News

In Volgograd, participants of the "roundtable" have declared absence of interaction between human rights activists and government officials. Besides, they have also claimed lack of transparency of grants and pointed out some financial problems. NGO members have noted the need to establish a human rights council in Volgograd.

Today, the convoy of the Russian Ministry for Emergencies (MfE) with humanitarian aid to residents of Donbas has arrived in Donetsk and Lugansk.

The "Armenian National Congress" (ANC) Party does not agree with the charge against Arshak Svazyan, who is suspected of attacking Aram Manukyan, the secretary of the faction in the Parliament. The ANC demands to reclassify the charge and choose an article providing more severe punishment, a representative of the ANC has stated.

In Northern Caucasus, the fears of some local residents, who in mid-August predicted the growth in food prices, are confirmed. According to residents of the North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD), the average rise in prices reached 20-25%.

Family members of the Azerbaijani journalist Rauf Mirkadirov have received official notification of the court that they were granted political asylum in Switzerland.

The prosecutor's office of the city of Kislovodsk has cancelled the decision not to institute criminal proceedings on the fact of threats received by Imam Kurman-Ali Baichorov, said his advocate Alaudi Musaev.

At the International Conference in Grozny "Terek Turks as Cultural Bridge of Chechen Republic with Turkic World" Kumyk organization presented curricula for training Kumyk students at the leading universities of the Turkic countries and a project of a boarding Lyceum to be opened near the city of Gudermes.

Steven Silva, an acquaintance of Johar Tsarnaev, accused of organizing a terror act at the Boston Marathon race, has pled guilty to distributing heroin and illegal possession of firearms. According to the prosecution, Tsarnaev brothers used the pistol, kept by Silva, to kill a policeman.

On December 18, in the village of Koshkeldy, Gudermes District of Chechnya, a family home of a member of the armed underground was demolished, local residents report.

As stated by participants of a press conference in Yerevan, this year was rather strained for the press and journalists; and the number of incidents of physical pressure on journalists or obstruction to obtaining information practically did not go down.

Ilkin Rustamzade, a member of the movement "Free Youth", who is imprisoned in Azerbaijan, was put into the dungeon of the SIZO (pre-trial prison) – for the second time this month.

The Baku Court of Appeal has dismissed the appeal lodged by Rasul Jafarov, the coordinator of the campaign "Arts for Democracy", who asked to replace his custody for home arrest.

The advocate of the 17-year-old native of Chechnya, who was convicted on charges of committing a resonant murder of Ruslan Marzhanov, a resident of the city of Pugachov, Saratov Region, announced his intention to appeal against the verdict.

The Armenian Court of Appeal (CoA) took up the appeals lodged against the sentences passed to Shant Arutyunyan, the leader of the "Tseghakron" Party, and other persons involved in the "Million Mask March" and formed a panel of judges. The defence insists on acquittal of all activists.

Abu Mukhammad, Amir of Dagestan, said that he takes an oath to the "Islamic State" (IS). This is the second time in Dagestan within the last month, when the leaders of militants' formations take an oath to the IS; and both of these cases indicate a split in the "Imarat Kavkaz", recognized as a terrorist organization.

Selim Magomedov, the advocate of the convicted Alautdin Dadaev, has stated that the sentence passed by the court in the case of the terror acts committed in Volgograd disregarded the arguments of the defence, while the verdict as such was based on investigators' speculations.

At least 22 people were victims of the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus in November 2014, of which 15 people were killed, and 7 others wounded. These are the results of the calculations run by the "Caucasian Knot" based on its own materials and information from open sources.

In the city of Gudermes power agents have demolished three private houses owned by families of the members of the armed underground. Earlier it was reported about demolition of two houses.

A protest action against depreciation of the national currency and rise in prices was held in Yerevan on Friday in front of the government, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

On Friday, after the Juma namaz in Buynaksk, policemen detained several parishioners of the Salafi mosque, said a local resident. Several mosque-goers were brought to the police. In his turn, a source from the Buynaksk GOVD (City Interior Division), assured that all the believers will be released after checking their IDs.