News

The Prosecutor's Office of the Krasnodar Territory has approved the indictment to the Krasnodar activist Darya Polyudova and transferred her case to the court.

In the evening on August 4, the intersection of Sormovskaya and 30th Irkutsk Division Streets was blocked by residents of Krasnodar, who were outraged about permanent electricity outages in the Komsomolsky micro-district of the city.

The observers believe that rights defenders and the Ombudsperson must protect the rights of Gennady Afanasiev and Alexei Chirnij – the key witnesses in the case of "Sentsov's group".

The loud statements, made by the head of Chechnya in support of suspects of committing grave crimes, are linked to his confidence in the support by the Kremlin, said the experts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot". According to their version, the recent statement in support of Sagid Murtazaliev demonstrates the Kadyrov's intention to protect his retinue.

An official check has been appointed in relation to two Dagestani policemen, who have videoed an interrogation of a Chechen power agent, who, as they said, disgorged himself onto a beach in Makhachkala.

Formally, the trial of Leyla and Arif Yunus in Baku is open; however, their supporters could not attend the today's session.

This morning, residents of the central part of Makhachkala, have blocked Yaragskiy Street in protest against the electricity outage in their homes that lasts for several days already. The action lasted for about 2 hours.

Opinions of Russians about the situation in Northern Caucasus and ways of further development of the region remain unchanged. According to the sociology poll conducted in July by the "Levada Centre", the number of optimists is by 12% higher that the number of pessimists. In the opinion of sociologists, the lack of information about the situation in the region is affecting Russians' viewpoints.

The human rights organization "Committee against Torture" (CaT), which was put earlier into the registry of foreign agents, has sent a notification about self-liquidation to the Department for the Nizhny Novgorod Region of the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ).

According to law enforcers, four out of those killed on August 3 in a special operation in Nalchik, have joined militants this year. One of them is the main suspect of killing the Police Colonel Takhir Guziev.

Today, the Tsumadin District of Dagestan has been put under the legal regime of the counterterrorist operation (CTO). Power agents are searching for a grouping of militants.

Within the last two weeks, Nalchik saw two special operations that resulted in deaths of 12 people, regarded as militants by law enforcers. Political analysts predict more special operations and draw attention to the transfer of armed clashes into the territory of cities.

On August 3, at the session of the court, which considers, in Rostov-on-Don, the case of the Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov, accused of preparing a terror act in the Crimea, six witnesses were questioned, including three "secret" ones. One of the latter – a woman – said that Sentsov had expressed the idea to blow up the monument to Lenin.

Svetlana Sviderskaya, a resident of Rostov-on-Don, intends to challenge the ruling of the Oktiabrskiy District Court of the city, which has fined her today by 20,000 roubles for participating in a picket, not coordinated with the authorities.

Gennady Afanasiev, the key witness in Sentsov's case, was tortured during the investigation, said his advocate Alexander Popkov after visiting his client at the SIZO (pre-trial prison).

Marat Balkarov, a resident of the village of Dugulubgey of Kabardino-Balkaria, charged with illegal possession of ammunition, has lodged his complaints to the Prosecutor's Office and the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" stating about ill-treatment and his refusal from his earlier evidence given to power agents.

The number of residents of Armenia ready to take part in protest actions in support of retired colonel Volodya Avetisyan has reached 200. As reported by Gagik Sarukhanyan, the organizer of the picket in support of Avetisyan in Yerevan, it is not excluded that the action will continue in the regions of the country.

In the area of the administrative Chechen-Ingush border, where a major special operation was conducted, a search for militants continues. Locals report movements of large forces of power agents and that military helicopters take part in the special operation.

The militants killed today in a special operation in Nalchik were members of the "central sector" and involved in a number of crimes, including the assault on July 31 on Police Colonel Takhir Guziev, law enforcers report. A woman is among the casualties.

A group of six militants has been liquidated in a counterterrorist operation (CTO) conducted in Nalchik, said a law enforcement source from the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR).