News

Viktor Pivovarov, a priest from Slavyansk-on-Kuban, accused of discrediting the Russian Armed Forces, associates criminal proceedings against him with his Christmas message to believers.

In Dagestan and Ingushetia, officials try to hide data on “honour killings” by removing the information about such cases from court’s official websites. In Chechnya, citing a woman’s immoral behaviour as a motive for murder helps to obtain a more lenient punishment, human rights defender Saida Sirazhudinova has noted.

In her report dedicated to the problem of domestic violence human rights defender Saida Sirazhudinova notes that the problem of killings of women by their relatives remains acute in Dagestan, Ingushetia, and Chechnya. The problem of bride kidnapping also remains relevant in the republics.

The fame of World and European Boxing Champion Umar Salamov could be one of the reasons for his release by the Chechen law enforcement bodies, human rights defenders note. They emphasize that when relatives of the people kidnapped by law enforcers refuse to communicate with human rights defenders and journalists, they hope for leniency from the law enforcement bodies towards their family members.

Public events on the anniversary of the deportation of the Kalmyk people are predominantly formal in their nature and do not attract residents of the republic, although the memory of their repressed relatives is extremely important for them, public figures note.

In Pyatigorsk, the Garrison Military Court recognized as legal the actions of state border guards at an airport in Mineralnye Vody, who forced Olga Begretova, an activist from Nalchik, to have her fingerprints and biological material taken. The police refusal to investigate the incident was also found legal.

The “Memorial” Centre for Defence of Human Rights has informed the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Russia about the ongoing persecution of residents of Dagestan on religious grounds under the lists of the police preventive registration.

In her complaint to Kazbek Kokov, the leader of Kabardino-Balkaria, a spouse of mobilized Murat Tutov has claimed that their family with many children found itself in a difficult situation due to lack of payments, and the father of the family was diagnosed with serious illnesses after his participation in the special military operation and needs medical treatment.

Prayer services in memory of victims of the deportation were held throughout Kalmykia. In Elista, residents of the republic, among whom were survivors of the deportation, gathered for a rally.

In Karachay-Cherkessia, a court sentenced a local woman to 4.5 years of imprisonment, finding her guilty of encouraging participation in the “Union of Rus’ Slavic Forces”* organization, banned by the court, and recognized as extremist.

Denis Neprokin, a 49-year-old military man from Novorossiysk, re-filed a claim demanding his dismissal from the army. The man has explained that he is a single father and is raising a teenage son.

Viktor Pivovarov, Archbishop of the Slavyansk-on-Kuban and South Russian Russia’s Orthodox Church, has been accused of repeatedly discrediting the Russian Armed Forces. The reason for the institution of a criminal case became his published article condemning the special military operation (SMO) in Ukraine.

A resident of the Svetloyarsky District in the Volgograd Region, who, according to the investigators’ version, broke a memorial plaque about the deportation of the Kalmyk people, has been under the supervision of a psychiatrist for more than 10 years and after the incident was placed to a specialized medical institution, the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) reported.

The leader of Chechnya has called on participants of a “naked party,” a number of whom have the titles of Honoured and People’s Artists of Chechnya, to come to the Special Forces University in Gudermes and demonstrate the sincerity of their apologies by working for the benefit of volunteers.

Anti-Semitic actions in Dagestan were a failed provocation, announced republic’ leader Sergey Melikov. He has called for “putting aside” the topic of unrest at the Makhachkala airport.

A court sentenced a resident of the Rostov Region to 12 years of imprisonment for state treason. According to the court’s version, the defendant collected data on the location of military vehicles and equipment at an airfield in the Krasnodar Territory and transferred the information to the Ukrainian army.

During an interrogation of defence witnesses, Igor Nagavkin, accused of disorganizing the operation of a SIZO (pre-trial prison), complained about provocation against him and pressure on witnesses. Prison staff denied the accusations.

A court sentenced Ingush doctor Bagaudin Gaitukiev, accused of aiding and abetting members of illegal armed formations (IAFs), to five years of probation.

Khumaid Khaidaev, a native of Chechnya, accused in a case on a riot in a penal colony in Angarsk, stopped his hunger strike in a SIZO (pre-trial prison), which he declared in protest against discrimination on religious grounds.

Investigators considered a frame posted in a family chat showing tattoos with the symbols of an extremist organization as a reason to accuse Ruslan Bittuev, a resident of the Baksansky District, of repeated propaganda of extremism. The man said he posted the images “out of emotion” in connection with his brother’s death.