News

The data on the reunification of 6000 families, announced by the Muftiate of Chechnya, looks inflated; and the clergy's role in this process is exaggerated, local residents believe.

The Russian State Duma MPs have approved the amendments to the law on countering extremism, suggested by the Chechen Parliament at Ramzan Kadyrov's initiative. The bill, the alleged aim thereof is to protect religious literature from unjustified bans, was adopted despite the initial critical conclusion of the State Duma legal department.

Law enforcers have summoned the head of Boris Nadezhdin's electoral office in Ingushetia for a conversation; the signature collectors from Dagestan and the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR) have stated that there was no pressure on them.

Employees of the Chechen Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) sent to the special military operation zone in a combined military detachment have hardly left for Ukraine by their own will, but their refusal could lead to persecution of them and their relatives, human rights defenders believe.

Marina Yandieva, a native of Ingushetia, who fled domestic violence, is safe outside Russia, human rights defenders report.

In Krasnodar, a signature collector for the presidential candidate, Boris Nadezhdin, has spent several hours in police custody. In Volgograd, a café director called the police when several activists came to his café to have lunch.

Unknown persons in masks, introducing themselves as "veterans", tried to break down the door to the apartment of Vyacheslav Yaschenko, a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, after which they turned off electricity on the entire house floor. When they arrived, only the journalist's wife was at home; and she called the police.

Sergey Melikov, the leader of Dagestan, has claimed that the report of a Dagestani journalist about a dilapidated school building in the village of Shinaz, released on the federal TV channel, is biased. The leader of the republic has emphasized that he has been monitoring the situation with the school for two years already.

By the outcomes of cassation and retrial of her case by the first-instance court, Elena Menchikova, a Jehovah's Witness* from the Karachay-Cherkessian Republic (KChR), was sentenced to 4.5 years of (conditional imprisonment (probation), contrary to the prosecutor's demand for five years of real imprisonment.

In Kizilyurt, a court found local resident Zulfiya Dengalova guilty of participating in an illegal armed formation (IAF) in Syria. Taking into account her repentance and the fact that the woman is raising four children alone, the court sentenced her to suspended imprisonment for five years.

The administration of the Armavir SIZO (pre-trial prison) has denied the problem with heating in the cells, which Marina Melikhova complained about, her defence has reported.

For her pacifist position, Irina Skorovarova, a resident of the city of Taganrog, is accused of discrediting the Russian Army, the human rights project "Support for Political Prisoners. Memorial" has informed demanding to stop her criminal case.

Ramzan Kadyrov has proposed to "kick out" Mikhail Matveev, an MP, from the State Duma after his statement that authorities were bending "before the Islamic factor," and warned about the threat of intra-Russian conflicts with Muslims. After this, the above MP recorded a video with an apology, explaining that he had meant supporters of the radical Islam and the "shaitans" already defeated in Chechnya.

For the second time this year, Natalia Dorozhnova, a pensioner and a Volgograd activist, has been found guilty of discrediting the Russian Army. The court has obliged her to pay a fine of 30,000 roubles.

Following the retrial of her case by the court, Elena Menchikova, a Jehovah's Witness*, should be sentenced to five years in penal colony, the prosecutor has demanded. The woman has rejected the accusations of extremism and called on the court to be impartial, the human rights project "OVD-Info"** has informed.

An unidentified man with a sheet of paper in his hands tried to stand next to Idris Yusupov*, who was holding a solo picket in support of Abdulmumin Gadjiev, and the journalist had to stop his protest action.

In their cassation appeal, advocates of convicts claimed that the court of appeal had committed serious violations when considering the case against the Ingush oppositionists and that should become the basis for cancellation of the verdict.

At a court hearing in a case on defamation instituted against Vladimir Atamanchuk, the judge dismissed all the motions filed by the defence; and the activist called the case a politically motivated falsification.

Marina Melikhova, an activist, convicted of discrediting Russian militaries, has complained about the problems with heating at the SIZO-2 (pre-trial prison) in Armavir.

The incident when schoolgirls of the Derbent school received insults and threats for allegedly inappropriate clothes and appearance could not have happened if the school administration had introduced school uniforms, and officials had paid more attention to educating and upbringing young people. This is what Dagestani political analyst, educator and lawyer assert.