News

In Azerbaijan, rights defender Leyla Yunus has been transferred from the Baku SIZO No. 1 (pre-trial prison) of the Penitentiary Service to the SIZO of the Ministry of National Security (MNS) of Azerbaijan, where her husband Arif Yunus is being kept.

In July-September 2014, at least 62 persons fell victims to the armed conflict in Dagestan. Of them, 48 persons were killed, and 14 others were wounded. These are the results of calculations made by the "Caucasian Knot" based on its own materials and information from other open sources.

During the week of October 13-19, 2014, at least nine persons fell victim to the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus. Of them, 8 persons were killed, and one more person was wounded. These are the results of calculations made by the "Caucasian Knot" based on its own materials and information from other open sources.

In Chechnya, the law enforcement bodies are searching for Magomed Zaurbekov, a Chechen resident. According to the law enforcers, Magomed Zaurbekov is an associate of Aslan Aliskhanov, the organizer of the explosion on the Grozny Day. Besides, Magomed Zaurbekov himself is preparing to commit a terror act.

Public hearing at the ECtHR on human rights violations in the case on the terror act in Beslan in September 2007; changes in executive power of Volgograd Region; conviction of "Million Mask March" protesters in Yerevan; pardoning in Azerbaijan that affected four political prisoners; search for organizers of terror act in Chechnya; heavy rains in the Krasnodar Territory that caused flooding of some resort cities, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of October 13-19, 2014, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

Khasan Zalikhanov, who was killed in a firefight in Nalchik on October 18, used to be a policeman prior to his disappearance in 2012. The law enforcement bodies associate his disappearance with the fact that he joined the armed underground.

On October 19, in Dagestan, residents of the village of Vremenny of the Untsukul District sent an appeal to Dagestani leader Ramazan Abdulatipov, asking to pay attention to their situation and to form a commission to verify the facts of human rights violations committed by law enforcers in the area of the counterterrorist operation (CTO).

Aslan Aliskhanov, killed in Chechnya, had an intention to blow up policemen the day before the terror act, which he committed in Grozny on October 5. This was reported by Alexander Bastrykin, the Chairman of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF).

Tonight in Nalchik, when trying to inspect a car, a unit of the road-and-post service (known as DPS) was attacked, resulting in two lost and one wounded policemen; one of the attackers was killed by return fire, said a source from law enforcement bodies of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR).

Aslan Aliskhanov, a militant and the organizer of the explosion in Grozny on October 5, had been shot dead today during a special operation in the Chechen capital, said the local Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA).

According to family members of Elshan Salikhov, killed during the special operation in Derbent, the victim was not a member of the armed underground and had no problems with the police.

Shamil Gazaliev, a resident of Grozny, who was regarded missing since the summer of 2014, is in Syria, taking part in the war for the anti-governmental forces, said the Prosecutor's Office of Chechnya. In case of his homecoming, Gazaliev will be detained.

Today, a resident of the village of Gimry, Untsukul District of Dagestan, has reported that three suspected members of the armed underground, blocked in the settlement of Vremenny by power agents on October 15, were detained and taken away from the settlement. The police has not been confirmed this information yet.

A picket demanding from the supervisory bodies to suspend the work expanded clay factories in the settlement of Srednaya Akhtuba until they are reorganized and create a sanitary protection zone in the settlement was held in Volgograd.

On October 15, in the Lenin District of Grozny, law enforcers checked passports in connection with the search for suspected members of illegal armed formations (IAFs), who, according to the operative information, might be hiding in one of the districts of the city.

In the Krasnodar Territory, Viktor Chirikov, an activist of the movement "Solidarity", was attacked and got a stab wound because of the inscription he made on the rear window of his car. The activist did not go to the police, he believes it has no sense, since his former complains about attacks did not bring any results.

In Yerevan, the court of first instance of the administrative districts of Kentron-Nork-Marash has sentenced Shant Arutyunyan, the leader of the "Tsegakron" Party, who organized the "Million Mask March", to six years of imprisonment. The other defendants were sentenced to different terms of imprisonment.

On October 17, the law enforcement bodies conducted a search in the office of the Committee of Soldiers' Mothers "Mothers from Kuma River Area" in Budyonnovsk and the Budyonnovsk District of the Stavropol Territory. Lyudmila Bogatenkova, the 73-year-old head of the NGO, is detained for charge of fraud, the website of the project "RealArmy" reports.

Today, after namaz (evening prayer) law enforcers have detained and took to the police 23 parishioners of the Salafi mosque in Makhachkala. All the detainees were registered and released, the congregation reported later.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev has signed a decree to pardon 84 people, including four persons earlier recognized as political prisoners. In his comment on the presidential decree Elshan Gasanov, the head of the Centre for Monitoring Political Prisoners, expressed his regret that the pardoning had failed to solve the problem of political prisoners.