News

On December 8, in the city of Akhalkalaki, located in Southern Georgia, a protest action against illegal actions of the police was held in front of the municipality council. The protesters said that law enforcers had violated the law by beating up several young men.

Investigators have sent a petition to the Moscow Basmanny Court asking to extend the home arrest of Levon Airapetyan, a businessmen and a member of the Armenian Diaspora in the Russian Federation, the court press secretary said on December 8.

The Rostov journalist and publisher Alexander Tolmachov, convicted by the Kuschevskaya District Court of the Krasnodar Territory to 9 years in high-security colony on charges of extortion, said that he was beaten up by the staff of SIZO (pre-trial prison) No. 2 of the city of Armavir. Today, his public defender has filed a complaint to the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia (FSIN).

The advocate of Magomed Aliev, a native of Dagestan, suspected of promoting terrorism, has informed the court today about the grave condition of his client and asked the court to consider the appeal lodged against Aliev's arrest in his absence.

The restoration works on the buildings of the House of Press and School No. 20, which were destroyed during the special operation in Grozny on December 4, are continued day and night. The authorities plan to reopen the House of Press before the end of this year, and School No. 20 – after the New Year holidays.

Today, the Yasamal District Court of Baku has dismissed the complaint lodged by journalist Tapdyg Farkhadoglu about the refusal of Mubariz Asadov, an investigator of the district prosecutor's office to open a criminal investigation into the beating of the journalist.

The December 7 extended meeting of activists of the Dagestani villages of Tarki, Kyakhulay and Alburikent decided to stop the hunger strike in Karaman. The participants of the meeting are going to move on to other forms of peaceful protests, one of the locals told the correspondent today.

During the week from December 1 to December 7, 2014, at least 66 people suffered from the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus; of them, 28 people were killed and 38 others wounded. These are the results of the calculations run by the "Caucasian Knot" based on its own materials and information from other open sources.

Attack of militants on Grozny; opening of traffic through Gimry Tunnel in Dagestan; verdict on December 2013 terror acts in Volgograd, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of December 1-7, 2014, prepared bythe "Caucasian Knot".

Tourists have expressed their protest against rising prices at the "Roza Khutor" Ski Resort by running an online petition addressed to the resort administration.

Azerbaijan has prepared amendments to the law on mass media. They will allow, in particular, liquidating a mass media company, if it was attracted, twice within a year, to responsibility under a court decision. Experts are critical to this initiative; some of them treat it as unconstitutional.

The participants of the Civil Forum "European Union-Russian Federation" have spoken against liquidation of the NGO "Ecological Watch for Northern Caucasus" (EcoWatch).

Today, on the 26th anniversary of the Spitak earthquake, the capital and regional centres of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) held funeral processions and putting down flowers in memory of the victims of the tragedy.

In the Kizilyurt District of Dagestan two men were killed after they opened fire on the policemen who pursued them. One of them was identified as a brother of Makhmudov, an earlier slain Qadi (Sharia judge) of the "Dido" grouping, said a local law enforcement source.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) has opened a criminal case against the head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov in the context of his recently voiced threats to Ukrainian MPs, said Markiyan Lubkivskiy, an adviser to the head of the SSU. This information was confirmed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Ukraine, which has launched its own check.

Law enforcers have searched the apartment of the arrested journalist Khadija Ismayilova and confiscated the films, computer equipment and business cards belonging to her.

On December 6, Aisha Gulieva, Kamil's wife, filed an application to the Sovietskiy ROVD (District Interior Division) of Makhachkala about her husband's possible kidnapping. Prior to his disappearance Kamil Guliev claimed that policemen tried to take him to the police station in Kizilyurt.

Families of members of the armed underground should be expelled from the Chechen Republic; and their households should be demolished – Ramzan Kadyrov has demanded this from local officials. However, local residents report that such actions are contrary to the Constitution of Russia, norms of Islam and Chechen customs.

An action in support of political prisoners, including the ecologist from the Krasnodar Territory Evgeny Vitishko, was held in London by the human rights organization Amnesty International (AI). On December 5, Vitishko got in touch with his colleague Evgenia Chirikova and reported that he feels good.

Lyudmila Bogatenkova, the chair of the Stavropol Committee of Soldiers' Mothers "Prikumye Mothers", has received threats from unidentified persons.