News

The new stage of counteracting car window tinting in Chechnya entails additional risks for drivers, but residents of the republic mainly tint their cars when they use then outside the republic’s borders.

International human rights organizations have called on the members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) to confirm the suspension of Azerbaijan's powers and establish criteria for restoring them, including the release of political prisoners and enforcement of the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).

On the 56th day of protests against the suspension of European integration, protesters blocked traffic near the Georgian Parliament. A rally in support of Mziya Amaglobeli, the founder of the "Batumelebi" and "Netgazeti" outlets, was held near the Georgia’s legislative body (Parliament).

Numerous requests to demobilize Alexei Abramov, a Krasnodar resident, for his health reasons remain unanswered. He is in the special military operation (SMO) zone and has not been in touch for a month, his wife has informed.

A court in Novorossiysk has dismissed the case against Askhabali Alibekov, a blogger, initiated on a repeated discrediting of the Russian Army due to the expiration of the statute of limitations. This was reported by the “OVD-Info”* human rights project, citing Alibekov's advocate.

In Tbilisi, representatives of the New Theatre, whose actor Andro Chichinadze was arrested within a case of organizing violence during protests, have demanded to release all the "regime inmates”; they have also announced protest actions in country regions.

Ahead of the trial in a case against journalists of the “Abzas Media” online publication, the “Reporters Without Borders” human rights organization called on to release employees of independent media outlets arrested in Azerbaijan.

In Grozny, a court has dismissed a complaint about the investigator’s refusal to present for examination the materials of a criminal case on disappearance of Movsar Umarov. The investigators are not interested in investigating cases that could prove the law enforcers’ involvement in the disappearances of people, human rights defenders suggest.

The court has educed the freedom deprivation term of Askhabali Alibekov, a blogger from Novorossiysk, convicted within the case of attacking a policeman, by four months.

Timur Idalov, an advocate from Chechnya, has been released from forced labour, since the order to enforce his sentence was revoked. The statute of limitations for the case has already expired. Idalov asked the Supreme Court (SC) to hold the judge who had sentenced him accountable.

Gubad Ibadoglu, an opposition politician, scientist and economist, has to regularly report to the police station in the city of Sumgait under the conditions of police supervision, although he lives in Baku, and regular trips negatively affect his health.

On the 35th anniversary of Soviet troops’ invasion into the city, Baku residents came to the memorial on the Alley of Martyrs to commemorate the casualties.

The NGO “Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association” has demanded to stop the criminal prosecution of Mziya Amaglobeli and to fire the Batumi police boss who had detained the journalist.

Larisa Baragunova, a pensioner from the city of Tyrnyauz, convicted for attacking law enforcers, has complained that the administration of the SIZO (pre-trial prison) bans her from call home, and her cellmates put pressure on her.

Three independent Azerbaijani journalists received emails with offers of cooperation signed by their French colleagues. The Azerbaijani journalists believe that those messages were sent by local law enforcers in attempts to get a pretext to institute criminal cases of espionage.

On the 16th anniversary of the murder of advocate Stanislav Markelov and Anastasia Baburova, a journalist of the “Novaya Gazeta” newspaper, memorial events were held in various cities in Russia, as well as France, Germany, Thailand, and other countries.

The Prosecutor's Office (PO) has approved the charges against Ruslan Nurushev, a Volgograd lawyer, in the case of disseminating fakes about the Russian Army.

Repressions in Azerbaijan, pollution in Anapa, trial against former leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh, persecution of pacifists and activists in Southern Russia, protests in Georgia, and official data on the natives of Southern Russia who perished in Ukraine, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of January 13-19, 2025, prepared by the “Caucasian Knot”.

The court has overturned the ruling to enforce the sentence passed to Timur Idalov, a Chechen lawyer. The decision to keep him in custody after announcing the verdict is contrary to the law, his defence has stated.

Activists in masks who protest against the ban on covering faces during protest actions have joined the Georgians who gathered outside the parliament demanding to go on with the country's European integration and new elections.