News

On August 27, the California State Senate adopted a resolution recognizing the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR). The document calls on the Senate and the President of the United States to join California in recognizing the NKR.

In Chechnya, the court considers the case of an administrative offense against Khyazhi Muptazov, the Imam of the mosque at the village of Tuskharoi of the high-mountainous Itum-Kale District. The Imam is accused of illegal possession and distribution of extremist materials.

On August 27, the town of Argun in Chechnya opened the fifth Chechen school of Hafizes (those who know the Koran by heart). The religious institution is named after Tabarik Baisultanova, a Chechen leader's grandmother. Residents of Chechnya express ambiguous attitude to the opening in the republic of Hafiz schools and other religious institutions.

At the request of the Chechen Prosecutor's Office, the investigating authorities have resumed the criminal case on the disappearance in 2002 of two residents of Grozny Akhmed Saipatievich Musaitov and Azamat Sultanovich Mitsaev, who were 24 years old at that time.

In Azerbaijan, the opposition newspaper "Azadlyg" (Freedom) once again faces the threat of suspension of its release because of financial problems. The edition office owes money to the publishing house "Azerbaijan", while the press distribution company "Gasid" still fails to transfer the proceeds from the sale of newspaper issues.

Magomedarip Magomedov, a resident of Dagestan, whose relatives reported his possible kidnapping, was identified among the persons killed in a combat action that occurred at night of August 26 in the Kizilyurt District, a local resident reports. So far, there is still no official information on the identification.

Anar Mamedli, the head of the Centre for Election Monitoring and Democracy Training (CEMDT), is one of three nominees for the 2014 human rights award named after Vaclav Havel, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told at the press service of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg.

Today, in Yerevan, the first-instance court has rejected the petition lodged by the advocate Ara Zakaryan on changing the freedom restrain measure of his clients – Armen Ovannisyan and Tigran Petrosyan, participants of the protest action named "Million Mask March", who had been accused of hooliganism, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

The contract servicemen, who were announced as perished at the firing range in the Rostov Region, in fact fought in the territory of Ukraine, said Lyudmila Bogatenkova, the head of the committee "Mothers of Prikumye". The "Mothers of Prikumye" have at their disposal a list of lost and wounded soldiers with indication of their names, surnames, patronymics and military ranks, Lyudmila Bogatenkova told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Today, the Kirov District Court of Astrakhan has pronounced the decision to suspend the criminal proceedings in the criminal case against Mikhail Stolyarov, the Mayor of Astrakhan, suspended from office, since he required hospitalization.

According to the Information Centre of the Russian National Antiterrorist Committee (NAC), in Dagestan, in a shootout with power agents a local resident was killed, who was involved in the deaths of OMON (riot police) fighters near the village of Shaitli in December 2013. He was identified as Magomed Rasulov, an active member of the "Tsuntin" militant grouping, NAC informs.

On August 23, 18 families of refugees from the ChechenRepublic, who have been living in temporary accommodation centres (TACs) in Ingushetia for 20 years, are provided with comfortable apartments in the city of Grozny. This was told to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by Isa Askhabov, the head of the Department of Housing and Communal Services of the Grozny city administration.

Activists of the network of public organization "Republic is a common cause" have expressed their concern over the fate of the Gedmishkh Waterfall, which can disappear as a result of the construction of water pipeline. On August 23, the activists organized a trip to the Zolskoe District of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR) to investigate the situation on site.

Igor Siskevich, a resident of Sochi, has spent more than one month at a pre-trial detention facility in Ukraine. He has managed to return home after an exchange of prisoners of war (POWs) and detainees had been conducted, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports. The local office of the Communist Party of Russia held a press conference in connection with the return of Igor Siskevich.

In the Bryukhovetskaya District of the Krasnodar Territory, an ambulance doctor has been fined by the court for storing in the desktop and offering for reading a book of Jehovah's Witnesses, the Prosecutor's Office of the Krasnodar Territory reports. The information-analytical centre "SOVA" treated the court decision as religious discrimination.

Today, experts of the Ministry of Labour, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia have left for Ukraine to address the issue to provide humanitarian assistance to the country, stated David Sergeenko, the Georgian Minister of Health. In particular, Georgian doctors are to help in providing medical treatment to the wounded persons in Donbas.

On August 25, the Predgorny District Court of the Stavropol Territory dismissed all the petitions, demanding to change the measure of restraint and disqualify the judge, lodged by the advocates of Kurman-Ali Baichorov, the Imam of Kislovodsk, accused of drug storage. This was reported by Alaudi Musaev, one of the advocates.

Experts are sceptical about any reforms in Abkhazia after the election of Raul Khajimba as a new President. They suggest that the "discriminatory treatment" of ethnic Georgians, who live in the Gali and Tkvarcheli Districts of Abkhazia, will continue.

As reported by the Security Service of Ukraine (known as SBU), on August 24 they detained 10 Russian paratroopers, who got to Ukraine across the border with the Rostov Region. The paratroopers were surrounded up and captured.

Anar Gasymly, the advocate of the rights defender Intigam Aliev, who is kept in SIZO (pre-trial prison), complains that the administration of the facility violates the privacy of his correspondence with his client.