News

On the 29th day of his hunger strike, Salekh Rustamov shows clear signs of disorders in his nervous system, his advocate has stated, adding that on December 6, Rustamov will make the final decision on starting a dry hunger strike.

Ten Armenian militaries captured on November 16 have been handed by Azerbaijan over to Armenia in exchange for minefield maps.

The body of Seiran Sargsyan, a resident of the Martuni District, who was killed by Azerbaijani militaries, was delivered to the morgue in Nagorno-Karabakh with the mediation of Russian peacemakers. The Karabakh General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) has stated that it knows the name of the soldier who shot the shepherd dead.

The penitentiary system has reacted to the scandal about torture of inmates at the Saratov prison hospital, among whom there were natives of the Caucasus; the reaction means that now victims of torture are persuaded not to write complaints, and are place into dungeon (punishment cell) for minor reasons.

The head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, cannot be involved in the collapse of the Arashukov family clan; the collapse is backed up by the people who occupy the imperious Olympus at a much higher level. The Arashukov clan arose within the project of special services; and the criminal prosecution only has led to its downfall, the researchers of the Caucasian believe.

The persecution of the eight leaders of the Magas protest, accused of extremism after peaceful rallies, is incompatible with Russia's international human rights obligations and is contrary to the Russian Constitution, human rights defenders have stated. They have urged Russian authorities to release the activists.

Azerbaijani militaries have killed a shepherd from Chartar, who was captured in the neutral zone, the National Security Service (NSS) of Nagorno-Karabakh has informed. Such incidents discredit the Russia's peacemaking mission, the Karabakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) has stated.

On the 28th day of his hunger strike in an Azerbaijani jail, Salekh Rustamov is fainting and has memory problems; he lost 17 kilos of body weight, his advocate has informed.

The earthworks on the Fortanga River, which sparked dispute over the Chechen-Ingush border, are over. The river has been returned to its original bed, the administrations of the border Sernovodsky and Sunzha Districts have informed.

A case on terrorism is under investigation in Karachay-Cherkessia after a special operation in which two suspected militants were killed. Searches and detentions were carried out within the investigation into the case, the FSB Department for Karachay-Cherkessia reported.

The Human Rights Centre (HRC) “Memorial”* stopped working on the complaints filed by relatives of the suspects killed in the counterterrorist operation (CTO) in Kabardino-Balkaria, as they stopped cooperating with the human rights defenders. The complainants might refuse any attempts to reveal the real reasons for the deaths of their relatives because of pressure on families, the HRC reports.

Today, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of Azerbaijan has reported about an attack on a soldier in the Khodjavend District. The attacker tried to seize a soldier’s firearm.

About 50 people held a protest action in front of the building of the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of Azerbaijan. The protestors demand to resume the payment of disability pensions or provide disabled people with job.

The statement of the European Union (EU) intelligence service about the existing links of the attempts on lives of Kadyrov's critics with the Russian president looks credible, Ruslan Kutaev has noted. In their turn, Sergey Goncharov and Alexei Malashenko believe that Vladimir Putin is not responsible for the assassination attempts on Chechen bloggers.

Two secret witnesses have stated in court that they had visited a mosque in Makhachkala and listened to the sermons of Israil Akhmednabiev (Abu Umar Sasitlinsky), among whose acquaintances there was a man named Abdulmumin, who called in his articles to raise money for the preacher. The witnesses failed confirm the involvement of Abdulmumin Gadjiev, a journalist of the "Chernovik" (Draft) portal, in financing of terrorism, the advocate has stated.

A two-year conditional imprisonment awarded to a resident of Ingushetia for killing his sister, who has appeared in an operative video about blackmailers' detention, resulted from a wrong qualification of the crime, human rights defenders assert. Facebook users have linked the verdict with indulgence in traditional values.

In his video message recorded after receiving help from the leader of Chechnya, a brother of Akhmed Zakaev notes it makes no sense when migrants criticize Ramzan Kadyrov. The calls to Akhmed Zakaev come against the background of death threats to Khasan Khalitov, another Ramzan Kadyrov’s opponent, who lives in Turkey.

Five activists were detained in connection with a protest action on December 1 in defence of Salekh Rustamov. They were arrested for 10-30 days on the charge of violating quarantine. Advocates state the arrests are unfounded.

After shelling attacks in the direction of the Karmir Shouka (the Azerbaijani name is Qırmızı Bazar, – note of the “Caucasian Knot”) community, the Ombudsperson of Nagorno-Karabakh demanded to immediately remove the positions of the Azerbaijani troops from the vicinity of the villages. Residents of the village confirmed a shelling attack from the Azerbaijani side.

A case against three residents of Chechnya has been sent to court. They are accused in a case on the terror act in the village of Znamenskoye, as a result of which 15 people were killed in July 2005.