News

Ramzan Makhauri, Ramzan Gagaev and Amerkhan Amatkhanov, killed on Sunday in Ingushetia, were wanted on suspicion of involvement in terror acts and attempts on power agents, sources in law enforcement bodies of the republic have reported.

Azerbaijan holds mass detentions of employees of the Baku office of Radio Liberty; they are forcibly taken to the General Prosecutor's Office (GPO), Zeinal Mamedli, the editor-in-chief of the bureau, told the "Caucasian Knot".

Today, the conference hall of the National Broadcasting Company "Ingushetia" hosted the annual press conference of Yunus-Bek Evkurov, where the head of the republic has summed up the year. He said that one of the most important achievements of Ingushetia in 2014 was one of the lowest crime rates in the North-Caucasian Federal District.

On December 25, a court in Grozny found Beslan Tsintsalashvili, a citizen of Georgia, of an attempt to persuade two residents of Chechnya to terrorist activities, and sentenced him to six years in prison, Luiza Killaeva, Tsintsalashvili's advocate, said on December 27.

Relatives cannot establish the whereabouts of Sabir Ibragimov, a resident of the city of Khasavyurt, who was detained today, said his wife. The city police say that the young man was not taken there.

Stanislav Dmitrievsky, the executive director of the "Russian-Chechen Friendship Society", who was returning from Chechnya to Nizhny Novgorod within the Joint Mobile Group (JMG) has reported his three-hour detention at the federal checkpoint in the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR).

As stated today by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of Azerbaijan, a serviceman Arsen Bagdasaryan was captured at an attempt of an opponent's sabotage group to enter the territory of Azerbaijan.

The advocates of Timirlan Tsatsaev and Aslan Kautarov, accused of assaulting a Moscow policeman, have challenged the decision of the Nikulino District Court of Moscow to extend their clients' custody. A respective complaint was filed on December 25 at the Moscow City Court (MCC). The advocates assert that the detainees have indisputable alibi.

The persecution campaign against activists of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) of the Southern Federal District continued in December with the inclusion of the Krasnodar Regional Organization of Higher School Graduates into the register of "foreign agents", and accusation of extremism of the chairman of the Adygea's branch of the Nature Conservation Society. Local activists assert that the authorities' pressure on them is incessant.

The investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova, arrested in Azerbaijan, has no complaints about her custody and treatment conditions.

On December 26, employees of the "Nairit" Factory failed to meet officials from the presidential administration of Armenia. They decided to continue their protests until the completion of drawing up the payroll schedule; the next action will take place on December 29.

The reason for resignation of about twenty employees of the Georgian TV Company "Maestro" was the invitation to work by company bosses of Koki Kandiashvili, an employee of the Government Administration, and the absence of guarantees of free editorial policy.

Policemen did not allow the members of the Public Oversight Commission (POC) of Ingushetia to visit the specialized ward Ingush Republic's Clinical Hospital (IRCH), which is keeping Magomed Aushev, who was detained after shooting at a wedding party, the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" has reported. Earlier, Aushev's relatives said that he had been beaten and tortured after detention.

Today, in Volgograd, in the Alley of Heroes, the regional branch of the "Progress Party" has held a picket in support of Alexei Navalny. Out of the applied 30 persons, just five have actually appeared.

Today, employees of the General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) of Azerbaijan have sealed up the Baku office of the Azerbaijani Service of Radio Liberty after it was searched. The top managers of the Corporation "Radio Liberty/Free Europe" have treated the search as an attack on the freedom of speech.

A preliminary investigation into the case of Intigam Aliev, the head of the NGO "Legal Education Society", is over in Azerbaijan. After the defence studies the indictment, the case will be sent to the court, said Fakhraddin Mekhtiev, Aliev's advocate.

Magomed Aliev, a student of a Stavropol higher school, accused of promoting terrorism, has been placed into the hospital of the high security colony No. 3, located in the village of Krasnokumskoe, Georgievskiy District of the Stavropol Territory, the lawyer Olga Kamilova told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The special agent of the Chechen MIA, wounded in the special operation in the Sunzha District, is in the hospital; his health condition is stable. The counterterrorist operation regime in the district is still in force, said a law enforcement source.

A fine of 50,000 roubles was imposed on a resident of the city of Kizlyar for his comment posted in a social network, which was found extremist by the court. According to the prosecution, the man called for "the destruction by an explosion of a large number of people and the President of Russia."

A citizen of Georgia, Israpil Chatiashvili, has perished at the war in Syria. The circumstances of Chatiashvili's death are unknown.