News

The cassation instance has upheld the sentence to a native of Dagestan, sentenced to 11 years in prison for trying to convince his acquaintances to commit terror acts.

Dagestani journalist Idris Yusupov has held a solo picket, during which he demanded to release Abdulmumin Gadjiev, an arrested editor of the Dagestani weekly newspaper “Chernovik” (Rough Draft).

Persecution of pacifists and activists in Southern Russia, case against the Ingush activists, institutionalization of the blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh, scandals around Ramzan Kadyrov, 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 April 24-30, 2023, prepared by the “Caucasian Knot”.

Svetlana Matukhnova, a citizen of Ukraine living in Sochi, has apologized for her words about Russians posted in a social network. Five days ago, the court arrested her for eight days, finding her guilty of inciting hatred.

The head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, has stated that is thinking about creating an army that "will protect the interests of oppressed nations."

Alipat Sultanbegova, a Krasnodar activist, said that she was detained at her workplace, while law enforcers behaved correctly with her. She intends to appeal against the new protocol on discrediting the Russian Army drawn up on her.

The accusation of involvement in an extremist community is not supported by proofs; and the sentence is based on the assumptions that contradict witnesses' testimonies and experts' conclusions, Barakh Chemurziev, an Ingush activist, who was sentenced to eight years in prison, has stated.

Law enforcers have repeatedly visited the mother of Stepan Kosolapov, a resident of Novorossiysk, trying to get her son's phone number and address. After the court imposed a fine on him for discrediting the Russian Army, he filed an application for coercion to testify.

The Volgodonsk District Court has arrested Dmitry Lyagushkin, a pensioner, for seven days for posting a video about the celebration of the Victory Day, in which a swastika was shown.

The prosecutor's office has approved the indictment in the criminal case opened against Oleg Orlov, a human rights defender, accused of discrediting militaries. The case has been sent to a Moscow court.

The publication that Chechen oppositional bloggers received money from a representative of the Chechen authorities for staging their deaths and stopping criticism has hit their reputation, social media users and readers of the "Caucasian Knot" have pointed out.

Musa Malsagov, Barakh Chemurziev, Malsag Uzhakhov and their advocates have presented their appeal complaints to the court, treating their verdicts as ungrounded and demanding to cancel them with the right to rehabilitation.

The study of nail sections in Zarema Musaeva’s case was accompanied by gross violations and suggests that the samples were substituted, the defence has claimed in court.

In Nizhny Novgorod, the office of the “Team Against Torture”* and three lawyers from the human rights organization were searched on Friday. The police explained the searches with a criminal case instituted in North Ossetia.

The court has fined a resident of Sochi, whom the police detained at his work after he wrote in a chat on what was happening in Ukraine, the human rights project "OVD-Info"* has reported.

The situation with human rights violations in Russia has worsened, the Amnesty International (AI) has stated in a submission to the UN High Commissioner, highlighting the cases of persecution of critics of the authorities and human rights defenders in Chechnya.

About 30 natives of Dagestan, Kabardino-Balkaria, Ingushetia and Chechnya, convicted under terrorist articles, are on hunger strike in a Baghdad prison, demanding a revision of their cases and return to Russia.

Some 150-200 Chechens are fighting on the side of Ukraine in hostilities there; they are mostly descendants of former militants who fought against federal troops in the first and second Chechen campaigns; they are among the personnel of three units, the Politico, an US-based outlet, reports.

After kidnapping, residents of the village of Alkhan-Kala were accused of links with militants, Oyub Titiev, a human rights defender, has stated.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) considered the claims filed by six residents of Rostov-on-Don, Volgograd, and Sochi, who were detained at protest actions in 2017-2018, and obliged Russia to pay them compensation for their illegal detentions and lack of fair trials.