News

Ayats (verses) of the Koran, references to which were left by attackers at a synagogue in Derbent, are interpreted by the extremists to justify their confrontation with Jews and Christians, Leonid Syukiyainen and Dmitry Mikulsky point out. The experts suggest that the date of the attack on the Orthodox temple was chosen by the militants because of the Christian holiday celebrated on that day.

The Elista City Court has convicted three female Jehovah's Witnesses*: Kishta Tutinova has been sentenced to three years, Tsagan Khalgaeva and Ekaterina Menkova – to two years of conditional imprisonment each.

The attacks committed by militants on churches and synagogues have interrupted a 13-month-long calm period in Dagestan. Earlier, the republic faced a number of attacks on religious figures and worship places.

After the start of the special military operation (SMO) in Ukraine, Russian law enforcers are more actively initiating criminal cases of treason; and appellate courts are upholding the verdicts, lawyers have commented on the verdict passed to Vladislav Poruchikov, a student from Taganrog.

The Court of Appeal in Sochi has upheld the sentence of activist Vladimir Atamanchuk, who was found guilty of libel and sentenced to 200 hours of compulsory labour.

Law enforcers have opened a criminal case against Martin Kochesoko*, an activist from the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR), for evading the duties of a foreign agent.

A court in Makhachkala has demanded from law enforcers to eliminate violations in the case of the journalist Idris Yusupov*, accused of failing to fulfil the duties of a foreign agent.

Musa Aliev, a resident of the village of Mutsalaul, has demanded to treat the suspension of the trial against the law enforcers who had beaten him up during his detention within a rape case as illegal. The Supreme Court (SC) has upheld the suspension, citing the fact that one of the accused had gone to the special military operation (SMO) in Ukraine.

It is 20 years since the attack of Shamil Basaev's militants on Ingushetia, as a result of which 78 people were killed and 113 others were wounded. In Nazran, renovation of the memorial to the victims of the attack is being completed, the city Mayoralty has informed.

All the chances to achieve punishment for Tagir Velagaev, a pensioner of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), for assassinating his ex-wife Umazhat Guseinova have been exhausted, the advocate of the suffered party has stated. Those accused of committing murders often refer to a state of passion in order to get the verdicts mitigated, human rights defenders have noted.

An article, under which Alyona Agafonova, a blogger from Samara, was sentenced to correctional labour for desecrating the monument “The Motherland is Calling!”, provides no clear definitions, and there is no official list of symbols of the Russia’s military glory, human rights defenders pointed out.

An appeal filed by Zalina Marshenkulova, a journalist from Kabardino-Balkaria, against her arrest in absentia in a case on justifying terrorism has been received by the Moscow City Court.

The court of cassation in Pyatigorsk upheld the verdict against the Ingush activists. About 20 people came to the Supreme Court (SC) of Ingushetia to support the defendants.

A court in Elista has conducted interrogations and again moved on to the debate on the case of local Jehovah's Witnesses*. In Southern Russia, a total of 109 believers have been convicted or are under investigation; the first case in Kalmykia has demonstrated the signs of conveyor-belt persecution inherent in other cases, Yaroslav Sivulsky, a representative of the European Association of Jehovah's Witnesses*, has stated.

The court ruling to release Leila Gatagazheva under recognizance not to leave the place has given hope that the criminal prosecution on charges of links with militants in Syria would be dropped, her advocates have stated.

The verdict to Vladimir Yarotsky, a resident of Krasnodar, who was fined by 350,000 roubles within the case of calls for terrorism, was a very lenient punishment under this article, lawyers have noted.

Ekrem Krosh, accused of taking part in the "Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami"*, held at the SIZO (pre-trial prison) No. 1 in Rostov-on-Don, has complained that law enforcers had beaten him up. He has linked their actions with the recent hostage-taking that occurred at this SIZO.

Soslan Dzidakhanov, who was subjected to bullying by a law enforcer, has claimed one million roubles from the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) as compensation for moral harm, but the court in North Ossetia reduced this amount to 200,000 roubles.

In Krasnodar, the police released after detention a husband of Maria Smelaya, a native of Chechnya. No child was accompanying him. The man is suspected of unsanctioned actions with the use of violence.

When entering the Russian presidential reception, Diana Tsomartova claimed the absence of results of the investigation into the disappearance of her daughter, who disappeared in Dagestan. The woman also filed complaints to the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) and the FSB.