News

Complaints filed by the Pukhaev brothers' relatives about violations of the rights of the detained brothers are unfounded, said an official from the KGB of South Ossetia.

In Azerbaijan, an advocate of Intigam Aliev, the arrested head of the Legal Education Society, expresses the fear that his client may face new charge of illegal purchase, sale or carrying of cold steel arms.

The United Transport Directorate (UTD) has closed the Kerch Strait ferry crossing for all types of freights carried by light commercial vehicles and imposed restrictions on regular buses, hoping that this measure will provide more space on the ferries for personal cars and increase the carrying capacity of the ferry crossing.

Orthodox Church leaders and activists, who had organized a protest action against the "KaZantip" festival, were not allowed to enter the village of Ganmukhuri, which would become the main venue of the festival. The entrance to the village is blocked by the police.

In the Ukrainian city of Gorlovka, several dozens of armed Caucasian natives, presumably Chechens, who were fighting for supporters of the self-proclaimed the Donetsk People's Republic (DNR), have voluntarily surrendered to soldiers.

Two staff members of the Dagestani Prosecutor's Office have been dismissed by the order issued by the Public Prosecutor of Dagestan. Farid Khanamirov, the dismissed Supervising Assistant Prosecutor of Makhachkala, is charged with an attempted murder and arms trafficking.

Akhmed Nurmagomedov, a resident of the village of Ameterkmakhi of the Akusha District of Dagestan has been detained by law enforcers after a search of the house, and his whereabouts is still unknown, advocate Israfil Gadadov reports. The police have confirmed the conduct of the search.

Mikhail Saakashvili, the former Georgian President, who is accused of three criminal cases, has been put on the domestic wanted list, the General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) of Georgia reports.

To assist conscripts, the Ingush authorities will create the Committee of Soldiers' Fathers (CSF). However, according to rights defenders, the organization in its activities should not duplicate the functions of the existing public institutions.

Dagestani advocates report on the existence of a special unit "G" in the territory of the SIZO-1 (pre-trial prison) of Makhachkala, to where defenders' access is hindered and where prisoners' rights are violated.

On Thursday, Gyunai Ismailova, a lawyer of the Institute of Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS), was interrogated by investigators from the Azerbaijani Prosecutor's Office as a witness in connection with a criminal case against a number of local and foreign NGOs.

The ban on foreign goods imports to Russia can lead to shortages of certain food products, such as beef. This opinion has been expressed by Natalia Zubarevich, Professor of Russian Economic and Social Geography from the Moscow State University (MSU).

Krasnodar ecologist Evgeny Vitishko, sentenced on charges of infliction of damage to the fence around the land plot known as "summer cottage" Alexander Tkachov, Krasnodar Governor, has appealed to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and filed a complaint about violation of freedom of speech.

In a number of regions of the North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD), police found hidings with a large number of weapons, ammunition and explosives belonging to members of illegal armed formations (IAFs), the Department for the NCFD of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) reports.

Denga Djavatkhanov, a staff member of the Kizilyurt Bar Association, has stated that he was detained and unlawfully kept by force for three days by law enforcers. The Kizilyurt police do not confirm the detention of Denga Djavatkhanov.

Combatants from Chechnya, who are fighting on the side of the self-proclaimed Lugansk and Donetsk People's Republics, have asked leaders of the antiterrorist operation (ATO) in Ukraine to provide them with the possibility to leave the combat zone, the ATO press centre reports.

On August 12-13, the Azerbaijani armed forces violated the ceasefire on the contact line for about 55 times, the Defence Army of Nagorno-Karabakh reports. In its turn, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence (MoD) has accused the opposing side of violation of the truce.

In Azerbaijan, the court has arrested Murad Adilov, an of the activist Sabirabad district organization of the opposition Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), suspected of illegal possession and sale of drugs.

In Azerbaijan, a Shiite theologian Talekh Bagirzade, who is serving his two-year imprisonment on earlier charge, has been sentenced on new charge of possessing prohibited items in the SIZO (pre-trial prison). The term of imprisonment of Talekh Bagirzade has been extended for four months.

The international human rights organization "Amnesty International" (AI) has expressed its concern about the deterioration in health state of Leyla Yunus, who was arrested in Azerbaijan.