News

On April 18, Firdovsi Fikret oglu Nasibov, a conscript of the Azerbaijani army, was found hanged. This was reported by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of Azerbaijan. According to the preliminary information, the soldier has committed suicide.

The ban to hold a rally in Makhachkala in support of Said Amirov was unjustified, and law enforcers provoked participants of the rally. This was stated by participants of the press conference held in Makhachkala.

Journalists of the Georgian "TV3" Channel detained on April 15 by Russian border guards in Gori District claim they did not violate the border with South Ossetia. However, they do not deny that they captured on video the Russian military base.

One more crew member of the Astrakhan bulk-carrier "Vatan-1", which was detained in the port of Baku for debts, has been hospitalized. For the third day, the crew of the vessel is on the ship without fuel, heat and electricity.

In Yerevan, about 40 Syrian Armenians and Arabs organized a march in memory of the victims of the conflict in Syria and combat actions in the town of Kesab. The event was timed to the Independence Day of Syria, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

According to the investigators' priority version, militants are involved in the assassination of Musa Islavov, a Dagestani MP. This was reported by an official from the investigating bodies.

In Azerbaijan, journalist Parviz Gashimli, who is kept in the SIZO (pre-trial prison) of the Azerbaijani Ministry of National Security (MNS), has stopped his hunger strike. Meanwhile, Parviz Gashimli claims he is still subjected to pressure in the SIZO.

The concerns of rights defenders that Evgeny Vitishko, an ecologist from Krasnodar, was placed in the dungeon in the penal colony in the Tver Region of Russian, where he serves his term, have not confirmed. As reported by activists of the "Ecological Watch for Northern Caucasus" (EcoWatch), Evgeny's conditions have not changed.

In Azerbaijan, at the trial of "Nida" activists, today the court has finished studying the evidence and listened to the closing speech of the state prosecutor. He demanded from 6 to 8.5 years of imprisonment for the defendants. The latter announced an endless protest hunger strike.

The Prosecutor's Office of Chechnya has initiated the resumption of the criminal case dealing with the kidnapping and subsequent disappearance of Askhab Soltagiraev, a resident of Chechnya, who was kidnapped by unidentified power agents in spring 2002, said the Office. Soltagiraev's relatives believe that law enforcement bodies were involved in his kidnapping.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports that Timur Tangiev, who is kept in SIZO (pre-trial prison) No. 1 of the Department for the Chechen Republic of the Russian Penitentiary Service (known as UFSIN), complains about threats and unfair treatment that he receives from law enforcers – in protest he cut his wrists, but survived.

Since March 21, activities of the public organization "Ecological Watch for Northern Caucasus" (EcoWatch) are suspended in accordance with Article 42 of the Law "On Public Associations". This was reported by Bella Meretukova, the head of the Division for NGO Affairs of the Department of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) for the Republic of Adygea.

Following the results of 2013, Russia occupied the 10th place in the ranking of countries, where high probability of impunity for murders of journalists still remained. This was reported by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The report prepared by the CPJ mentions the murders of journalists from Dagestan, Kabardino-Balkaria, Chechnya and the Stavropol Territory.

This morning, unidentified persons have shelled a car of Musa Islavov, a deputy of the National Assembly of Dagestan. The MP died at the place, and his driver was hospitalized in a serious condition.

On April 16, at the session of the National Assembly of Nagorno-Karabakh, representatives of the factions "Democratic Party of Artsakh", "Free Homeland", and the MP group "Artsakhatun" made a statement on the events in the Syrian town of Kesab. They urged the international community to pay attention to citizens who were forced to leave their homes.

At the conference "Caucasus is our common home", the awards in the category "Young Women in Caucasus" were granted to Anait Danielyan, editor of the Internet newspaper "KarabakhOpen.info" (Nagorno-Karabakh), Megi Bibiluri, the head of the NGO "Friendship Bridge Kartlosi" (Georgia), and Irina Kishukova, Director of the Charitable Foundation "Razvitie" (Development) (Kabardino-Balkarian Republic).

Relatives of Aliskhan Gurazhev and Mustafa Barkinkhoev, residents of the village of Maiskoe of the Prigorodny District of North Ossetia, who were detained on charges of possession and transportation of drugs, were allowed to visit the detainees in the Vladikavkaz SIZO (pre-trial prison).

Anna Politkovskaya, the murdered journalist of the newspaper "Novaya Gazeta" saw people who were shadowing her. This was stated by Vera Politkovskaya, a daughter of the murdered journalist, at the court session held on April 16 at the Moscow City Court.

On April 16, South-Ossetian authorities have delivered to the Georgian party three Georgian citizens – journalists of the Georgian TV3 Channel, detained on April 15 near the village of Adzvi in the Gori District, said the KGB (Committee for State Security) of South Ossetia.

The Maikop Mayoralty has twice refused to sanction the rally "Stop corruption in Adygea!" applied for by the Public Movement "For the Future of Adygea", Rashid Mugu, a board member of the Movement, said today.