News

In Moscow, a search is over in the office of the "Enlightenment" Educational Foundation, during which power agents confiscated equipment and banned literature, eyewitnesses report. As of 11:30 p.m., most of the Muslims detained by law enforcers were released from the police station.

The criminal charges moved against a number of Azerbaijani non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and well-known civil society activists are of political nature. These charges are aimed to eliminate the independent institutions of the civil society, said members of the leading Azerbaijani NGOs.

On Friday, members of the Public Oversight Commission (POC) of Dagestan were unable to get into the unit "G" of the Makhachkala SIZO No. 1 (pre-trial prison), said Svetlana Isaeva, a human rights defender.

In Moscow, the office of the "Enlightenment" Foundation, where on Friday, Muslims gathering for prayer had been detained, is being searched, and staff members of the Department to Combat Extremism are searching for explosives there.

On Friday, the Novocherkassk City Court has dismissed the appeal filed by the Union "Women of Don" against the court's decision on the fine of 300,000 roubles for the NGO's activities without registration as a "foreign agent." The Union "Women of Don" intends to challenge the decision, advocate Olga Gnezdilova reports.

The Moscow City Court (MCC) has refused to release from custody businessman Levon Airapetyan, one of the richest members of the Armenian Diaspora, who is accused in the Russian Federation of embezzlement of funds and money laundering.

Madina Djamaldinova, a resident of Makhachkala, has been sentenced to 1.5 years of imprisonment in settlement-colony on charges of joining the armed underground and aiding other militants, the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) reports.

At present, forensic experts are not yet able to draw any opinion on the causes of death of journalist Timur Kuashev in Nalchik. However, the experts have found on his body a sign from an injection, said Valery Ustov, the head of the Investigating Department (ID) for the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR) of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF).

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).