News

When adopting the law "On Media", journalists' demands were ignored; and now both their rights and those of social network users are sharply restricted; and almost any post, video clip or opinion can be treated as a violation of the law, members of the journalistic community have stated.

A total of 111 families of forced migrants from Gadrut and Shushi have received apartments in newly built houses in Stepanakert; overall, authorities of Nagorno-Karabakh are planning to build 6500 apartments and individual houses for the families of forced migrants. In December, apartments were granted to the families who lost their members at war or occurred in a difficult social situation.

Human rights defenders have asked the Russian General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) to check the legality of the so-called "prophylactic registration" practised in Dagestan, in particular, in relation to Vazir Bazanaev, a local resident. The Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial"* has called on the GPO to bring to justice the officials of the Dagestani Prosecutor's Office, who failed to properly consider the appeals on this matter.

Chechen natives Salekh Magamadov and Ismail Isaev have been refusing food in the SIZO (pre-trial prison) for the tenth day already, demanding to change the territorial jurisdiction of their case, but no warders of the SIZO have ever visited them. This was announced by a representative of the “SK SOS” Crisis Group.

The kidnapping of relatives of Chechen activists, well-known for criticizing the authorities of Chechnya, became possible because of Ramzan Kadyrov’s confidence that such actions would remain unpunished for him, human rights defenders and activists note.

In Armenia, Arman Khachatryan, one of the five Armenian soldiers returned by Azerbaijan on December 29, was detained on suspicion of violating the rules of military service.

Azerbaijani MPs adopted the Law “On Media”, which provoked protests from journalists.

At the session of the court that considers the case of the Chechen bloggers, Salekh Magamadov and Ismail Isaev, accused of aiding a member of an illegal armed formation (IAF), the witnesses have stated that they didn't testify themselves, but signed some pre-prepared papers.

Anar Ragimli, an employee of the mobile operator, has received a gunshot wound while working in the Agdam District, the Azerbaijani General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) has reported.

Nargiz Absalamova, a correspondent of the "Abzas", has refuted the police's statement that the journalists' action against the draft law "On Media" in Baku ended without incidents. According to her story, after the clash with law enforcers, she fell down and received a trauma. Doctors diagnosed her with a tailbone fracture.

Abubakar Yangulbaev, a lawyer for the North-Caucasian branch of the "Committee against Torture" (CaT), said that he was interrogated as a witness within the case of justifying terrorism because of his publication on the Telegram channel "1Adat"*; they took his explanations about the denunciation of his moderation. Abubakar denied his involvement in the oppositional Telegram channel.

The people of Ukraine should deal with the "treacherous actions" of President Zelensky, the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, who has earlier expressed his readiness to annex Ukraine to Russia, has stated now, explaining that he had expressed his opinion on Ukraine as a citizen, not as a politician and not at the request of the federal centre.

The decision to liquidate the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial"* is a political repression, human rights defenders have stated.

Five militaries taken prisoner on November 16 were returned to Armenia through the mediation of Hungary, the State Commission of the Republic of Azerbaijan on Prisoners of War, Hostages, and Missing Persons reported.

In its letter, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) states that the execution of the Russian courts’ decisions on the liquidation of the “Memorials”* NGOs (the International Historical, Educational, Charity and Human Rights Society “Memorial” (International Memorial) and the Human Rights Centre (HRC) “Memorial”) should be postponed until the ECtHR rules on the complaint filed by Russian NGOs against the Russian law on foreign agents.

Activists who gathered in front of the Moscow City Court met the decision to liquidate the Human Rights Centre (HRC) “Memorial”* with shouts of “Shame!” and “Shame on you”. The police forces are accumulated near the court building.

Dmitry Ivannikov, a friend of Yevgeny Ipatov, a resident of Sochi, who recorded a video before his death in which he complained about torture by law enforcers, could disclose the causes of the Yevgeny Ipatov’s death. However, Dmitry Ivannikov does not answer phone calls, and the investigators’ version about the suicide of Yevgeny Ipatov is groundless.

The Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don has sentenced Ruslan Ozdoev, a resident of Ingushetia, to a fine of 250,000 roubles, having found him guilty of publicly justifying terrorism.

The Moscow City Court (MCC) has ruled to liquidate the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial"*.

After the return of children from Syria, they have problems with social adaptation, since they had been under the influence of the extremist ideology for a long time; they didn't go to school and received no medical treatment, said Marina Yezhova, the Children's Ombudsperson in Dagestan.