News

Supporters of the opposition have called on their activists to gather on June 11 in a Yerevan square and speak out against political repressions.

Six other believers kept in jails of Azerbaijan have joined the hunger strike declared by Talekh Bagirzade, the leader of the "Muslim Unity" Movement (MUM); in total, now, 11 persons are hunger-striking.

The National Security Service (NSS) of Nagorno-Karabakh has detained a military serviceman suspected of transferring secret information to a representative of a foreign intelligence service via a social network. The suspect received USD 1550 from the foreign service, investigators assert.

Ali Aliev, the chair of the “Citizens and Development Party”, who went on a hunger strike in protest against the third charge, has recently intensified criticism of the authorities, and that fact has become the reason for his persecution, analysts interviewed by the “Caucasian Knot” point out.

The authorities of Dagestan should adopt a law on the dress code and rules of conduct for tourists, note some users of the “VKontakte” social media outlet who watched a video with a female tourist in a swimsuit near the Khuchninsky waterfall. Other users point out that local residents themselves do not comply with the requirements for tourists.

Veronika Antonova-Trizno, the editor-in-chief of the “Sputnik-Azerbaijan” news agency, and the agency’s correspondent Pavel Antonov have been deprived of the right to temporary residence in Azerbaijan.

Participants in a march to the presidential residence, where the meeting of the CSTO Council of Foreign Ministers is being held, state that the participation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in the negotiations on Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh illegitimate.

In Cherkessk, the capital of the Karachay-Cherkessian Republic (KChR), law enforcers have detained Kase Kik, an Adyg activist, and tortured him, after what he was charged with petty hooliganism, the activist himself has stated. The court sentenced him to seven days of arrest, human rights defenders have informed.

For their refusal to go to the special operation in Ukraine, military servicemen, including those from the regions of the North-Caucasian and Southern Federal District (NCFD and SFD), face the risk of being accused of disobeying an order, but the criminal articles on desertion and unauthorized abandonment of a military unit are not applicable in these cases, lawyers have pointed out.

The Oktiabrsky District Court of Stavropol has fined Savely Morozov, an activist, by 40,000 roubles, finding him guilty of discrediting the Russian Army.

The bosses of the IDS "Borjomi" Company have paid wages only to those workers who had signed contracts; and those who disagree with the new working conditions are under pressure, strikers said at their meeting with Nino Lomdjariya, the Georgian Ombudsperson.

Sergey Lavrov, the head of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), is putting pressure on the Armenian authorities, demanding that they give in to Azerbaijan and Turkey on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, activists of the National Democratic Pole (NDP) have stated at a rally held near the Russian Embassy to Armenia. They demanded to declare Lavrov a persona non grata in Armenia.

Djabbar Djabbarov, a convicted activist of the "Muslim Unity" Movement (MUM), has stopped his hunger strike, declared in solidarity with Talekh Bagirzade and his demand to punish law enforcers for blasphemy, due to his health problems. Under the threat of a ban on telephone conversations with relatives, the journalist, Polad Aslanov, has also stopped his hunger strike.

Without explaining the reasons, Georgian border guards refuse to let natives of Northern Caucasus into Georgia, the residents of Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" have stated.

Members of the European Parliament adopted a resolution in which they pointed to the harassment of the media and threats to the safety of journalists in Georgia. Authors of the resolution suggested that the Council of Europe impose sanctions against Bidzina Ivanishvili because of his participation in the persecution of journalists and political opponents.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) excluded from the list of the cases under consideration a complaint about the pre-trial arrest of Azerbaijani oppositionist Alikram Khurshudov after the government promised to pay compensation to him. The oppositionist himself said that he refused a settlement agreement with the authorities and was dissatisfied with the amount of compensation.

An opposition march was timed to coincide with the visit of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to Yerevan. Participants of the march have expressed their hope that Russia will fulfil its obligations as a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group and will not go beyond the statements adopted by the co-chairs on the fate of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The special military operation in Ukraine may be completed before the end of the year, suggests Adam Delimkhanov, a State Duma member from Chechnya. Some Internet users point out that only the president of the country may talk about the timing of the end of the special military operation, and other users considered the deadline mentioned by Adam Delimkhanov to be too long.

In Novorossiysk, another protocol under the article on discrediting the Russian armed forces was drawn up against Askhabali Alibekov, known as an author of the “Wild Paratrooper” blog, after he posted a video on the Internet calling for a stop to the special military operation in Ukraine. The second protocol threatens Askhabali Alibekov with a criminal case.

Thirteen members of the terrorist organization "Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami"* in Rostov-on-Don are suspected of recruiting local Muslims and migrants, the Russian FSB (Federal Security Bureau) has informed.