News

A criminal case into the arson of the office of the Joint Mobile Group (SMG) of rights defenders in Grozny, and the detention by policemen of Sergey Babinets and Dmitry Dimitrov, the employees of the JMG, was opened by investigating authorities.

Initiation of criminal case against head of Derbent, and gathering of his supporters; resignation of leader of the Party "Prosperous Armenia" (PPA) from the post of a member of National Security Council, which, according to opposition leaders, worsened political situation; closure of schools and kindergartens under quarantine for influenza in Southern Russia, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of February 9-15, 2015, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

Relatives of Pyotr Parpulov, an employee of the Sochi Airport, detained last March on suspicion of treason, could not meet him since then. His advocate Oleg Eliseev said that his client would not plead guilty and seeks rehabilitation.

About 450 citizens of Ukraine have appealed to the authorities of Georgia with requests for asylum, said Irakli Kokaya, the head of the Department for Repatriation and Refugees of the Ministry for the Matters of Refugees and Resettlement of Internally Displaced Persons from Occupied Territories.

Today, ten persons have taken part in a protest picket in Volgograd against the war in Ukraine. The picketers stated the inadmissibility of military aggression against Ukraine.

The practice of detaining young men wearing beards is systematic in Chechnya, local residents report. Observers note that the number of such detentions increases sharply after statements made by the head of Chechnya.

Chechen law enforcers have identified four local residents, who take part in warfare in Syria. According to the spokesman of the Chechen Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), the database of the Chechen warriors in Syria is "constantly updated."

Investigators suspect Vadim Lukoyanov, the Vice-Governor of the Krasnodar Territory, of interfering into the investment programme of the "Kubanenergo" in Sochi.

The participants of the public hearing on the investigation into the murder of the Avetisyan family in Gyumri have announced their intention to draft a plan of their own investigation.

In Dagestan, an abductor of a minor girl with the aim to marry her was not detained. The girl has confessed that she had voluntarily agreed to be abducted; therefore, no criminal case was opened on this fact, the law enforcement bodies of the republic have reported.

The health status of two women – Zumrud Gazieva and Salikhat Bagirchaeva – who are hunger-striking in the village of Shushiya, Novolak District of Dagestan, has deteriorated because of increased blood tension; doctors gave emergency care to them.

Mavsum Ragimov has left the post of head of the administration of the city of Derbent by submitting his resignation application. Azad Ragimov was appointed to be the acting head of the administration.

As reported by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), on February 8-14, Azerbaijan violated the ceasefire in the Karabakh conflict zone for more than 1200 times.

Today, the counterterrorist operation (CTO) regime has been cancelled in the Derbent and Tabasaran Districts of Dagestan; it was in force there since February 4.

As stated by Nikolai Polozov, the advocate of Khaiser Dzhemilev, the detention of his client, who is a Ukrainian citizen and a son of Mustafa Dzhemilev, the leader of Crimean Tatars, in the SIZO (pre-trial prison) of Krasnodar, and the consideration of his case by Russian investigative and judicial authorities violate the legal norms of the Russian Federation and the European Convention.

The housing problems of the Armenian city of Gyumri, which was severely damaged in 1988 by the Spitak earthquake, still remain unresolved. Samvel Balasanyan, the Mayor, said that in order to solve them, Gyumri should be awarded a special status that assumes special funding.

From the beginning of 2015, the population of the Untsukul District of Dagestan is regularly suffering from electric power outages, which result, as locals report, in broken domestic appliances in many households. The district division of the city department of the Ministry for Emergencies (MfE) said that they have received no complaints on the matter.

The appearance of jihadist symbols in Chechnya is a form of protest, said the experts questioned by the "Caucasian Knot", who believe that local youth was involved in drawing the graffiti.

Communal officials and court marshals of Chechnya are conducting large-scale raids with the aim to collect debts for utility services. Locals say about frequent visits of communal officials to their homes.

Russia has published, for the first time in the Russian language the book of the French historian of Armenian origin Raymond Kevorkian "The Armenian Genocide. A Complete History". The book is a comprehensive study covering over nine hundred pages.