News

In Adygea, the court has found Vasily Purdenko, a resident of Maikop, the editor of the blog "Free Speech of Adygea", guilty of posting on the Internet the article "Nationalism in Action", which, according to the court, is an extremist material and which is aimed at inciting national enmity and hatred. Vasily Purdenko has been sentenced to a fine of 100,000 roubles.

The decision of the Zamoskvorechye District Court of Moscow to dismiss the complaint filed by the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" against the request of the Prosecutor's Office to get registered as a foreign agent is unjustified, but still expected. This opinion was expressed by human rights defenders. Lawyers of the HRC "Memorial" intend to challenge the decision of the Court.

After sixteen Jehovah's Witnesses accused of extremism had been questioned at the trial, the court has scheduled to examine the additional materials. Therefore, oral discussions and sentencing are postponed. This was reported by the defendants' advocates.

The case against Ilyas Temaev, a resident of Makhachkala, accused of storing drugs, was fabricated, asserts his mother, stating that her son fell victim to arbitrariness of the drug control authority.

In Azerbaijan, on May 24, the detained journalist Rauf Mirkadirov could attend the funeral of his father. He was given this opportunity after petition of his advocate. The journalist will be at home for at least three days.

As reported by Timur Bokov, the head of the department for relations with mass media of the administration of the head of Ingushetia, among the suspected militants killed in the village of Sagopshi, Arthur Getagazhev, the so-called "Emir of Ingushetia", was identified.

In the period from May 18 to May 24, the Azerbaijani armed forces for about 450 times violated the ceasefire, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of Nagorno-Karabakh has reported.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed by the press service of Armenian Ministry for Emergencies that no explosive devices were found in the Yerevan Roofed Marketplace.

The members of the armed underground, killed on Saturday during a special operation in the village of Sagopshi, Malgobek District, had been preparing a series of terror acts on the Day of Ingushetia, said Timur Bokov, the head of the department for relations with mass media of the administration of the head of Ingushetia.

In Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, experts saw nothing new in the proposals put forward by James Warlick, the US co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Mr Warlick's statement has confirmed the earlier articulated principles of peaceful settlement, said Edward Nalbandyan, the Armenian Foreign Minister.

Ziyautdin Uvaisov, a defender of Zarema Bagavutdinova, an activist of the Dagestani Regional Public Organization (DRPO) "Pravozaschita" ( Advocacy), sentenced to five years in prison for alleged promoting terrorist activities, has announced his intention to appeal against the verdict.

The regions-members of the North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD), has launched the events dedicated to the end of the school year, known as "last bell". The schools of Karachay-Cherkessia, Ingushetia, Dagestan and Kabardino-Balkaria the events were held on May 23; and in the remaining regions they will take place on May 24.

At the trial of Ruslan Kutaev, the President of the "Assembly of Caucasian Nations", accused of storing drugs, three law enforcers were interrogated as witnesses for the prosecution, said the lawyer Pyotr Zaikin.

The General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) of Armenia has reported that the case of Shant Arutyunyan, the leader of the "Tsegakron" Party, and other participants of the action that took place on November 5, 2013, in Yerevan, accused of hooliganism, was sent to the court. Defendants' relatives are sure that the case is politically motivated.

On May 23, in Baku, Azerbaijani law enforcers held a search of the flat of the elderly parents of journalist Rauf Mirkadirov, who is accused of treason. The search was conducted without the presence of Mirkadirov's advocates, said one of them – Fuad Agaev.

Azerbaijani authorities shall immediately release Ilgar Mamedov, the leader of the civil movement "Republican Alternative" (ReAl), convicted on charges of organizing riots in the city of Ismailly, from prison, who was, said Anne Brasseur, the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), who is on her visit to Baku.

The Zamoskvoretsky District Court of Moscow has obliged the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" to get registered as a foreign agent. Thus, the complaint lodged by rights defenders against the respective demand of the prosecutor's office was rejected.

Timur Kuashev, a Circassian activist, rights defender and journalist, has turned to the Prosecutor's Office and the Investigating Department for the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR) of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF), demanding to prosecute the policemen who had detained him for several hours on the day of the march held on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the end of the Caucasian War.

A source from the Russian National Antiterrorist Committee (NAC) has informed the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that in the course of a special operation held on Friday, May 23, in the city of Baksan in the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR), apart from four suspected militants, an FSB officer was killed.

An armed skirmish burst out in the Sunzha District of Ingushetia, during which several people suffered. One of them, Magomed Evloev, an employee of a Private Security Agency (PSA), died in hospital, said the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Ingushetia.