News

On May 26, the Baku Court of Grave Crimes sentenced Anar Mamedli, the head of the Centre for Election Monitoring and Democracy Training (CEM&DT), to 5.5 years in prison; and activists Bashir Suleimanly – to 3.5 years in prison, and Elnur Mamedov – also to 3.5 years, but conditionally with a probation period of 2 years, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

On May 25, about 60 residents of the village of Akhshtyr held in Sochi a rally in the format of a meeting with Igor Vasiliev, the leader of the local branch of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) and the assistant to the State Duma Deputy Sergey Obukhov. The reason for the meeting was the absence of any official response of the authorities to multiple local residents' complaints about the absence of water supply and bad ecology.

By his decree of May 26, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliev pardoned 171 punished persons. According to the document, 157 prisoners are freed from further serving their prison terms, including four persons recognized as political prisoners by rights defenders; two people sentenced to conditional imprisonment are exempt of it; one person is relieved from public works; 11 people are exempt from payment of awarded fines.

The Russia's Ministry of Culture has initiated an additional examination of the film "Ordered to Forget", which tells about the deportation of Chechens and Ingushes in 1944. The outcomes of the examination will decide whether the film authors will be granted a screening certificate.

Today, near the building of the Regional Duma, Boris Pylin, the chairman of the public organization "Union for Local Residents of Volgograd Region", has held a solo picket against the abolition of the direct elections of heads of cities and districts. This was reported by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Events in the regions of Southern Russia and Southern Caucasus dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the end of the Caucasian War; special operation in Ingushetia, during which, according to power agents, leader of the local militants was killed; jury's verdict of guilty in Politkovskaya's murder case, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of May 19-25, 2014, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

During the week of May 19-25, 2014, at least 13 persons suffered in the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus. Of them, 12 persons were killed, and 1 person was wounded. These are the results of calculations made by the "Caucasian Knot" based on its own materials and information from other open sources.

In Azerbaijan, bank accounts of journalist Ainur Imranova were arrested. The journalist and her advocate treat the decision as unlawful. They have challenged it at the Court of Appeal. The bank accounts were arrested without prior notification. This was told to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by Ainur Imranova.

At present, Aslan Natov, who was detained on May 23 during the special operation in the city of Baksan, is kept at the IVS (temporary detention facility). His family members are not aware of the charge brought against him. This was reported by his brother Ruslan Natov.

On May 24, during the festival of freedom devoted to the Andrei Sakharov's birthday, activists read and discussed the play "A Few Ways to Lose Friends" written during the festival in the village of Tekali located on the border between Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. The participants of the readings have come to the conclusion that such meetings of the conflicting parties in South Caucasus allow overcoming the barrier of hostility.

In Adygea, the court has found Vasily Purdenko, a resident of Maikop, the editor of the blog "Free Speech of Adygea", guilty of posting on the Internet the article "Nationalism in Action", which, according to the court, is an extremist material and which is aimed at inciting national enmity and hatred. Vasily Purdenko has been sentenced to a fine of 100,000 roubles.

The decision of the Zamoskvorechye District Court of Moscow to dismiss the complaint filed by the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" against the request of the Prosecutor's Office to get registered as a foreign agent is unjustified, but still expected. This opinion was expressed by human rights defenders. Lawyers of the HRC "Memorial" intend to challenge the decision of the Court.

After sixteen Jehovah's Witnesses accused of extremism had been questioned at the trial, the court has scheduled to examine the additional materials. Therefore, oral discussions and sentencing are postponed. This was reported by the defendants' advocates.

The case against Ilyas Temaev, a resident of Makhachkala, accused of storing drugs, was fabricated, asserts his mother, stating that her son fell victim to arbitrariness of the drug control authority.

In Azerbaijan, on May 24, the detained journalist Rauf Mirkadirov could attend the funeral of his father. He was given this opportunity after petition of his advocate. The journalist will be at home for at least three days.

As reported by Timur Bokov, the head of the department for relations with mass media of the administration of the head of Ingushetia, among the suspected militants killed in the village of Sagopshi, Arthur Getagazhev, the so-called "Emir of Ingushetia", was identified.

In the period from May 18 to May 24, the Azerbaijani armed forces for about 450 times violated the ceasefire, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of Nagorno-Karabakh has reported.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed by the press service of Armenian Ministry for Emergencies that no explosive devices were found in the Yerevan Roofed Marketplace.

The members of the armed underground, killed on Saturday during a special operation in the village of Sagopshi, Malgobek District, had been preparing a series of terror acts on the Day of Ingushetia, said Timur Bokov, the head of the department for relations with mass media of the administration of the head of Ingushetia.

In Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, experts saw nothing new in the proposals put forward by James Warlick, the US co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Mr Warlick's statement has confirmed the earlier articulated principles of peaceful settlement, said Edward Nalbandyan, the Armenian Foreign Minister.