News

The court has sentenced Grigory Belik, a resident of Kuban (Krasnodar Territory), to a fine of 176,000 roubles for his critical assessment of the May 9 celebrations. The man has emphasized that he treats the Victory Day itself a holy holiday.

When commenting on the statements of blogger Areg Schepikhin about Chechens and Muslims, fighters of the “Akhmat” special forces claimed that the incitement of ethnic hatred during military operations should be punishable by death.

About a dozen people whom Tatiana Polivanova helped defend their rights to land plots in litigation with officials came to support her at a court hearing on the issue of a pre-trial restriction measure, but the activist was not brought to the Sochi court. Those gathered signed an appeal in defence of Tatiana Polivanova.

A court has sentenced four residents of Tatarstan to long terms of imprisonment in a case on the attack on Pskov paratroopers in Chechnya in 2000.

A court in Kuban (Krasnodar Territory) has explained the lenient sentence in the case of the beating up of Fyodor Valko by the fact that the defendants had no "desire to cause particular sufferings to the victim"; however, human rights defenders treat the interpretation of the law by the court as erroneous. The convicted law enforcers have appealed against the sentence, while Valko will seek to recognise their actions as torture.

The Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) has initiated a criminal case against Areg Schepikhin, a blogger, who was kidnapped at the Yaroslavsky Railway Station in Moscow. Today, they plan to choose a freedom restriction measure for his kidnappers.

The Rostov Regional Court has sentenced a 56-year-old resident of the Rostov Region, whom law enforcers had accused of transferring money to a Ukrainian account, to 12 years of strict regime.

At least several men arrested in May during a series of searches in Nalchik and Nartan have complained to their advocates about torture. Relatives of the defendants are seeking a meeting with the leader of Kabardino-Balkaria.

The Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation reports about the institution of a criminal case after the incident with a blogger at the Yaroslavsky Railway Station, announcing the detention of “all the suspects involved in the case.” Only three out of the six suspects have been detained pending trial to determine the pre-trial restriction measure, sources in the law enforcement bodies report.

The police conducted a search at the home of activist Tatiana Polivanova in Sochi and took her to an IVS (temporary detention facility). The court is preparing to pronounce a pre-trial restriction measure with regard to the activist, accused of acting as an intermediary in the transfer of a bribe. The relatives of the activist associate the prosecution with the Tatiana Polivanova’s public activities.

Evgeny Popov, a Russian State Duma MP, and Eva Merkachova, a human rights defender, regard the actions of law enforcers who had kidnapped Areg Schepikhin at the train station and took him away in a car trunk as unacceptable. A source from Chechen authorities said that law enforcers saved the blogger from Muslims’ wrath; and the detention was not too harsh.

The kidnapping of the blogger, Areg Schepikhin, has recalled the involvement of Chechen law enforcers in the disappearance of Salman Tepsurkaev and the detention circumstances of Zarema Musaeva. The details of the incident leave open the issue of whether law enforcers in Moscow were notified of the actions of their Chechen colleagues.

The factions of the National Assembly of Nagorno-Karabakh have not nominated a single candidate for the presidency of the unrecognized republic three weeks after the termination of the Samvel Shakhramanyan’s powers.

In his videos, blogger and entrepreneur Areg Schepikhin, who was kidnapped at the Yaroslavsky Railway Station in Moscow in the evening of June 3, spoke out against Muslims and Jews and also insulted Chechens and Dagestanis.

In Volgograd, a court sentenced student Andrei Glukhov to 12 years of imprisonment, recognizing as high treason his transfer in the amount of 3000 roubles to an account in a Ukrainian bank. Andrei Glukhov transferred the money to a person who claimed that he was collecting signatures to speed up negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.

Several dozen people were detained in Baku at the action with a demand an investigation into the death of a 17-year-old resident of Ganja. After the detention, they reported law enforcers’ pressure, accusing them of cruel treatment and sexual harassment.

The switch to a single-level model of self-government is unfit for the republics of Northern Caucasus, as it breaks the established political alignments. However, even in the event of a transition to a new model, the negative effect for the republics of Southern Russia will be less than for other regions.

During searching Muslims’ homes, law enforcers planted SIM cards; the cases of taking part in a terrorist organization were fabricated, the Muslims’ relatives have stated in their complaint addressed to human rights defenders. In total, 48 people were detained during the law enforcers' operation conducted in the city of Nalchik and the village of Nartan, human rights defenders have reported.

Nato Bolkvadze, a Tax Service Department analyst, was dismissed from her job after participating in protests against the suspension of the Georgia’s European integration. Nato Bolkvadze treats her dismissal as violation of her rights and intends to appeal against it.

The cassation court has reduced the sentence for Mikhail Muzraev, convicted in the case on the arson of the house of the Volgograd Region Governor, from 20 years to 18.5 years of imprisonment. The sentence of the second defendant has been left unchanged.