News

A court in Elista has conducted interrogations and again moved on to the debate on the case of local Jehovah's Witnesses*. In Southern Russia, a total of 109 believers have been convicted or are under investigation; the first case in Kalmykia has demonstrated the signs of conveyor-belt persecution inherent in other cases, Yaroslav Sivulsky, a representative of the European Association of Jehovah's Witnesses*, has stated.

The court ruling to release Leila Gatagazheva under recognizance not to leave the place has given hope that the criminal prosecution on charges of links with militants in Syria would be dropped, her advocates have stated.

The verdict to Vladimir Yarotsky, a resident of Krasnodar, who was fined by 350,000 roubles within the case of calls for terrorism, was a very lenient punishment under this article, lawyers have noted.

Ekrem Krosh, accused of taking part in the "Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami"*, held at the SIZO (pre-trial prison) No. 1 in Rostov-on-Don, has complained that law enforcers had beaten him up. He has linked their actions with the recent hostage-taking that occurred at this SIZO.

Soslan Dzidakhanov, who was subjected to bullying by a law enforcer, has claimed one million roubles from the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) as compensation for moral harm, but the court in North Ossetia reduced this amount to 200,000 roubles.

In Krasnodar, the police released after detention a husband of Maria Smelaya, a native of Chechnya. No child was accompanying him. The man is suspected of unsanctioned actions with the use of violence.

When entering the Russian presidential reception, Diana Tsomartova claimed the absence of results of the investigation into the disappearance of her daughter, who disappeared in Dagestan. The woman also filed complaints to the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) and the FSB.

A complaint about attempted robbery has not been investigated for more than a year, and the prosecutor’s office has not taken any actions, claims Miko Akopov, an injured resident of Pyatigorsk. The man has sent complaints about the investigators’ inaction to President Putin and the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs.

In the French city of Tours, the police detained a 15-year-old native of Chechnya after he posted videos on social network with instructions for manufacturing an improvised explosive device, beheading people, and with symbols of the “Islamic State” (IS, a terrorist organization, banned in Russia by the court, – note of the “Caucasian Knot”).

Yevgeny Manchenko, a man with disability, got a serious leg injury after being beaten by law enforcers, and the injury prevents him from normal walking, claims his mother Snezhana Manchenko.

The appellate instance has recognized as legal the decision of the court in Makhachkala to stop the criminal prosecution of Tagir Velagaev, a pensioner of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), accused of murdering his ex-wife Umazhat Guseinova. The human rights project "Travmpunkt", whose advocates represented the victim in court, has reported this in its Telegram channel.

A court in Rostov-on-Don has found Vladimir Yarotsky, a resident of the Krasnodar Territory (also known as Kuban by the name of the main river), guilty of calls for terrorism and imposed a fine of 350,000 roubles on him, the human rights project "OVD-Info"* has reported with reference to the press service of the court.

Igor Nagavkin, a human rights defender, has informed the head of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) about falsifications in the case initiated against him about the theft allegedly committed by him in a jewellery store.

The term of house arrest of Leila Gatagazheva, a native of Ingushetia, accused of links with Syrian militants, expired on June 17; and the court released her under recognizance not to leave the place, the "Memorial" Centre for Human Rights Defence* has reported.

The court has sentenced Vladislav Poruchikov, a student from Taganrog, to nine years in jail, finding him guilty of treason and attempting to get recruited into a terrorist organization.

Relatives of 18-year-old Kevin Lik from Maykop, sentenced for high treason, cannot obtain information about his whereabouts after he was transferred from Krasnodar to the Arkhangelsk Region, where he was supposed to serve his sentence, his mother says.

In Volgograd, a court fined a local resident 1000 roubles, finding her guilty of publicly displaying extremist symbols.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has found that by detaining human rights defender Oleg Orlov* at a picket in support of Oyub Titiev and fining him for his protest action, the Russian authorities violated the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and judicial impartiality.

The arrest of five figurants in the riot case at Makhachkala Airport has been extended until December 30, 2024, the RIA "Novosti" has reported, citing the press service of the courts of the Krasnodar Territory.

The court has obliged the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) to pay compensations to three women who were beaten up by law enforcers during detention at a shelter, where law enforcers came there to take Khalimat Taramova, a native of Chechnya, away.