News

A resident of Chechnya has filmed a video with a crooked New Year Tree and posted it on the TikTok; later, he had to apologize for his joke treating it as an unworthy deed.

Some of the kidnapped relatives of Abubakar Yangulbaev, a lawyer of the "Committee against Torture" (CaT), have returned home. The resonance triggered in the media by their kidnapping has affected their fate, Abubakar Yangulbaev believes.

The capital of Georgia is hosting a mass hunger strike of supporters of Mikhail Saakashvili, a former President of Georgia. It total, there are 150 hunger-strikers; and yesterday, three of them stopped their protest action following doctors' recommendation. Over the past 24 hours, several hunger-strikers had increased blood tension; and doctors rendered medical help to them.

Aishat Kadyrova, the head of the Chechen Ministry of Culture, has received a medal "For the Protection of Human Rights", the "Grozny" ChGTRK (Chechen State TV and Radio Broadcasting Company) reported on December 25. However, the Kadyrova's Instagram page contains no human rights statements, including no comments on kidnappings of relatives of her father's critics.

A total of 37 relatives have been kidnapped by Chechen law enforcers and kept for two days at ROVDs (District Interior Divisions), Abubakar Yangulbaev, a rights defender from the Committee against Torture (CaT) has informed.

Children with type one diabetes began receiving sensors for flash monitoring systems only after the intervention of Sergey Melikov, said Magomed Beibulatov, the father of a child with diabetes. Instagram users were outraged by the fact that involvement of the region head is needed to solve such problems.

With the support of law enforcers, local authorities have sealed up the popular nightclubs "Bassiani", "Khidi" and "Mtkvarze" in Tbilisi for violating the anti-covid restrictions. The club owners and their supporters tried to hamper the officials' actions, which led to clashes with policemen.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has instructed Mikhail Mishustin, the country's Prime Minister, to deal with the problems in Dagestan with the supplies of water, gas and electricity. After the instruction, the situation with long-standing problems will probably get off the ground, residents of Dagestan have suggested on the Instagram.

The Yessentuki City Court has extended the custody of Akhmed Pogorov, a co-chairman of the World Congress of the Ingush People, until February 25, 2022. His defence has treated the ruling as unjustified and will appeal against it.

Mansur Sadulaev, the founder of the "Vayfond" Association that is in opposition to Kadyrov, has stated that during the last year he significantly reduced his activeness in social networks, but Chechen law enforcers have still kidnapped his maternal relatives.

The Constitutional Court (CC) of Armenia has declared unconstitutional the provision of the order issued by the Ministry of Public Health (MPH), which obliges unvaccinated employees to pay for PCR tests.

Aslan Artsuev, the director of the organization "Human Rights Centre Ichkeria", has stated that Chechen authorities are trying to exert pressure on him by kidnapping four relatives, but this won't affect his political position and actions.

On December 24, central Tbilisi hosted a march demanding to release until the trial all those arrested within the case of beating up journalists at a protest against the gay parade.

Chechen Press and Information Minister Akhmed Dudaev has insulted critics of the authorities for lack of respect for Ramzan Kadyrov and his followers. Thus, he has ignored the President Putin’s statement about the unacceptability of settling scores.

Today, a mother and a sister of a Chechen blogger Tumso Abdurakhmanov’s wife have been kidnapped in Astrakhan, and three of earlier kidnapped relatives are also being held hostage in Chechnya, the blogger reports.

At a protest action in Baku, activists say the provisions that infringe on the rights of journalists to receive and publish information should be excluded from the draft law “On Media”.

On the fourth day of their hunger strike in a SIZO (pre-trial prison), brothers Salekh Magamadov and Ismail Isaev look exhausted, but they intend to continue their protest against the court’s refusal to send their case to a court outside Chechnya, employees of the “SK SOS” Crisis Group report.

In Georgia, more than 7000 families of temporary displaced persons have received new housing during the past two years, reports Ekaterine Tikaradze, Minister of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Labour, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia.

Khasan Khalitov, a critic of Chechen authorities living in Turkey, has reported today about the kidnapping of at least five his relatives living in Northern Caucasus.

Six out of the nine relatives of Tumso Abdurakhmanov kidnapped in Chechnya have been set free; the whereabouts of his uncle, cousin and nephew remain unknown, the blogger has informed today.