ban will lead to the opposite effect. Moreover, the very fact of the ban does not look as thoughtful.

When the police had classified the incident with a pig's head nailed to a door of a medrese in Kobuleti as a "destruction of property", it was not correct. The criminal case is to be instituted on the fact of harassment on grounds of religion. This was stated by the "Centre for Training and Monitoring of Human Rights".

According to Said Ibragimov, an advocate of Ibragim Magomedov, under the episode imputed to his client, accused of involvement in preparing the New Year terror acts in Volgograd, his cousin has been already convicted.

The protest action held by refugees from Abkhazia living in the Georgian port of Poti was stopped; their demand to provide them with new housing will be rejected, said the Ministry for Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).

Classmates and friends of 15-year-old Shagen Arutyunyan, who is involved in the case against activists of the "Million Mask March," have created an initiative group to support him. The protest action in support of Shagen Arutyunyan is scheduled for September 14, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

In Azerbaijan, Leyla Yunus, an arrested human rights defender, faces deterioration of health state because of diabetes, and she got a foot abscess, advocate Alaif Gasanov reports. The arrested human rights defender herself reports on new cases of violence against her.

A district court in Baku has dismissed the petition lodged by Intigam Aliev, the head of the Legal Education Society (LES), asking to change his freedom restraint from custody to home arrest.

Islam Shamsudinov, a resident of Kizilyurt, was kidnapped by men in uniform. This was reported by his mother Mavlet. A friend of the disappeared man believes that he was kidnapped by law enforcers. Officials from the Kizilyurt OVD (Interior Division) deny the detention of Islam Shamsudinov.

Residents of the cities of Makhachkala and Derbent complain about mass detentions of mosque-goers in city mosques. In the capital of Dagestan, the police confirmed the reports on detentions; however, law enforcers of Derbent refuted to confirm the information.

Zura Matsaeva from Grozny has stated that for almost eight months she knows nothing about her 31-year-old son Rizvan Matsaev. The latter's relatives and friends believe that he was kidnapped by some law enforcement body and complain about investigators' inaction.