News

A court in the Stavropol Territory has sentenced a former operative agent of the "K" police department (a division of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) engaged in counteracting crimes in the field of information technology, as well as illicit trafficking in radio-electronic and special technical means), to three years of probation for disclosing state secrets.

Natalia Garyaeva, the leader of the “Poltavskaya Against the Landfill” movement, recorded a video appeal to the President of Russia. In her video appeal, Natalia Garyaeva complains that corrupt officials interested in ensuring that the landfill in the village of Poltavskaya continues to operate are trying to fabricate a criminal case against her.

The Moscow City Court had not commit any significant violations when considering an appeal against the sentence of human rights defender Oleg Orlov under the article on discrediting the Russian Armed Forces and lawfully returned the case to the prosecutor’s office, the Second Cassation Court of General Jurisdiction concluded.

Law enforcers came to Irina Skorovarova, a resident of Taganrog, to conduct a search and reported that a criminal case had been opened against her for discrediting the Russian Army.

The case of a former combatant who ended up in labour slavery in Kalmykia is not unique; and this trend is gaining momentum as recruiters are benefiting from people's vulnerable situation. The most problematic regions in Southern of Russia are the Rostov Region and the Stavropol Territory.

The Court of Appeal has approved the verdict passed to Mikhail Filatov, a resident of Uryupinsk, who was sentenced to 12 years in prison for setting fire to a military commissariat (registration and enlistment office).

After leaving the combat zone, a participant in the special military operation (SMO) in Ukraine, found himself at the railway station in Rostov-on-Don without money and agreed to an offer to work in a farm in Kalmykia, but ended up in labour slavery.

A criminal case against Kazbek Alikov, accused of disseminating false information about the Russian Armed Forces, has been transferred to the Vladikavkaz District Court.

A video posted on the Internet and showing a senior schoolboy dressed as a Snow Maiden displeased several local residents, who filed a complaint to the authorities about LGBT* propaganda during a New Year’s performance. There is nothing wrong with comic re-dressings, Telegram users point out.

Since 2019, Islam Albakov, a native of Chechnya, has been kept in a deportation prison in Belgium; his health condition has deteriorated greatly, he is almost blind, but does not receive full medical care, Fatima Gazieva, a human rights defender, has stated.

The musician, Eduard Sharlot, accused of rehabilitating Nazism and insulting believers' feelings, has apologized in court to the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, for "insulting" him, and to Vladimir Putin, whose portrait he had tore up.

In Grozny, a court granted the defence’s request and postponed a court hearing in the case against Nikita Zhuravel, accused of burning the Koran.

The criminal article under which Tatiana Moskalenko, a resident of Adygea, is accused allows any defendant’s statements regarding the authorities’ actions to be interpreted as calls for action against the state. That was stated by the “Support for Political Prisoners.Memorial” human rights project.

The Czech police have sent inquiries to other countries as part of the investigation into the kidnapping of the horse owned by Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of Chechnya. Besides, a genetic examination is underway to define the animal's DNA profile.

The explanation of the Stavropol Territorial Ministry of Justice (MoJ) that coming out is assessed as a statement of belonging to an extremist community has no legal force. Lawyers and human rights defenders have noted that the reasons for persecuting activists in this case are very broad.

Natalia Dorozhnova, an activist, has been fined for her statements in an interview that the court treated as discrediting the Russian Army. She refused to admit her guilt, reminding that the freedom of speech is enshrined in the Russian Constitution.

If deported to Russia, Salman Mukaev, a native of Grozny, risks persecution and violence, his defence has stated at a court session held in Yerevan. Mukaev himself said that threats to his relatives living in Chechnya stopped after the Chechen law enforcers became aware of his whereabouts.

Passers-by supported a solo picket in support of Dagestani journalist Abdulmumin Gadjiev, sentenced in a terrorism case, and asked about his fate, noted Magomed Magomedov, the deputy editor-in-chief of the Dagestani weekly newspaper “Chernovik” (Rough Draft).

Relatives of those residents of Chechnya who are suspected of extremism must be held accountable along with them as accomplices, Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of Chechnya, has stated. Before that, on the eve of the New Year, he expressed threats to relatives of people suspected of extremism.

Repressions and presidential election in Azerbaijan, persecution of pacifists and activists in Southern Russia, echoes of Nagorno-Karabakh, unabashed trolling and intensified repressions by 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 January 1-7, 2024, prepared by the “Caucasian Knot”.