News

Khadija Ismayilova, an investigative journalist and an employee of the Baku office of Radio Liberty, who is kept in the Baku SIZO (pre-trial prison), has sent an open letter with words of support to her colleagues.

The whereabouts of Jamal Makhmudov, a resident of Stavropol, who disappeared on December 8, is still unknown. According to unconfirmed information of his relatives, he may be kept at the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of the Stavropol Territory.

There were quite a few violations of the ceasefire on the contact line in Karabakh on December 31, 2014, and at night on January 1, 2015; and the overall situation can be treated as calm, the press service of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) has reported.

Azerbaijan has suspended the work of the popular news site "Media Forum". The project staff was sent to forced leave because of absence of notification from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) on the results of the consideration of the founder’s appeal to register the grant agreement related to the above website.

The members of the armed underground killed in the special operation conducted in the village of Mekenskaya, Naur District of Chechnya, had prepared a series of terror acts, said the head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov.

Law enforcers of Dagestan have detained two local residents suspected of involvement in the bomb explosion during the travel of police cars in the Untsukul District. According to power agents, the detainees had two accomplices.

Murad Nurmagomedov, the author of the video clip, popular on the Internet, in which well-known Muslims criticize the New Year celebration in Dagestan, was detained by policemen in Makhachkala.

The second person killed in the special operation conducted in the Chechen village of Mekenskaya was identified as Bashir Omarov. According to the republic’s law enforcement bodies, Omarov and one of the leaders of local militants Musa Zavgaev, also killed today in Mekenskaya, were natives of the same village.

Musa Zavgaev, known among militants as Emir of the Nadterechny and Naur Districts of Chechnya, and his accomplice were killed in a special operation, the republic’s authorities have reported. Both of them had links with the grouping involved in the attack on Grozny on December 4, 2014, says the Russia’s National Antiterrorist Committee (NAC).

Azerbaijan has enforced a law about mandatory medical examination of those who plan to get married. According to the law, access to the results of the examination is allowed for a limited circle of people, but some commentators do not rule out potential violations.

The pistol and drugs found on December 18 in the car of Magomed Kurbanov, a native of the Akusha District of Dagestan, did not belong to him, while his detention may have to do with his Salafi beliefs, said his relative and public defender.

The unstable regions of Northern Caucasus, which have a high level of confrontation, may hope for more economic support, Natalia Zubarevich, an Associate Professor of the Higher School of Economics (HSE), said in her interview to the "Caucasian Knot".

In Dagestan, despite the ongoing public debate about Muslims celebrating New Year, Makhachkala is decorated in the same style as in previous years. The city is decorated with 17 New Year trees, and more than two million roubles were allocated for festivities.

For four years in a row, the "Caucasian Knot" has been marking the most meaningful, informative and topicalcomments made by its users. A year ago, we paid special attention to readers' comments about the freedom of religionand the problem of corruption in the Caucasus. This autumn we decided to award prizes to best commentators every week. Traditionally, the final choice and definition of the winner are with our readers.

Avaz Zeinalov, a journalist; Zaur Gurbanly and Uzeir Mamedli, activists of the movement "Nida"; and Gurban Mamedov, a lawyer, who were pardoned by the President of Azerbaijan and who were recognized as political prisoners by human rights defenders, declared their intention to continue their professional and social activities.

Magomed Aushev, who is undergoing medical treatment in a special ward of the Ingush Republican Clinical Hospital, lost his memory. This was told to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by Murad Aushev, a brother of Magomed Aushev.

In early December 2014, eight residents of the Chechen Republic disappeared or were kidnapped. This was reported by the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial".

In the Krasnodar Territory, the court has sentenced a native of Kaspiysk to 10.5 years of imprisonment for extortion of money from a Kuban resident to finance an illegal armed formation (IAF). His three accomplices were sentenced to 4.5-9 years of imprisonment.

Experts have expressed different opinions when assessing the actions against the Baku office of the Radio Liberty with regard to relations between Baku and Washington. According to political analyst Arastun Orudjlu, the Azerbaijani authorities deliberately take steps to deteriorate the relations with the United States.

Grozny has opened the school No. 20. On December 4, the school building was damaged during the special operation to neutralize the militants, who were hiding in it.