News

Chechen law enforcers have not released the nephew of Zelimkhan Mustafinov, one of the authors of the oppositional Telegram channel NIYSO; the nephew’s whereabouts after kidnapping are unknown. All the relatives of Said-Ali Abubakirov have been expelled from Chechnya; they have left Northern Caucasus.

A rally with a public display of the body of a teenager who killed a law enforcer in Achkhoi-Martan is an act of medieval savagery that has nothing in common with Chechen customs, activists of the “Memorial”* Centre for Human Rights Defence (CHRD) note.

The actions of the man who attacked Igor Khoroshilov, a Rostov journalist, were prepared in advance, which excludes any spontaneous conflict. At the same time, the absence of direct proofs of links of the attack with Igor’s professional activities will allow law enforcers to treat the incident as a domestic conflict, lawyers have pointed out.

Before deporting relatives of the NIYSO Telegram channel’s administrators and active commentators to Ingushetia, law enforcers gathered them and local residents in the mosque of the village of Gikalo and , where a “public curse ritual” was held there. The NIYSO activists considered the events an act of intimidation of the population.

The “Amnesty International” human rights organization has called on the authorities of Azerbaijan to release and provide medical care to convicted oppositionist Tofig Yagublu, whose health state has deteriorated during his hunger strike.

The relatives of the teenager killed during an attack on a road-and-patrol police service (known as DPS) checkpoint in Achkhoi-Martan are having their property confiscated. The reprisals affected even distant relatives of the killed young man, as well as relatives of administrators and commentators of the opposition NIYSO Telegram channel.

Igor Khoroshilov, a journalist, was attacked in Rostov-on-Don. According to his story, the attacker was wearing a mask, sprayed him with a can and hit him several times.

After the teen’s attack on the road-and-patrol (DPS) police post in Achkhoi-Martan, Chechen authorities accused the administrators of the NIYSO Telegram channel of involvement in radicalization and launched repressions against their families. The mass eviction of relatives from Chechnya with the confiscation of their property was organized with the aim to stop the work of the NIYSO Movement.

By May 1 this year, the court must issue a decision on a new freedom restriction measure for Zarema Musaeva in the case of disrupting the work of the colony. If they fail to decide by this date, it will be considered that no measure has been chosen for Musaeva.

The father of the teenager killed in an attack on a road-and-patrol police service (known as DPS) checkpoint in Achkhoi-Martan has been taken by law enforcers to Chechnya from Moscow and beaten, sources report.

In Azerbaijan, four other activists have been charged in the case of receiving grants. Akhmed Mamedzade has been taken into custody, Aitadj Agazade has been arrested in absentia, and Galib Bairamov and Nargiz Mukhtarova have been placed under police surveillance. The number of case figurants has reached 10.

The detention of Imam Mukhammad Tamaskhanov, popular among Ingush youth, became a warning to adherents of spiritual movements whose position diverges from that of the Muftiate; while the version about his links with militants is questionable, analysts have pointed out.

The day before, the teenager who attacked the road-and-patrol (DPS) police post in Achkhoi-Martan had a conflict with the law enforcer on duty there. The young man planned to take revenge on the offender, but by mistake fatally wounded his colleague, sources claim.

Authorities have demanded that teachers and high school pupils attend the rally held near the body of the teenager killed in Achkhoi-Martan during an attack on law enforcers. Law enforcers and administration officials did not allow them to leave the square, although several women lost consciousness, the participants in the rally have stated.

At least six relatives of people who collaborate with the NIYSO opposition Telegram channel have been detained in Chechnya. They have been detained amid the Ramzan Kadyrov’s threats against those involved in the attack on a road-and-patrol police service (known as DPS) checkpoint in Achkhoi-Martan.

A charity campaign to raise funds in support of 38 Azerbaijani journalists, media workers and activists arrested for criticizing the government is timed to coincide with the World Press Freedom Day. The funds raised will be equally distributed among all those arrested.

Journalist Ksenia Sobchak and human rights defender Eva Merkachyova questioned the legality of the actions of Chechen law enforcers, who put on public display the body of a teenager killed during an attack on a road-and-patrol police service (known as DPS) checkpoint in Achkhoi-Martan.

The public demonstration of the body of the killed participant in the attack on a road-and-patrol police service (known as DPS) checkpoint in Achkhoi-Martan contradicts Islam and common sense, as with such actions, the authorities are promoting cruelty and traumatizing the psyche of young people, human rights defenders and a Caucasus expert have pointed out.

The adopted amendments to the Law on Grants for the first time in Georgia's modern history have enshrined authoritarianism legitimately. These changes will lead to the destruction of critical media and the establishment of a dictatorship, media professionals have stated.

In Zugdidi, the police clashed with activists who gathered near a memorial dedicated to the memory of those killed in Tbilisi on April 9, 1989. One of the protesters was taken to hospital.