News

Six persons arrested in Istanbul on a charge of political espionage were planning to kill natives of Chechnya on orders of a top-ranking Chechen official, the Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization reported.

Law enforcers kidnapped a resident of Chechnya, suspecting him of non-traditional sexual orientation, kept him in a basement and beat him during a month, the victim said. After fleeing Chechnya, the man was helped with finding housing in another city, the “Russian LGBT Network”* reported.

In Azerbaijan, journalist Elchin Gasanzade and blogger Ibragim Turksoi were released from prison after serving the sentence in a case on slander and insult. Both activists will go to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) to challenge the legality of the verdict.

Said-Mukhammad Djumaev, a native of Chechnya, sentenced to five years of imprisonment for fighting with law enforcers at a protest action, was convicted on political grounds. This was announced by the Human Rights Centre (HRC) “Memorial”. The human rights defenders demand to reconsider the Djumaev’s case.

On October 31, in Tbilisi, two local men attacked two transgender women with knives; as a result one woman died, and the other was wounded.

Azerbaijani authorities have introduced new criteria for defining disability; and the review of the entitlement to benefits has led to delays in payments and refusals to certify disability, local residents have complained.

The opposition should seek to overthrow the ruling power and early parliamentary elections, Mikhail Saakashvili, a former Georgian President, has stated. His advocate fears that Saakashvili, who is on a hunger strike for 32 days already, may be kidnapped if transferred to a hospital in Gori.

Ravil Rasulov, who died at the SIZO (pre-trial prison) in the Volgograd Region, could have been tortured, Igor Nagavkin, a human rights defender, has stated, adding that there were traces of beatings on Rasulov's body. Ravil's wife has also denied the version of his suicide.

In the city of Novocherkassk, Rostov Region, two inmates of a maximum security colony have climbed onto the roof of a building and set fire to their clothes in protest against removal to another detachment.

Peacemakers have brought essentials, clothes and shoes to refugees and large families in Nagorno-Karabakh, the Russian Ministry of Defence has informed.

In North Ossetia, an assistant to the chief of a penal colony did not stop the violation of the rules of behaviour by prisoners at night, which led to the death of one of them, investigators suggested.

In Dagestan, without a QR code or a coronavirus survival certificate, people are not allowed to visit shopping centres or go to the market, and visitors to cafes must also produce the above-mentioned documents, local residents say. The innovation affected the activities of small businesses, as the number of cafe visitors decreased significantly, entrepreneurs note.

Sixteen officials are found guilty of using violence against more than 100 suspects accused of cooperation with the Armenian special services and the preparation of acts of sabotage and sentenced to long terms of imprisonment. The above has been announced by the Deputy General Prosecutor of Azerbaijan.

Second round of municipal elections in Georgia; beginning of the unplanned holidays announced because of the coronavirus spread and the introduction of QR codes in Southern Russia; anniversary of the terror act during the “Nord-Ost” musical show; visit of the President of Turkey to Azerbaijan, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of October 25-31, 2021, prepared by the “Caucasian Knot”.

In Gudermes, law enforcers took three 14-year-old girls to the police; one of them posted a video filmed on the edge of the balcony; and their parents were brought to responsibility. Instagram users who watched the video clip reproached their parents for their poor control over the teenagers.

During the week from October 25 to October 31, 2021, during the ongoing armed conflict in Northern Caucasus, no information about casualties or wounded persons was reported. These are the results of the calculations run by the "Caucasian Knot" based on its own materials and information from other sources.

The "Roskomnadzor" (the Russian Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology, and Mass Media) has demanded from the YouTube to block the video by Adam Gisaev, a native of Chechnya and a former prisoner, telling about torture at the Irkutsk SIZO (pre-trial prison), which was posted on the channel of the human rights project Gulagu.net.

The "Grozny" ChGTRK (Chechen State TV and Radio Broadcasting Company) has presented the report, in which three women detained by Chechen law enforcers for practising witchcraft, were scolded, as "psychics' battle under law enforcers' supervision." Some Instagram users believe that this sarcasm was inappropriate.

The election campaign passed amid intimidation of voters and pressure on them, the Embassy of the European Union (EU) to Georgia has stated. A sharp imbalance of resources in favour of the ruling party has affected the election outcomes, the head of the mission of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) of the OSCE (Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe) has stressed.

After their return from exile, the repressed residents of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR) failed to receive compensations for their seized or lost property; now they are paid only a small surcharge to their pensions, Marx Shakhmurzov, the head of the Association of Victims of Political Repressions, has stated at a rally held in Nalchik.