News

The appellate instance may review Nikita Zhuravel's sentence if it is confirmed that he had burned down not the Koran, but a translation of Koran's ideas; however, if he had intentionally insulted believers' feelings, no verdict is likely, experts have pointed out.

In 1944, the Stalin’s regime deported the peoples of the Caucasus, groundlessly declaring them enemies, although at the same time their representatives were fighting at the war front. That was emphasized by Ingush elders in their address to the Balkar people on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of their deportation to Central Asia.

During the week from February 26 to March 3, 2024, six suspected militants were killed during the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus. These are the results of the calculations of the “Caucasian Knot”, based on its own materials and information from other open sources.

The Visaitovsky District Court of Grozny unlawfully legalized the suspension of the preliminary investigation into the beatings of Elena Milashina, a journalist of the "Novaya Gazeta" newspaper, Marina Dubrovina, an advocate, and denied their access to the case files; this was ruled by the Supreme Court (SC) of Chechnya that has sent their complaints for a new consideration.

The Cassation Court in Pyatigorsk has satisfying the prosecutor's request and reduced Zarema Musaeva's custody term by three months, down to four years and nine months. The defence's arguments that there are no proofs of Musaeva's guilt in the case were ignored.

The appeal against the sentence of Dagestani journalist, Abdulmumin Gadjiev, was lodged back in September 2023, but the case hearing has not yet been scheduled, although the law prescribes to do it within two months, his advocate has stated.

Activists from the cities of Sochi, Astrakhan and Vladikavkaz have informed that after they were detained while trying to lay flowers in memory of Navalny, they received warnings.

In the city of Taganrog, policemen detained Valentin Padalko, a pensioner and Category II disabled person, when he brought flowers to the memorial plaque for victims of political repressions. According to Valentin's story, law enforcers behaved rudely, but released him with a warning.

During the counterterrorist operation (CTO) in Karabulak, five FSB officers were injured. A battle with suspected militants appeared to be long because the suspects turned an apartment into a fortress located on two floors, sources reported.

A court in Kazan has ruled to arrest for two months Askhabali Alibekov, a native of Dagestan and a blogger, who was detained on suspicion of using violence against a policeman. Before being sent to the SIZO (pre-trial prison), he stated that he had no money for an advocate.

Relatives of a Volgograd resident who perished in the special military operation (SMO) zone in Ukraine have received conflicting certificates about the cause of his death and demand an inquiry.

Oleg Orlov*, a human rights defender, sentenced to 2.5 years in jail for discrediting the Russian Army, has no complaints about his custody conditions at the SIZO (pre-trial prison, the Moscow Public Oversight Commission (POC) has stated.

When commenting on the actions of the police who forbade a resident of Sochi from laying flowers at the monument to the victims of repression, lawyers have noted that laying flowers at monuments cannot be compared with throwing out household garbage in a wrong place, and the ban on holding such commemorative events violates the law.

Funeral of Alexei Navalny* and Caucasus, refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh, persecution of pacifists and activists in Southern Russia, six suspects killed in Ingushetia, sentence to Nikita Zhuravel, 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 February 26-March 3, 2024, prepared by the “Caucasian Knot”.

The “Runaways” film by journalist Vladimir Sevrinovsky is included in the programme of the “Artdocfest Online” documentary film festival.

The police detained at least 105 people in Russian regions at rallies in memory of Alexei Navalny, including four in Astrakhan, two in Sochi, and one person in Vladikavkaz. The above information has been reported by the “OVD-Info”* human rights project.

Ramzan Kadyrov has removed the approval of Judaists from Putin's speech so as not to cause discontent among Muslims amid the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, analysts have pointed out.

After Navalny's funeral, Sochi policemen did not allow a local woman to lay flowers at the monument to repression victims, stating that this was only allowed on the Remembrance Day for Victims of Political Repressions; and on other days it is treated as an administrative offence.

During a shootout in Karabulak, law enforcers have killed six militants, the Russian National Antiterrorism Committee (NAC) has reported. The counterterrorist operation (CTO) regime has been cancelled; the operative headquarters of Ingushetia has informed.

Oleg Orlov*, a human rights defender, has been placed under quarantine at the "Kapotnya" Moscow SIZO (pre-trial prison), where the custody conditions there can be treated as satisfactory, Oleg's wife and advocate have informed.