News

An initiative has been sent to the presidential plenipotentiary office to create a “committee to combat obscenity” to ban performances of undesirable artists in Northern Caucasus, reports Saipuddin Guchigov, the head of the “Our Home is the City of Grozny” movement.

Azerbaijani blogger Rashad Ramazanov, who was arrested in a case on drug trafficking and who complained about torture, was sent to a psychiatric hospital for examination. The prosecutor’s office launched an investigation into Rashad Ramazanov’s complaint about torture.

Talekh Bagirzade, the convicted leader of the “Muslim Unity” movement, reported a deterioration in his condition on the tenth day of the hunger strike, but refuses the help of doctors, his spouse says.

Colleagues of Abdulmumin Gadjiev, a journalist of the weekly newspaper “Chernovik” (Rough Draft), recalled that he was arrested three years ago. They held pickets in Makhachkala and called for the release of the journalist.

Persecution of pacifists in Southern Russia; decision of the ECtHR on a complaint of Jehovah‘s Witnesses* from Taganrog; hunger strikes of political prisoners in Azerbaijan; decrease in protest activity in Armenia, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of June 6-12, 2022, prepared by the “Caucasian Knot”.

Students of the Tbilisi State University (TSU) have agreed to unblock the rector's office in exchange for the rector's resignation and a meeting with the Georgian Minister of Education to discuss the issue of possible distance (remote) learning due to high rental housing prices in Tbilisi.

During the week from June 6 to June 12, 2022, during the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus, there were no reports about any casualties or wounded persons. These are the results of the calculations run by the "Caucasian Knot" based on its own materials and information from open sources.

The protest movement has no broad public support, analysts assert. The protests may come to naught if the opposition fails to move on to substantive changes, Armen Badalyan has noted.

The two families, who had been at war for 10 years because of the death of a young man, have reconciled with the mediation of the Muftiate, the "Grozny" TV Channel has reported.

The Russian citizens who have moved to Georgia held an action in Tbilisi against the military operation in Ukraine. Two more pacifist actions were organized by local activists.

On June 12, fighters of the "Rosgvardiya" (Russian National Guard) from Ingushetia returned home from the special operation in Ukraine; hundreds of people came to meet them, the press service of the head of the republic has reported.

On June 11, the youth wing of the "Resistance" oppositional movement held a march in Yerevan demanding the release of activists detained at recent activists' rallies. Protesters have treated these people as political prisoners and stated that authorities were trying to extinguish the opposition movement by means of arrests.

Adam Delimkhanov, a State Duma MP from Chechnya, has been appointed First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Security and Combating Corruption; it was done as a reward for his staying in the special operation zone in Ukraine. His appointment evidences the growing influence of the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, the political analysts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" believe.

Azerbaijani authorities should lift convictions from nine activists, including the journalist, Khadidja Ismayilova, and fully acquit them, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (CE) has stated.

In the Ararat Region of Armenia, law enforcers have detained several activists who tried to block the local highway in protest against the arrival of Nikol Pashinyan, the Armenian Prime Minister, in the region.

The resident of Dagestan, who made a remark to a couple, who were kissing each other in public at a Makhachkala shopping centre, should not have initiated a brawl, Mukhammad Mairanov, the chairman of the Dagestan Muftiate, has stated. Some network users believe that the tough reaction contributes to the protection of traditions, while their opponents condemned the violence.

On June 10, a court in Grozny extended the arrest of Zarema Musaeva; the case of her attacking a law enforcer is being checked by the prosecutor's office, Abubakar Yangulbaev, a Musaeva's son, has informed.

A court in Sochi has imposed a fine of 15,000 roubles on Anna Kolmagortseva, finding her guilty of abusing the freedom of media for her interview with Vladimir Atamanchuk, the coordinator of the "Civil Initiative" public movement about the situation in Ukraine.

The Tbilisi State University (TSU) has agreed to comply with a students' demand to change the exam format after students seized the rector's study. During the students' protest, some TSU employees suffered; four of them were hospitalized.

A court in Azerbaijan has sentenced the lawyer, Ilham Aslanoglu, to six months in prison after finding him guilty of libel in his posted video about the "Terter case". This is Aslanoglu's second sentence this year within a defamation case.